Controlling and reporting

Controlling & reporting: drive decisions with real-time data

Controlling and reporting is the gathering, distribution and – most importantly – use of information to evaluate the performance of different organisational resources and processes – such as sales, operations, human capital finance – in light of business strategies. The key objective is to provide insights in support of profit management by the business.

In any modern business, there is a staggering amount of information ready to be transformed into actionable insights. To unlock its value, you need to determine exactly what data in which form needs to be made available to whom in the organisation. Next-level controlling and reporting, alongside insights like cost to serve, provide you with clear storylines that illuminate the way forward for your business. 

Controlling and reporting is part of ‘data consumption’ - the last step in the data and analytics process, following data capturing, management and modelling. It concerns only the bare facts, leaving interpretations and next steps to human agents (vs. algorithms or AI). 

Break the silo mentality 

Leaving out all data that is irrelevant to a specific department can create a ‘silo mentality’ in which everyone is solely focused on their own targets. The result is a lack of ownership that can greatly damage the company.

Cost to Serve

Using the Cost-to-Serve Approach can prevent organisational silos. Simply put,  cost to serve analyses all the resources a company needs to bring its product or services to their customers.

This will gives a clear view across departments of how they influence each other and, eventually, the bottom line. This way, cost to serve can help determine concrete actions that will improve processes, lower costs and have a beneficial, end-to-end impact on the entire organisation.