5 tips for Valentine's Day date happiness and beyond

We love Valentine's Day at Phocas. We see it as the benchmark for how we want our customers to feel every day. We know how tricky it can be to find the right life partner, so over 20 years, we have listened to all the customer feedback and worked hard to make using Phocas data analytics software hassle-free. Business life can be complicated, so we do our best to help people make sense of the complexity and find valuable insights to make significant decisions that benefit them and their work.

1. Turn data into value

'Talk data to me', is one of our favourite pick-up lines because if we get an enthusiastic response, we know the other person is interested in making the most of their data. It's the classic ice breaker – it's the do you like data as much as me line? or can I help you get value from your data. Friends often advise that automated margin analysis makes them dizzy with excitement; others prefer to find a customer they can sell more product lines to - because they buy related products - and have never been shown the other options in your portfolio.

2. One source of love. 'Cause it's getting serious

One of the most serious problems people face with company data is that they can't get a single truth source. This happens when information is being siloed in different departments so an overall business view is hard to obtain. Finance can be the worst offender of holding the data – because they want to make sure everything balances and is accurate. But Phocas is aware of the finance team's needs and allows all data to be brought together without affecting the general ledger's integrity. A consolidated view of a business means anyone working in sales to purchasing can find the granular detail they need while working from the same information as everyone else – now that's a source of love.

3. Dynamic decisions

Our decision-making often sets us apart. What does it say about our ethics and upbringing? In a wholesale or manufacturing business – good decision-making is often the difference between winning a contract or not, how efficient a machine can make certain widgets and whether you make a healthy profit margin. As the business world and supply chain disrupts, the need for dynamic or speedy decisions is greater. To make accurate and fast decisions – you need the facts or the full picture – that's where data analytics can help.

4. More time for love ❤️

We all spend so much time working, so why not make the work interesting and worth getting out of bed for? Now, most of us work from home – it sometimes feels like we never stop working. The computer is always there, but what if we could take away the 'busy' or 'boring' stuff – like waiting for someone else to create reports for you. What if you manage your dashboard, it sits as a screen saver and every time a new sale comes in – it updates. Rather than awkward customer phone calls fishing for information – wouldn't they prefer you being proactive and suggesting it's time they need to think about this product or explain what they purchased three months ago and the cost. At Phocas, we believe working smarter not harder is best, so everyone has more time for fun.

5. Forget the drama of spreadsheets

We know everyone loves a spreadsheet but don't you get tired of the unpredictability, forever serving you up curveballs and the ultimate crash? People persist with them for years; perhaps it's loyalty or the familiarity. What Phocas does is it provides all the functionality of the spreadsheet without all the drama. It eliminates the traditional linking of manually built, separate spreadsheets and incorporates dynamic accounting and analysis logic, automation, and shareability for the ultimate user-friendliness.

Rather than focusing on romantic love this Valentine's day, our data experts suggest celebrating other types of love, such as that with your data, time, colleagues, or customers. Finding the right BI match can mean so much for your business and allow you to concentrate on expanding into new markets or freeing up time for more valuable tasks such as delighting customers or reducing inefficiencies.

To find out more about data analytics and the matching financial solution, make a date with a data friend now.