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Data-driven BI is changing everything for CPAs

Is it time to rethink your company’s approach to business intelligence? Clean data can give you the upper hand.

Business intelligence (BI) covers a diverse range of data-based concerns, insights and resources in today’s competitive corporate marketplace. But most importantly, it’s what transforms data into actionable insights. It’s also why starting with smart, reliable data is more valuable than ever.

To stay ahead of the curve and unlock better performance outcomes, leaders have to embrace a digital-first approach to decision making.

QUALITY INFORMS CAPABILITY

We know that being proactive makes all the difference when trying to glean meaningful information from vast swaths of data, especially as a CPA. Having clean data to work with – data that’s free of duplication, broken sequences and other discrepancies or inaccuracies, like system errors and process gaps – is so critical to success.

But in its raw state, most data is dirty, and that’s a huge problem.

Experts estimate that dirty data costs the US economy $3.1 trillion a year, while Canada has its own unique issues thanks to data deficits and costly breaches that are affecting our ability to be lean, agile and effective across sectors. Data concerns are even reshaping core competencies for the profession, and indeed what kind of skills are required for the future of work at large.

So if you want to take BI seriously this year, it’s worth setting up your team with the right training and tools to tackle the challenges of dirty data head-on. Data cleanup isn’t only an IT issue, it’s a business integration problem. Resolving that is no easy feat, of course, but it’s a must if you want to give your organization the edge it needs to step up and stand out.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Clean data generates powerful analytics that are responsive to change, and that translates into more accurate solutions at every step – whether the goal is to improve operations, understand sales trends or identify patterns for customer personalization to boost profit margins.

Jim Rich, Global VP at Sisense, agrees. “Most companies have similar KPIs. Everybody’s looking for the same stuff. Truly exceptional companies are the ones that modify and pivot their KPIs based on a combination of macroeconomics, what’s happening in their industry and identifying new KPIs that set them apart from the competition."

In other words, data-driven BI won’t just curb financial risk or reduce the chance of a misstep. Really good BI goes deeper as well. It will supercharge your company’s growth by increasing data literacy in the C-suite, and by fuelling a nimble digital transformation strategy that breaks down organizational silos to create an environment where real innovation is possible.

That’s where you come in.

Are you ready to become a go-to advisor, translator and touchpoint for data management? CPAs with up-to-date skills in BI, data cleansing and visualization are the ones who can help organizations come out on top.

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Learn more about how data is changing the way businesses make decisions by signing up for the Data Management Certificate. This online program covers five key areas of data management: cleansing and modelling, business intelligence, analytics, decision making and forecasting. Register now to invest in your career and earn 33 CPD hours.

Attending the National Technology Forum is also a great opportunity to see what the future holds for accounting. Explore new digital tools and trends May 25-26, 2020 in Toronto.