According to our recent global survey, it takes small and medium businesses an average of an hour and thirty minutes to report on project expenses—and this is just one example of the many types of financial reporting businesses regularly complete. Business intelligence and reporting becomes more complicated if your different teams can only access data from their part of the business or if they are reviewing inaccurate data.

As a manager, you may have faith in the reports your teams deliver at the end of week, month or quarter but you still need a way of understanding the logic and math that underpins their financial reports. After talking to our American and international customers, we also found that business intelligence reports from multiple apps, products and yes, even spreadsheets provide a snapshot of a point in time and, if these reports aren’t updated, they age fast.

Here’s the simple truth

Your team shouldn’t have to spend hours preparing a report to see if revenue projections are on target and you should be able to review the financial health of your business at a glance. So how can you increase the productivity and efficiency of your teams and protect the future growth of your business?

In 2014, the Aberdeen Group provided an answer in its landmark report: Don’t Sweat the Details. The author of that report concluded, “Those [businesses] that are more successful at managing their new financial challenges rely on business solutions that help them to stay organized, report accurately, and manage their finances.” Is there anything more laborious than working through the data of your business? It can feel like walking through molasses.

Acting on the latest information about your business

Consider how your team works together and if everyone has the business intelligence tools they need to collaborate on financial information in real time—because when you and your team have a solution for managing financial information, your business can overcome many challenges. With the right business intelligence platform, you can get automated reports run and distributed at your convenience. These reports will help you eliminate blind spots, avoiding nasty surprises that would otherwise hamper the growth of your business.

What is business intelligence and what is it used for?

Business intelligence describes a suite of tools and software business owners and managers can use to see what's happening in their business. Typically, business intelligence software gives insights into people, finances, operations, customer information, sales, marketing and more. Sage Business Cloud is an example of a modern business intelligence software suite.