How Unified Data Fosters Collaborative Planning and Forecasting

Fast-growing companies are constantly adopting new technology and systems, but each addition means another layer of complexity for your business data. Information quickly becomes scattered across disparate data sources, systems, and departments. When businesses don’t have unified data, they struggle to identify sales trends, cost optimizations, or supply chain bottlenecks.

That’s where adopting a unified data analytics platform can help organizations overcome data silos and unlock their full potential. Learn about the benefits of unified data, including how achieving this fosters collaborative planning and forecasting across the organization.

What is a Unified Data Approach?

A unified data approach is a comprehensive process where the business collects relevant data from fragmented information sources across the organization and places it into a centralized, interconnected system. Not only is information integrated from different departments, systems, and applications, but this data is also harmonized and accessible in consistent and standardized formats.

Why Do Businesses Need a Unified Data Analytics Platform?

Without a unified data approach, organizations find themselves repeating processes across multiple systems. This wastes time, raises the risk of errors, and reduces confidence in data-based decision-making. Consolidating data into a single system, by contrast, helps organizations avoid these pitfalls and ensure that real-time data is available for analysis and decision-making.

The term “real-time data” is often misunderstood. In business planning, real-time data means having access to the most up-to-date information, not having access to instantaneously generated data. A unified data analytics platform provides complete access to up-to-date information in a single source of truth.

Aligning data through unified analytics and planning fosters strategic alignment, enabling every employee to collaborate toward shared business goals using consistent data. For example, a manufacturer can integrate data from production schedules, inventory systems, and quality control processes into a unified data analytics and business intelligence platform. With real-time visibility into each production line’s performance, the company can identify bottlenecks and collaborate with maintenance teams or supply chain partners to promptly address issues.

Such a unified platform contributes to accurate sales forecasting by analyzing historical transaction data, market trends, and customer preferences. This information helps the procurement team secure raw materials and components in a timely manner, which streamlines planning, forecasting, and replenishment.

5 Ways Unified Data Unlocks Collaborative Planning and Forecasting

Creates Access to Real-Time Data

Finance departments handle financial planning and forecasting, but they require data and insights from departments such as sales and operations. Without a unified data analytics platform, the finance team may struggle to gather complete, accurate, and up-to-date information, leading to delays and potential errors.

However, a unified data approach consolidates all relevant data from different departments, such as sales figures, production costs, and inventory levels. This allows the finance team to access real-time data and collaborate seamlessly with other departments to develop accurate financial plans and forecasts.

For instance, when the sales team identifies a potential increase in demand for a particular product, they can share this information with the finance team through the unified data platform. The finance team can incorporate these insights into financial models and estimate the impact.

The unified data approach reduces the risk of miscommunication or delays, because both sales and finance are accessing the same information. Because teamwork is easier and less stressful, these departments can align their strategies and make informed decisions to meet customer needs.

Fosters Cross-Functional Communication

A unified data approach fosters cross-functional collaboration, such as ‌scenario planning and what-if analysis. For example, if the operations team proposes a new production process that could reduce costs, they can input the relevant data into the unified platform. The finance team calculates the financial implications by considering factors such as equipment costs and labor expenses. This collaborative approach ensures that financial plans and forecasts are based on accurate and comprehensive data, leading to more reliable insights and decision-making.

Provides Self-Service Capabilities

A unified data approach can relieve some of the burden on IT to react to countless requests from across the organization. This approach enables finance teams and other departments to use self-service capabilities to automate reports, troubleshoot errors, and streamline data maintenance processes. Finance teams can work closely with other departments, such as sales or marketing, to generate reports or analyze data in real time without having to rely on IT.

This streamlined collaboration saves time and encourages cross-functional cooperation and knowledge sharing. Meanwhile, IT has more time for urgent issues that only they can solve.

Enables Organization-Wide Collaboration

A unified data approach can eliminate the need for multiple logins and reduce the time spent searching for information. This also enables organizations to break down data silos and promote cross-functional collaboration by leveraging the collective expertise of their workforce.

Improves Forecast Accuracy

Consolidating data, including sales figures, market trends, and customer preferences, contributes to more accurate forecasts. Better forecasts empower teams to secure resources and optimize planning, forecasting, and replenishment processes. With a unified data approach, organizations can make data-driven decisions that align with business goals and respond effectively to market dynamics.

How to Measure the Impact of Unified Data

Measuring the impact of scattered or inaccessible data is often about negatives — lost opportunities, wasted time and resources, and errors made. Measuring the impact of unified data, by contrast, is about showing the positive outcomes and gains.

Data alone is only so useful, even when it’s unified in a single source of truth. The question you need to answer is usually, “What can we do with this data?” Thankfully, a unified data approach enables a clearer understanding of where data came from, what it means for your business, and how people are putting it to work. Importantly, when leaders understand what the data means and what it can do, they can confidently make key business decisions.

Here are some ways to measure the impact and effectiveness of a unified data approach:

• Data accuracy:Measure the accuracy of data by comparing it against benchmarks. Additionally, conduct periodic data audits to identify inconsistencies or errors, especially when bringing in large amounts of new data.
• Data completeness: Assess data completeness by evaluating whether relevant data points are captured and integrated into the unified data platform. Compare current data assets against the inventory of known data across the organization from before you adopted the unified system.
• Data timeliness: Evaluate the timeliness of data by monitoring how quickly it’s captured, processed, and made available for analysis.
• Data consistency:< Measure the consistency of data across different sources and systems. Get started by identifying the source of all data, looking for inconsistencies in terms of how it was stored or where there are discrepancies in data formats.
• Data integration: Assess the effectiveness of data integration by evaluating how well data from different sources and systems is harmonized and interconnected within the unified data platform.
• Decision-making efficiency: Measure the efficiency of decision-making processes by tracking the time taken from data analysis to action. Compare against pre-unified benchmarks.
• Collaboration effectiveness: Evaluate the effectiveness of collaboration across teams and departments by measuring the frequency and quality of interactions facilitated by the unified data platform.
• Employee satisfaction: Gauge employee satisfaction and engagement by conducting surveys or other feedback methods to understand how the unified data approach has impacted their work.

Measuring the impact of unified data goes beyond just the technical aspects of implementation. You need to evaluate whether the approach yielded improvements in data quality, productivity, and decision-making. By aligning KPIs and focusing on the qualitative aspects of data, organizations can effectively measure the impact of unified data on the business.

Unite Your Business Data With Acterys

Digital transformation can’t be achieved by a single department; it must be embraced across the organization. A unified data approach can act as a North Star for departments as they unlock their data’s potential. This process is often incremental, with gradual progress toward unifying data, building trust across teams, and transforming their operations.

As organizations embark on this journey, they need a comprehensive solution that can support their unified data strategy and optimize their planning and forecasting processes. They also need scalable solutions that can adapt to their evolving needs over time. This is where Acterys comes in.

Acterys offers a comprehensive FP&A platform that helps organizations harness unified data to transform financial planning and analysis. With Acterys, businesses can consolidate their data, leverage AI-powered analytics, and streamline their planning and forecasting processes. Acterys provides a user-friendly interface, seamless integration with existing systems, and advanced features for data governance and collaboration.

To experience the benefits of unified data and AI for your business, start your 14-day free trial of Acterys today. Take the first step towards future-proofing your operations, making data-driven decisions, and gaining a competitive advantage in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape.