In order to make the best decisions for your operation, you need the most accurate and insightful data available at your fingertips.
Collecting it requires a certain element of reporting. However, for many businesses, reporting is seen as a dirty word.
A thankless task that either takes too long, requires too much effort or is out of date by the time its complete.
As a result, staff and customers alike suffer.
Staff, because revenue critical decisions are made off yesterday’s news rather than the latest business insight. And customers, because their experience deteriorates as company interactions fail to mirror their latest actions.
But that need not be the case.
Here are 3 simple and straightforward tips to make reporting both invaluable and immediate.
1 – Focus Only On The Important Data
Not matter what the role is, there is nobody in your organisation that needs to know every single figure.
Reporting isn’t there to flesh out the time sheet or prove you know it all; data should be relevant, succinct and immediately enlightening.
“Just because you’ve got information on a particular metric doesn’t mean it belongs in every single report you provide.”
ANDREA FRYREAR – CCO AT FOX CONTENT
Before you even consider collating a report, you need to demarcate it’s contents.
The most insightful reporting stems from an agreement about what the crucial KPIs are, why they matter and what level of achievement can be considered success.
“Come to an agreement on what wins look like and the metrics you’ll use to gauge success.
One of the main reasons why we report in the first place is so we can use data driven insights to inform future work.”
ONCLUSIVE
By accurately tracking critical KPIs, you can deliver the level of service or performance desired.
This prevents death by data and helps link the stats to the bigger picture prompting more focussed action.
2 – Increase Reporting Regularity
In a business where reporting is viewed with contempt, you’re likely to leave as long a gap as feasibly possible before having to start over again.
The risk is, with such a protracted data period, reports can be effectively “out of date” by the time they land on the recipient’s desk.
“Regular reporting enables you to make better business decisions, project future results and drive improvements.”
Shorts
This renders the organisation inflexible to both better serve customer or react to changing business landscapes.
In order to effectively and efficiently act upon what the report is telling you, you need to be aware of events as soon as they occur.
By using live data dashboards, you can access all the information you need at a click of a button.
No more guesswork. No more outdated decisions.
3 – Use The Right Technology
Technology is there to make your life easier. It’s no different with reporting.
With Anthill, you can visualise real-time data in your own perfect way.
Selecting the KPIs that matter to transform reporting from a long winded, labour intensive process into a simple, insightful activity providing clarity at the click of a button.
If data is hidden away, it can’t be actioned.
“74% of companies desire to be “data-driven”, but only 29% won the game at connecting analytics to action.”
Forrester
Using live data dashboards ensures you reports are accurate and accessible, encouraging proactive action rather than reactive scrambling.
Reporting for many is a task to avoid. All it takes to remove the pain is a technology that does the difficult part for you.
The only thing left for you to do is act on the insights you discover, improve your internal operations and better serve your loyal customers.
Ready to explore how Anthill can help elevate your reporting insights? Schedule a demo today.
Intrigued to learn more? Check out our Insights Hub to keep your business at the cutting edge.
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- February 1st, 2022