This article highlights a few key points that (when understood) can help a company create traction in its business operating systems and begin to leverage their collected data to make better business decisions.
Finance, operations, sales, and other functional business areas work together–the systems SHOULD accommodate all business processes, or bridges built between competing systems to create a cooperative, synergistic environment.
As a business grows and volumes increase, a well-integrated and tuned business operating system will allow existing workforce to leverage systems (instead of adding labor in a linear pattern) to gain competitive advantages.
Anytime the source collection of transactional data can automatically (and cleanly) integrate with the Accounting function of a business, more tedious accounting activities can be replaced and augmented by better auditing, validations, and more pro-active analysis projects. Better data visibility across all finance-related systems means better decisions.
Small businesses can (and SHOULD) find ways to afford to leverage ALL their data. Even small increases in actionable data can make huge impacts on a bottom line.