The role of finance has dramatically shifted throughout the years. Having access to reliable data plays a central role in helping finance teams better analyze performance and trends, improve operational processes, and drive organizations to meet their targets.
With global companies continuing to navigate unpredictable markets in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, here are top business intelligence (BI) trends that we expect to see this year for finance.
The Cloud Is The Future
There has never been a more relevant time for companies to test their readiness to move to the cloud than today, with companies reporting the number of workers moving to work remotely has more than doubled.
As cloud tools’ demand increases, we expect cloud business intelligence to remain a driving force in data and analytics. Many BI elements will continue to thrive on the cloud from data storage, data sources, and analytics models. This means organizations will eventually have to fast-track their digital transformation efforts and adopt cloud-based software or risk getting left behind.
While working on the cloud can dramatically speed up daily tasks, it’s not always a one-size-fits-all solution for every organization. Depending on the services that a company offers, having to shift to the cloud and combining all these offerings can have its own set of challenges and roadblocks, leading to additional costs and complex integrations.
Having a connected cloud strategy helps financial organizations to be better equipped to deal with changing client and customer expectations.
Improved Collaboration Will Continue to Increase for BI Tools
Now that more organizations are working apart and remotely, collaboration is essential for any business intelligence tool. Collaborative BI tools have recently come into play. More organizations need to merge business intelligence tools with analytics to enable their teams to share knowledge faster and gather actionable insights from reporting and analytics.
Today, collaborative BI tools now include web 2.0 and other social technologies that make it easy to use and share analytics and reports within organizations or externally with business partners and stakeholders.
On top of increased productivity, Collaborative BI software has improved transparency in organizations where teams are better supported to work through problems together rather than individually.
Better Data Security
BI tools and the cloud work hand in hand, and while cloud sharing can drive improved processes and drive efficiency in teams, anything saved online can also put companies at significant risk for data breaches. Companies that keep their business intelligence data in the cloud need a trusted service provider to ensure their data stays encrypted and protected on the cloud.
With news of companies having to deal with hefty fines, damaged reputation, and massive data losses because of malicious cyber attacks, improved data security in business intelligence tools will be a core focus for organizations who are stepping up their digital transformation efforts.
In the coming years, organizations will continue to opt for BI tools that can provide better security layers on top of useful features and solutions, especially in finance and healthcare.
Other companies who are still skeptical of BI solutions will likely put significant weight on security features when choosing the right BI solution that serves their needs.
Artificial Intelligence For Data Mining & Analysis
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be a driving force in digital transformation. It will continue to augment BI solutions in the years to come, especially in data and analytics. AI-powered BI tools will continue to be a driving factor in how businesses gather data and harness insights like never done before.
The continuous development of AI technology will continue to make it easier for data analysts to process big data, find meaningful connections like never before, and derive powerful business insights that can shape organizations’ path in the coming years.
This is because AI-powered BI tools will likely continue to evolve with time, learn human language, and be more accurate in identifying critical trends that can influence the future of different industries and businesses. AI will also continue to empower BI tools with access to predictive analytics and machine learning, which can dramatically transform the insights and reports teams share with the board.
Financial organizations are already seeing how these business intelligence trends are fast-tracking the need for more advanced features in their financial planning software.
Performance Canvas Financials leads the way with its robust integration capabilities that support automated workflows and cloud collaboration for organizations looking for one platform for all their budgeting, planning, forecasting, and reporting needs.
Get in touch with Performance Canvas Financials to get the latest business intelligence reporting tool for your team.
