Efficiencies with data and internal controls could translate to revenue

Building revenue can sometimes be directly linked to building efficiencies in your business. This is especially true in fast-paced industries such as technology, life sciences, and communications and media.

There are two areas in particular that can affect efficiency:

• Timely data. Give your organization access to data through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or accounting system so management can make quick, consolidated decisions.
• Trust in controls. Build confidence with the integrity of your internal controls through a system and organization control (SOC) audit, which are commonly requested to test that data is protected, especially at start-ups.

Timely data is essential

The better visibility business leaders have in the business, the faster they can move when they identify which areas are thriving and which need additional focus. With technology, forecasting, and operational planning tools, you can start to efficiently scale potential opportunities to build a competitive advantage instead of relying on guesswork.

However, accessing data to carry out that analysis or make quick, informed decisions isn’t always straightforward.

Start-up or emerging businesses don’t tend to invest their early dollars in back-office systems. When a business grows quickly, the systems often don’t have time to catch-up.

Challenges

In addition to a lack of early investment, many organizations use multiple ERP or accounting systems, which is often the result of mergers and acquisitions or when structuring a business across multiple legal entities. One of the biggest challenges for these organizations can be obtaining timely, consolidated views of their financial and operational data.

There’s also a common myth in the software market that large companies are content to stay with legacy solutions and won’t adopt newer cloud, mobile, or social solutions. The newer ERP solutions, the argument goes, only work for small and medium enterprises.

Navigate shifts

However, both large and small enterprises are increasingly frustrated with their on-site technology vendors. Especially because these consumers know that, historically, few vendors are able to successfully navigate major architectural shifts.