In the face of today’s significant macroeconomic changes, businesses are encountering new and unforeseen risks. To adapt, many finance teams have enhanced their risk management strategies by leveraging diverse data more effectively across various internal departments.
However, one area that remains underutilized is the inclusion of external diverse data in risk management efforts. Incorporating information from outside the business—such as data on partners, suppliers, competitors, and customers—can significantly elevate the accuracy of risk assessments. During the pandemic, for instance, Google Search data outperformed internal models in predicting shifts in customer behavior, offering a valuable lesson on the power of external diverse data insights.
At the same time, many organizations struggle to consolidate their own diverse data sources. If your business operates multiple management platforms with limited access to key metrics, tracking essential diverse data like revenue or profit margins across subsidiaries becomes a daunting task.
Now is the perfect moment to rethink your risk management approach. By integrating both internal and external diverse data sources, you can eliminate blind spots and position your business to act swiftly on emerging growth opportunities. This holistic strategy will not only refine your decision-making process but also strengthen your ability to navigate future risks with confidence.
Strengthening Risk Management Through a Cloud Data Warehouse
Recognizing the importance of using both internal and external data in daily decision-making is essential, but implementing it effectively is a far more challenging task. While your business likely has access to vast amounts of data, much of it may be trapped in siloed systems—such as your ERP, ecommerce platform, project management tools, or even in scattered spreadsheets. Even when these systems are interconnected, it’s often not for the explicit purpose of risk management.
CFOs are increasingly stepping into the role of technology advocates, collaborating with other executives to overcome these data challenges. One of the most powerful solutions at their disposal is a cloud data warehouse.
A cloud data warehouse centralizes your business data, aggregates external data sources, and retains information from legacy systems—enabling you to phase out outdated platforms on your terms. The right data warehouse seamlessly integrates with your existing infrastructure, ensuring that information flows freely between systems. With built-in self-service analytics, your teams can leverage all available data to drive smarter decision-making. Moreover, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools within these platforms provide deeper, predictive insights, making your risk management strategy more robust and proactive.
By adopting a cloud data warehouse, businesses can ensure that data is no longer fragmented, creating a unified foundation for better risk management and strategic planning.
Risk #1: Escalating Costs Hidden by Disconnected Subsidiaries
A common issue many businesses face is the challenge of managing costs across multiple subsidiaries that operate in silos. At NetSuite, we’ve encountered this problem firsthand with several of our clients. One such manufacturer, for example, struggled with 15 independent subsidiaries, each functioning separately. During each reporting cycle, analysts were forced to export data from each subsidiary, then painstakingly merge it in spreadsheets and Business Intelligence (BI) tools.
This manual process of gathering and consolidating financial data not only slowed down reporting but also complicated the parent company’s accounting procedures. The lack of a unified financial overview hindered strategic planning and decision-making. Additionally, the maintenance of various disconnected systems—ERP, SQL databases, flat files, BI tools, and legacy software—was draining resources, costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
In response, the manufacturer centralized its data using the NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, allowing it to retire most of its outdated infrastructure. This consolidation reduced costs by 66% and provided the entire team with real-time visualizations of each subsidiary’s financial and operational performance, greatly improving both efficiency and decision-making.
By integrating its data into a single platform, the company not only slashed expenses but also gained the transparency and agility needed to stay competitive in a fast-changing market.
Risk #2: Missed Sales Targets Due to Lack of Channel Visibility
An accessories retailer, experiencing rapid growth, found its sales channel forecasting falling short due to a lack of visibility across its various platforms. The company’s Business Intelligence (BI) tool struggled to aggregate and analyze data from multiple Shopify instances, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and other marketing channels, leading to missed sales opportunities and inaccurate demand predictions.
To address these challenges, the retailer adopted NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, which enabled seamless integration of data from all its sources. This unified approach allowed the retailer to effortlessly consolidate and analyze information from Shopify, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and more. By leveraging machine learning, the retailer gained valuable insights into customer demand, ensuring that stores remained stocked with the most popular items.
With the improved forecasting capabilities, the retailer could not only meet customer demand more effectively but also explore new possibilities. For instance, the team began experimenting with pulling in external data—like weather patterns—to optimize sales forecasts for its outdoor mall kiosks. This strategic shift unlocked endless opportunities for the retailer to fine-tune its operations and boost performance.
Through the adoption of NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, the company enhanced its forecasting accuracy, reduced missed sales opportunities, and gained the flexibility to experiment with data-driven insights for continued growth.
Risk #3: Losing Customers Due to Outdated Inventory Data
A drinkware wholesaler, like many companies in a competitive industry, faced challenges in keeping up with shifts in customer demand. Their team relied on a manual process of exporting data from their ERP and ecommerce platforms into spreadsheets to monitor inventory levels. This labor-intensive method often left decision-makers working with outdated information, putting the business at risk of stock shortages and, ultimately, losing customers to more agile competitors.
To resolve this issue, the wholesaler adopted NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, transforming how it managed inventory data. Instead of relying on spreadsheets, the company now integrates ERP data with Google Analytics seamlessly, enabling real-time insights into inventory levels. The solution also automatically generates daily inventory scorecards and provides precise forecasts down to the SKU level.
This newfound visibility allows the team to anticipate customer demand more accurately, make faster decisions, and respond to market changes in real time. As a result, the company has improved customer retention, reduced costs, and gained the flexibility to capitalize on emerging trends—ensuring they remain competitive in a fast-paced market.
Mitigate Risk at Your Business with NetSuite Analytics Warehouse
NetSuite Analytics Warehouse offers an all-in-one, cloud-based solution that merges a powerful data warehouse with advanced analytics capabilities. By consolidating your business’s data—ranging from NetSuite transactional records to historical and external data from platforms like Shopify and Google Analytics—the system provides seamless integration through user-friendly connectors that simplify installation and adoption.
With built-in dashboards and reports, you gain immediate access to key insights, while the drag-and-drop interface allows for easy customization to meet your unique needs. The platform’s predictive analytics empower teams across departments to uncover actionable insights, helping your business anticipate market trends and respond with agility.
Designed to automate and streamline the delivery of crucial data-driven insights, NetSuite Analytics Warehouse accelerates decision-making processes. This enables leaders to transform potential risks into opportunities, strengthening your business’s ability to thrive in a dynamic and competitive environment.
