Data and analysis have become a gold mine in recent years for most businesses looking to make educated decisions. Businesses increasingly create massive amounts of organized and unstructured data, which necessitates the need to organize, analyze, and store this data at some point. Everything came together with the merging of business intelligence (BI) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), allowing many users to aggregate billions of data points into clear and actionable insights.

The shift from traditional reporting methods to new business models such as ERP and BI that enable companies to make forecasts has increased the demand for this software. Recognizing market changes, patterns, and trends and changing plans is part of our competitive advantage in today’s digital economy.

Business Intelligence’s (BI) Significance in the Manufacturing Industry

Manufacturers can use business intelligence (BI) to combine historical data and information from a customer or client into a single, easily accessible source. This enables various departments to have access to the information they require while making work-related choices. At the same time, managers and supervisors may ensure that the entire system is running at peak efficiency.

Manufacturing is among the most data-heavy industries. Consider the amount of data produced by supply chain management, accounting, shipping and distribution, scheduling, and the work floor. Many organizations find that leaving all the data behind and squandering it is not a smart way to generate a profit since they can get more out of the data. 

Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Integration 

Integrating business intelligence with enterprise resource planning to gain a full picture and knowledge of your data can provide you with a competitive advantage and an edge over other organizations that are still lagging behind and relying on obsolete business processes. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) enables businesses to collect much data and information from suppliers, customers, and everything in between. This data must be understood in order to make data-driven business intelligence (BI) judgments.

To remain competitive in the market, manufacturing businesses must use BI and manufacturing ERP to generate high profits and predictions. Companies that do not take such steps fall behind and lose a significant amount of critical information and data, resulting in slower growth and greater expenses.

Why manufacturing business requires business intelligence (BI) in ERP?

In today’s context, Business Intelligence (BI) will not exist until Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is applied. Using dashboards and other displays, business intelligence software analyzes the ERP data, making it easier for the manufacturing firm owner to understand the findings. Business intelligence capabilities, on the other hand, become more significant in strategic decision-making when they are incorporated into enterprise resource planning systems. Some of the areas where manufacturing companies have thrived after integrating business intelligence (BI) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) are below:

• Production management
• Inventory control 
• Order Processing for Sales 
• Inventory management
• Sales and marketing
• Financial and accounting management
• Supply chain management
• Customers and after-sales service

A manufacturing ERP system is required for data and information analysis, bridging the gap between human resources, sales, finance, and operations. Business intelligence takes operational data from enterprise resource planning systems and translates it into usable information that helps manufacturing businesses accomplish their objectives and goals. Let’s take a look into the benefits of business intelligence in entries resource planning below:

Customization

Each team can build the reports and dashboards they need to meet their goals thanks to an integrated business intelligence and enterprise resource planning solution. This shows that, even though your team is working toward the same goals and objectives, various owners may have different expectations and data analysis standards.

Real-Time Decision-Making

Businesses no longer operate on paper; it is the age of digitalization, and enterprises must be more predictive in order to survive. This is where business intelligence (BI) comes in, providing real-time data to enable better and quicker choices.

Forecasting

Integration of business intelligence with ERP has improved data and information comprehension in manufacturing firms. With these software firms have data for the past, present, and future, giving them an advantage in projecting their future.

Data Analysis and Aggregation

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) system creates a massive quantity of raw data, and there’s always more to be gleaned from it. A manufacturing company may pull in-depth analysis or insights from their data within their enterprise resource planning platforms by integrating business intelligence into their ERPs.

Reporting

When you use business intelligence in your company, it significantly improves your database and its analysis. As a result of this deployment, BI improves reporting through simple dashboard integration, allowing users fast access to data and reporting.

Comprehensive Insights

When business intelligence and enterprise resource planning are linked in manufacturing organizations, you don’t have to switch between technologies to receive information or access your performance. This decreases time consumption significantly, and all information is integrated into a single platform.

Increase In Efficiency

With all of the data and information in one place, the manufacturing company can organize, analyze, and combine data from numerous sources in real time. This extra benefit boosts efficiency and eliminates the majority of the restrictions that businesses previously faced.

KPIs With BI and ERP

The number of data points and pieces of information increases as a company grows, making it nearly impossible for any corporation to keep track of KPIs without the integration of business intelligence and enterprise resource planning. Since they will not have time to assemble, acquire, and interpret this information, organizations that manually keep all of the information will be unable to compete with firms that rely exclusively on this software. Manufacturing companies benefit from BI and ERP in terms of information and cost-cutting with faster service.

Wrapping up

The introduction of ERP systems altered the way businesses operate. ERP systems have increased the efficiency and productivity of businesses by automating numerous formerly manual processes. When combined with business analytics, an ERP system may provide your company with a competitive advantage. Businesses of all kinds and sectors benefit from its integrated approach to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business intelligence (BI). ERP systems are now typically connected with cloud-based business analytics. If you want to supplement these improvements and are willing to deploy ERP, talk to an ERP consultant.