AGATA vs BI. Time-tested algorithms for S&OP

Business Intelligence software tools — such as Microsoft's PowerBI, Salesforce's Tableau, and others — work with external and internal data. They allow real-time structuring, visualization of Big Data and finding on its basis insights for operational and strategic processes. A marketing department in an enterprise can use BI to generate an advertising budget and track KPIs for ROI and ROMI.

In 2020, 54% of companies consider BI to be either "critical" or "very important" to their current and future initiatives, according to research firm Dresner Advisory Services.

BI is a big step forward compared to the capabilities of Excel and PowerPoint. However, the benefits of its use in a company directly depend on the experience and expertise of an employee, because BI is a blank slate, a shell that can be filled with anything ... and you need to know what exactly to fill.

To start working in BI, companies upload pre-assembled databases. The information in them is selected not according to specific regulatory market indicators, but at the personal discretion of the management or marketing analyst. And the latter must himself understand what data should be analyzed and in what relationship to obtain the results that top management requires.

Here, freedom of choice is a double-edged sword. The choice of data and the method of the analysis is at the discretion of the employee, and the quality of analysis and insights depends on the qualifications of the marketer.

Also, it is possible that for the effectiveness of the analysis, several BI systems may be required. They will cover separate areas or departments, but, at the same time, will not be compatible with each other:

BI requires at least minimal knowledge of programming and coding for a quality setup and operation. Thus, employees should not only be experienced marketers, but also have knowledge in IT, in coding. Otherwise, you will need constant support from the IT department (if the enterprise has one) or expensive support from the vendor and integrator of the BI solution.

The platform is built with mathematical algorithms formed over more than 20 years of experience of our team in S&OP. Therefore, AGATA, unlike BI, can be used productively by a novice employee without extensive experience in the industry, thus reducing the company's dependence on human error and the skill level of a particular employee.

The platform already has logically built models for uploading all the necessary external and internal data: for the structure of the product portfolio, for financial indicators (sales, revenue, profit, etc.), for determining the market volume (in physical and monetary terms) and many others.

The AGATA algorithms build relationships between these data points, analyze them and help carry out more accurate planning. To smoothen changing market conditions and the position of the company, indicators can be changed in real time.

Having external data, the mathematical methods of the platform will form market benchmarks that help analysts to navigate and compare the results of the company's activities with average market indicators. Thus, by analyzing the standards, AGATA helps businesses to calculate:

AGATA was designed for ordinary users, for employees of the marketing and sales departments, so its algorithms do not require knowledge or experience in programming from the user. If an employee knows how to use Excel, then in AGATA algorithm he will be able to set up and start working without involving the IT department or outsourcing services.