Even before the start of the global COVID pandemic experts warned about an upcoming economic slowdown in 2020. Now with many countries in lockdown to contain the virus, the global economy is taking a hit. In such circumstances, companies should look closer at BI and analytics tools to stay afloat.
When the world emerges out of the pandemic, businesses will have to embrace changes in how they operate. They will have to get rid of some of the least effective practices and focus more on BI to survive.
First of all, let’s be clear that during the COVID-19 pandemic global health is of primary importance. At this point our main objective is to save people’s lives and stop the pandemic. At the same, however, the well-being of businesses is also key, as businesses employ people who live in our communities. The well-being of the businesses is the well-being of people.
Last week, a McKinsey report projected two scenarios for the future development of the global economy. Although both scenarios are bad, the first one is more positive. It predicts that by the end of 2020, countries will contain the spread of the virus and learn to manage it. In this case, the economy will see a recovery in the fourth quarter of this year. The second scenario is worse.
“GDP contract significantly in most major economies in 2020, and recovery begins only in Q2 2021,” the McKinsey report said.
BI is the answer
Obviously, we all hope the first scenario unfolds and we get off easier. However, regardless of what ends up happening, businesses will reassess some of their management practices. Companies will look more carefully into their shrinking profits and rising losses, and will have to step up their game to thrive in a new post-recession reality.
A better reporting is one of the proven ways to maximize revenues, cut costs, deliver better customer experience and focus on what is working best. When a situation becomes dire and all the fat must be trimmed, businesses need to improve the way they measure things. The fundamental truth of business states that you can’t manage what you can’t measure.
Modern BI tools come as a natural solution. BI tools provide fast and accurate reporting, effective data gathering, automation and analytics, BI tools will come in handy when separating essential things from important and important from trivial.
Time to walk the walk
The buzz around BI solutions has been going on for a while now. There has been many projections on how much data businesses will have to deal with in five years from now. However, despite these predictions many businesses weren’t really investing enough time and money to implement BI projects. In some cases, it’s been all talk and little action.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming economic challenges, businesses will have to take more affirmative steps toward the data-driven culture and modern analytics tools. This isn’t just fancy talk during tech conferences or annual strategy sessions anymore. The world is changing as we speak and businesses must realize that without using the power of BI they may go extinct.
Implementing change is always hard, especially when things are working. When customers are buying, sales quotas are reached and supplies are coming, important long-term strategies can get forgotten amid everyday operations and urgent daily tasks. Now with the forced slowdown, it’s the best time for businesses to separate the wheat from the chaff and reassess their existing management and reporting practices to ensure the better performance during challenging times.