Remove the headache from your data and turn it into profit by avoiding these 5 traps

As a business owner, manager or member of a finance team you know that the data your software collects is the number one way to get quick insights into your business and turn those insights into more profit.

Regardless of what software you use you should be getting invaluable insights to help your business grow.

But the problem we consistently see is people drowning in data and reports that don’t give them the information they really need.

We understand how frustrating it can be to create reports using cumbersome spreadsheets to bring data together from multiple sources and how time consuming it is to sift through data to find important insights.

Over the past 20 years helping businesses grow through technology, there’s 5 issues we see that trip businesses up when it comes to getting the most out of their data and reporting.

Address these problems, and you’ll be on your way to clear reports with insights that save you money, increase profits and reduce risk.

1. Using software that doesn’t capture the data you need

Businesses who are wanting to get great insights from their data are often held back by choosing “one size fits all” software.

While this type of software can be attractive because of the potential cost savings on subscription or licence fees, its generic nature means it’s unable to adapt to a company’s individual needs and you’re left with gaps in the data you collect.

This leaves staff having to perform manual data entry and manually processing information using whatever tools are at their disposal, such as Excel, and this resource cost is generally far more expensive than implementing better software or multiple software solutions to meet the specific needs of each area of your business.

When it comes to choosing the right software it’s best to use one or more systems that are well suited to the different parts of your business and redirect your staff’s time toward consolidating the data from these systems.

Not only will your staff thank you for it, but your software will also give you the data you need for better insights into your business’ performance and health.

2. Using difficult reporting systems

You’ve probably tried to use reporting tools so you can move beyond Excel but the challenge with many of these is they’re complicated and need skilled, trained or expensive resources to operate.

The other challenge is that many of these reporting tools often only work with a particular software package or cloud platform that you may only be using partially, or not at all in your business, leaving you unable to report on certain areas of your business or use all the data you collect across multiple software programs.

If you’re ready to move past Excel and choose a reporting tool that works for your business it’s important to find one that’s easy to use and integrates with the software your business uses or allows you to input data manually from those systems.

3. No central place for data

When you don’t have one place to collate and analyse the data collected across your business it’s very difficult to make decisions that help you grow because you’re trying to make decisions without seeing the full picture.

Many businesses attempt to fix this problem by employing someone to spend a significant amount of time using Excel to compile the data and generate the reports you need.

The challenge here is that it’s not only time consuming but you can also become solely dependent on this person and if they leave your business or change roles, you lose that capability.

When you have one central place for your data that everyone can access, you make it easy for your staff to see if they’re on track to meet their KPIs and achieve the business’ goals.

In doing this you empower your staff to perform at their best while also supporting the vision and direction of your business.

When you’re looking for a software solution it’s worth the time to find one that captures data from each area of your business in one central place and produces meaningful reports so you’re not relying on people to do this for you.

4. An all or nothing approach to reports

A lot of reports provide a significant amount of detail which isn’t relevant to every team or includes financial or other sensitive data that may not be suitable for sharing with certain areas of the business.

When this is the case, you’re left with three options:

1. providing staff with too much detail;

2. not providing your staff with the report at all; or

3. producing the entire report and then manually processing the data from that report to remove the sensitive or unnecessary data before sharing it.

This is why it’s crucial to find a reporting tool that allows you to tailor the content of your reports to each area of your business.

Choosing a reporting tool that allows you to easily customise reports will save you the headache of manual data processing and give your teams the information they really need.

5. Not being able to see hidden insights in your data

Typical reports show you the metrics for what you’re measuring in your business but they don’t highlight unusual activity that’s hidden in your data.

The problem with this is you stay focussed on what you already know about your business and often miss details that could indicate significant problems or even opportunities.

Machine Learning or “AI” allows you to find anomalies in your data which then allows you to address problems before they get worse or it’s too late to do anything about them.

AI can also highlight errors, sudden changes in business costs, and in some cases potential fraud.

When you have this level of information you can make decisions to capitalise on hidden opportunities, reduce risk, save money and increase profit.

If your business collects data from one or more software platforms consider ways you can use AI to analyse your data and uncover hidden risks and opportunities.

We believe it should be easy for businesses to turn their data into insights that help them reach their potential

That’s why we’ve created smart software that solves the problems common to many businesses.

Daitalens is the AI platform that analyses your business’ data for complete clarity on what’s happening in your business.

The platform integrates with any software that collects data in your business and consolidates it in one place so you can run analytics and reports for your whole business.

With Daitalens you’ll uncover hidden costs and opportunities so you can save money, increase profits and reduce risk.

If you need help with getting more from your data, check out Daitalens. We’re here to help.