Companies that have acquired a number of businesses can end up with multiple disparate business systems and databases. This situation can be quite a challenge for managers, with corporate-wide responsibilities, to get their arms around. While it might be the right business decision for each subsidiary or division to operate with a different business system, if you are responsible for accounts receivable on a consolidated basis, it may be very difficult to measure and report performance compared to plan for accounts receivable metrics such as collections, past due percentages and days sales outstanding.
Trying to manage this situation manually by importing information from separate data bases to spreadsheets and databases for analysis and reporting can be difficult and time consuming. It may also provide less than the desired result in terms of timeliness and consistency of reporting. Information that is too old or inconsistent is of little value for assessing performance, and making management decisions.
There is one easy way to consolidate data post acquisition. It is much more efficient and reliable to use a software application which can bring in data views from multiple business systems for consolidated reporting. Here are some of the ways this approach can help you.
SYNC
The software application should automatically sync with disparate business systems and databases. This will eliminate the difficult and time consuming task of importing data to an offline spreadsheet or data base application.
The operations of multiple business systems at your company’s subsidiaries and divisions should not be affected by the consolidating software.
INTEGRATE
The consolidating software should automatically integrate the information brought in from disparate business systems and data bases. It will no longer be necessary to manually manipulate information so it is properly aligned for consistent reporting.
CALCULATE
The consolidating software should automatically calculate the metrics you select to be programmed into the software application. The properly integrated information should provide reliable results for analysis.
REPORTS AND DASHBOARDS
The consolidating software should include reporting and dashboard capability which will help you to report and share KPIs with stakeholders. You should be able to have a much clearer and more-timely picture of performance across the different divisions and subsidiaries in your company.
CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE APPLICATION
The consolidating software should be a cloud-based application to facilitate access to the system from any location and device at any time of day.
This approach to consolidating data post acquisition should provide timely and reliable information from multiple disparate business systems and data bases. The key is to partner with an experienced software provider that can help you successfully install a cloud-based consolidating software application.
Lockstep Collect is a leader in cloud-based and premise based software solutions, and an experienced software partner that can sync information from virtually any business software application.
If you would like to learn more about how you can benefit from consolidating software, please contact Lockstep Collect at www.lockstep.io.
