ERP/CRM Systems and BI: Why they go
Hand in Hand

Analyzing complex Data systematically

Big data is nothing new. It is not only since yesterday that we have been discussing the high volume of data that many companies are confronted with today. We assume that the amount of data that companies store has increased sharply in the last few years. The rapid growth in data is primarily fueled by cloud computing. Closely linked to this is the increasing use of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).

Many decision-makers traditionally still rely on their gut feeling. This may work for decisions with a manageable selection of options. However, the faster business circumstances change and the more complex they become, the more important a systematic data analysis becomes.

Insights from Data determine your Competitiveness

What do all the data do for you? Quite a lot. On the basis of good data and analyses, you can develop effective arguments with which you can convince not only decision-makers in your company but also partners, interested parties and customers of your ideas. Always remember: digital transformation cannot simply be bought. It is rather a long-term process that every company should plan and implement individually. Data, its analysis and the insights gained from it play a decisive role in this process.

Another challenge lies in distinguishing between important and unimportant data, because the search for the right data can quickly become like looking for a needle in a haystack - which is also getting bigger and bigger. It is all the more important that you start to sensitize your employees in good time to actively deal with data. This is not primarily about directly achieving groundbreaking insights. Rather, it is about many smaller insights that lead to greater savings over time. In this way, you can gain additional advantages over your competitors and secure the company’s existence. To do this, you need a powerful software solution that effectively supports you in analyzing your data.

Business Intelligence: ERP/CRM Systems have built-in Functionality

More and more modern CRM and ERP systems have additional BI functionality that is already integrated as standard, including the ERP system Dynamics 365 Business Central .

The scope of BI functionality in CRM and ERP systems can be sufficient to take the first steps in data preparation and evaluation and perform some simple calculations. In addition, ERP systems can have specific BI functions in certain fields. For example, Dynamics 365 Business Central offers a built-in function for cash flow analysis and planning . Its ease of use is impressive.

However, if your calculation requirements become more complicated, the BI functionality in ERP/CRM systems quickly reaches its limits. For example, when there are larger amounts of data and finer details. These solutions were simply not designed to turn data directly into actionable insights. Their primary role is to manage customer, business and operational data and transactions more effectively and efficiently. While we’re on the subject of ERP and CRM: when do you actually need a CRM system and when do you need an ERP system?

Business Intelligence: ERP Systems provide a solid Database

Even if the functionality of ERP/CRM systems only allows data analysis to a limited extent, ERP solutions in particular provide a solid basis for BI-supported analysis. They bring together a large proportion of the data in the company and store it in a database. A powerful BI solution in conjunction with an ERP system can therefore deliver productive results when processing and evaluating data.

Why fully-fledged BI Solutions still pay off

Fully-fledged BI applications are once again significantly more powerful than the BI functionality built into ERP systems or Excel. Special BI solutions have advanced functionality and allow evaluating large amounts of data. This means you no longer have to collect your data from partial solutions, such as Excel spreadsheets and other data sources having less effort.

Historical data from legacy systems can also be analyzed. For example, if the current demand for one of your products suddenly deviates significantly, you may be able to find out whether a similar anomaly has occurred before. If so, it could be useful to find out what caused it at the time. And how demand then stabilized again.

The main task of business intelligence solutions looks like this: they capture data from different sources meaningfully, provide an overview and make it easier to recognize correlations that would otherwise have remained invisible. These correlations can be displayed in the form of interactive dashboards, for example.

These areas in departments swear by BI:

• Marketing
• Sales/Distribution
• Human resources
• Production
• Warehouse/Logistics
• Customer service/Field service

The Benefits of BI for Marketing, Sales and Distribution

Above all, marketing and sales/distribution rely on BI solutions. This makes perfect sense: the results of data analyses support you in the development of new products and services or they help to reduce costs and enable you to offer existing products and services more cheaply. You can also target new customer groups and ensure the loyalty of existing customers.

Master data in particular often provide valuable insights in connection with BI. In order to get the most out of your master data, we recommend that you set up proper master data management in advance. But be careful: if you work with personal data, it goes without saying that the applicable legal requirements must be considered.

How Production, Warehousing and Logistics benefit from BI

Other departments in which BI is often used are production, warehousing and logistics. BI can be used to eliminate bottlenecks in production or calculate the optimum routes for goods deliveries. If you manage two or more warehouses, you can create data-based comparisons between the different storage locations. Key figures such as the turnover rate or warehouse utilization can then be examined in detail.

Today, the importance of reverse logistics is increasing, especially in online retail. This involves a company’s ability to manage returns properly and efficiently. Returns cause immense costs for companies. Business Intelligence helps you to get to the bottom of the reasons why customers return goods. With the help of data, you can discover patterns that are always repeated and are responsible for the majority of complaints. In addition, a lot of liquidity is usually tied up in the warehouse. BI can work with an ERP system to improve liquidity management in the warehouse.

What Microsoft’s Power BI can do

And what is Microsoft’s answer to the “trend” of business intelligence? It’s Power BI . This is a stand-alone business intelligence solution with which you can merge, analyze and display data. For example, by creating informative reports and dashboards. Power BI is significantly more powerful than Excel and the like: with its help, you can process much larger amounts of data in a time-saving manner.

In addition, Power BI can be easily linked with the products in the Dynamics 365 series: for example with the ERP system Business Central .

Simple integration with Microsoft Teams  is also possible. And a link via connectors can also be made with Office 365, SharePoint, Salesforce and more than 100 other applications.

Power BI Desktop vs. Power BI Service

The functional scope of Power BI is divided into several components. You can install Power BI Desktop  locally on your computer. Then there is the Power BI Service , which is operated in SaaS form in the cloud. With the mobile Power BI Apps, you can view and edit data and information on mobile devices.

Power BI Desktop is free of charge and is aimed at individual users. You can use it to perform data analyses and create reports. If you want to work with Power BI with others in a group, you need the Power BI Pro  version. Then you can also use the Power BI Service. This makes it possible to share analyses and reports online. There is also Power BI Premium . This version is more expensive, but offers additional storage and performance capacity.

A Symbiosis: ERP/CRM Systems and Business Intelligence

In times of big data, it is important that you not only have a powerful ERP/CRM system but also a robust BI solution - such as Microsoft’s Power BI. ERP system and BI complement each other in a perfect symbiosis because only in this combination can you manage the ever-increasing “mountain of data” well in the future, analyze it systematically and use it to your advantage. Always keep this in mind: digital standstill will make you lag behind your competitors.