For a company to make assertive decisions in a highly competitive market, transforming raw data into strategic knowledge is no longer a differentiator; it has become a matter of survival. After all, today's competitiveness leaves no room for guesswork or decisions based solely on managers“ intuition.
In this scenario, two approaches gain prominence in high-performance companies: Business Intelligence (BI) and Strategy Execution Platform. And although many people confuse the concepts, they play complementary and indispensable roles in the sustainable growth of the business.
Continue reading to understand what each of these tools is, their main benefits, and how to integrate them to boost your company's results!
What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
Known in Portuguese as Business Intelligence or Business Intelligence, the Business Intelligence (Business Intelligence) it is a set of methodologies, processes, and technologies that collect, organize, analyze, and monitor large volumes of data generated by the operation.
And the central objective of BI is to extract valuable information from the company's database and transform it into a visual and understandable overview. Thus, by analyzing historical and current data from sectors such as finance, sales, operations, and marketing, leaders are able to identify patterns, correct flaws, and project future scenarios based on concrete facts.
Benefits of BI
Business Intelligence enables the creation of indicator dashboards (dashboards) customized according to the needs of each area or manager. And this real-time centralization of information speeds up the management routine.
Check out the main benefits of BI for the business:
- Speed and precision in the decision-making process: drastic reduction in the time required to gather and analyze reports;
- Optimization of internal processes: clear identification of operational bottlenecks and unnecessary rework;
- Increased operational efficiency: integrated view of the performance of different departments and teams;
- Generation of new revenue opportunities: prior identification of consumer trends and customer behavior;
- Gaining competitive advantage: faster responses to market changes compared to competitors.
Also read: KPI Dashboard
What is strategic management?
In a few words, the Strategy Execution Platform It is the set of practices, goals, and guidelines defined by top leadership to direct the organization's future. After all, it takes into account the company's internal environment (strengths and weaknesses) and external environment (opportunities and threats) to define long-term objectives and the resources necessary to achieve them.
It is worth noting that strategic management is not the exclusive privilege of large corporations. This is because small and medium-sized enterprises can, and should, use methodologies of strategic planning to structure your growth in a lean, sustainable way and without the need for exorbitant budgets.
Benefits of strategic management
By defining clarity of purpose and establishing tracking metrics, strategic management aligns all levels of the company around the same objectives.
Check out the main benefits of this practice:
- Shared business vision: alignment between the board of directors, executive teams, and operational employees;
- Resource and effort prioritization: conscious direction of investments and time to the projects with the highest impact;
- Agility in exploring opportunities: ability to quickly identify and react to market changes;
- Monitoring of competitive position: constant monitoring of the impact of socioeconomic changes on the business;
- Critical analysis and continuous improvement: systematic review of strategies based on actual results achieved.
What are the main differences between BI and strategic management?
Although they walk side by side in the corporate environment, Business Intelligence and Strategic Management have distinct areas of focus. And to summarize the relationship between them: BI acts as the intelligence and data provider, while strategic management is the compass that defines the direction and execution of the business.
Check out the main differences between the two concepts:
- Focus and purpose: BI focuses on the cross-referencing, organization, and visual monitoring of data. Strategic management, on the other hand, focuses on defining global goals, team alignment, and resource allocation to achieve these objectives;
- Temporal orientation: BI analyzes the history (past) and current operation (present) to signal how the company is being managed. Strategic management, in turn, uses these scenarios to project and build the future of the organization;
- Practical deliverables: BI delivers consolidated reports, dynamic charts, and dashboards. Finally, strategic management breaks down this data into action plans (such as 5W2H and PDCA cycle), goal management, and corporate governance.
But then, is a BI system the same as budget management software?
The direct answer is no. Ainda assim, é comum haver confusão porque ambas as ferramentas trabalham com coleta de dados, gráficos de desempenho e relatórios gerenciais. No entanto, o escopo de atuação de cada uma atende a necessidades totalmente diferentes.
Actio’s Business Intelligence oferece uma visualização analítica abrangente e flexível. Assim, em um mesmo painel de BI, o gestor consegue transitar de uma análise macro (quais produtos têm mais saída globalmente) para uma análise micro (qual vendedor atingiu a maior margem na filial X).
Já um Software de Gestão Estratégica e Orçamentária vai além do diagnóstico: ele é focado na governança, na saúde financeira e na execução do planejamento. Sendo assim, ele permite controlar como o orçamento de cada departamento afeta a margem global, desdobrar metas por setor, monitorar o cumprimento de planos de ação e corrigir desvios orçamentários antes que se tornem prejuízos.
Potencialize a gestão da sua empresa com as soluções da Actio!
Quer transformar os dados da sua operação em ações estratégicas de alta performance? A Actio oferece soluções completas de gestão baseadas em processos, metas e pessoas.
With Actio Strategy Management, sua empresa centraliza a gestão de indicadores (KPIs), automatiza o acompanhamento de planos de ação, aplica metodologias de melhoria contínua e garante total visibilidade sobre os resultados do seu negócio.
Entre em contato com nossos especialistas e descubra como impulsionar a produtividade e a rentabilidade da sua empresa!
Perguntas frequentes sobre BI e Gestão Estratégica
Check out some of the most common questions on the topic below:
The first step is to map the organization's main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Next, the SME must centralize the collection of this data and adopt strategic management and BI software that allows tracking these metrics visually and simply, without the need to create complex IT infrastructures.
Although useful at first, manual spreadsheets suffer from a lack of real-time integration, a high risk of formula tampering, security flaws, and the creation of "information silos." As the company grows, management requires automated, cloud-centralized platforms.
The main indicators depend on the business goal, but they usually involve EBITDA margin, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), NPS (Customer Satisfaction), Employee turnover and Action Plan Execution Index. The BI extracts the exact metric in real time, while Strategic Management monitors the achievement of the global goal associated with it.
