[eBook] How to gain a competitive and strategic advantage through data and reporting

How long does it take you to prepare for your monthly board or management meetings?

NB: This is an excerpt from our latest eBook: 'How to gain a competitive advantage through data and reporting'. To download the eBook, click here.

• Can you access up to the minute information about your business and its operational performance?
• Can you easily slice and dice this information to reveal the underlying trends and issues impacting on the success of your organization?
• Can you find the answers to your questions on the fly when you want to follow your train of thought?

The limitations of your reporting system may be adversely impacting your business and affecting its ability to respond to key trends and competitive threats in your industry. A thorough audit, review and update of your existing systems may be necessary to ensure your organization stays profitable and competitive.

The challenges of reporting

When it comes to generating reports from your existing reporting system(s):

• Is it a mad dash to pull data together for a report? And if you can generate the report on time – how sure are you that the data is accurate? Have the formulas been copied over properly?

• Do you have custom reports being produced from your ERP or CRM system? Do these reports lack drill down capability with little or no flexibility? Does it cost a small fortune in consulting fees to have new reports created? Even then, do the reports cover everything you need and want?

• To produce your monthly, quarterly and yearly reports, are hours of manual intervention required to cut and paste data out of Excel and other systems? How difficult is it trying to consolidate all the required data into one view so you can see the whole picture?

• Can you interrogate or find answers to your questions in seconds? Or do you need to refer to another series of reports?

• Do you have to request someone to generate a report for you? How long does it take? Is your IT team getting inundated with reporting requests?

If you are familiar with any of the above, then it’s time to audit the performance of your reporting systems to identify areas for improvement.

Let’s explore how ineffective reporting systems can negatively impact your business.

The impact on your business

The ability of your business to respond to threats and remain agile enough to change course depends on accessing accurate and timely information. Poor-quality and inefficient reporting may be robbing your company of the intelligence needed to drive innovation and improve operational performance. Issues that may be identified and resolved early on are not acted upon.

Having inadequate reporting mechanisms can adversely affect your organization in three key ways:

This has been a preview of our eBook on reporting systems.

If you would like to achieve a competitive advantage through your reporting systems, download the full eBook by clicking the image below.

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