Jay LeonardYou can only manage what you can measure – Peter Drucker
At company A they initially had no reports on call stats for their telesales reps. And sales people were consistently missing their goals. They finally implemented call reporting and found most reps were spending ½ hour making calls each day (and another 3 hours calling family & friends). With the new daily reports they were able to turn that around to have reps on the phone half the day – and thereby making quota. That delay for 6 months turned 2 quarters that should have been profitable into a loss. The delay was because the I.T. group was so backed up it took 6 months to get to this request.
At company B they had great reporting on overall spends for online marketing and total sales. But it did not break it down by product line. After a year they were finally able to get the detailed reporting that tied spending by product line against products. And they found that 20% of their marketing was spending more than the products were bringing in in sales. The other 80% was profitable enough that it had hidden this loss. But 20% of their marketing expense was completely wasted. The delay was because the marketing group struggled with exactly what they needed from reporting and how to explain that to the I.T. group.
At company C they needed to add information to their health insurance reporting as required by the new healthcare law. Because of the complexity of their reporting system and the backlog of urgently required reports, they had to hire very expensive outside consultants to revise their reports.
Most managers ask the question, is our reporting software capable of delivering the reports we need. But usually that’s the wrong question. The question for most companies is “with our resources and needs, can we quickly create & revise the reports we need.” You need to use reporting software that, with the staff you have, can deliver the reports you need – quickly.
A great place to start looking is the website Reporting Software – Comparisons & Reviews of Reporting Tools. This provides a good picture of all of the reporting packages available. From that you can then dive into the 2 or 3 that are the best fit for your needs. As you do so, keep in mind not just can the system being evaluated produce the reports you want, but more importantly, can your staff use that system to create & revise all the reports you need quickly.
ps – One reporting system that jumps out in terms of enabling people, including business users, to quickly create and design reports is Windward Reporting Software. Windward is a revolutionary improvement in reporting technology. You design reports in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Report design, formatting, and layout are all performed using the most sophisticated, powerful, and easy to use tools available. So you already know how to use it.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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This is all well and good but can you honestly point the finger at reporting? It sounds like the problem EVERY company has where IT is scarce and brain power among the business unit for all things technical is even more scarce. Even if there are intelligent ones in the business groups they have to run the guantlet of “IT approval and setup” before they can experiment. I am all for my people helping themselves with an easy solution but when it takes a few months to get the “yes” to try and install said solution I honestly can think it comes down to the tool but rather access to use the tool. I also don’t see what is the problem with consultants. For said reasons above they serve their purpose in the food chain when IT is backed up. Sure they are expensive but when the company won’t hire additional IT resources eventually the money has to go somewhere and they end up paying 2 times what hiring a regular IT person would be. Granted this is for long term projects, not short term. I really feel these “problems” have been over simplified and in line with the “theme” of reporting. Do I smell a plug here?
I don’t know about how realistic these scenarios are either. Sure, this seems like an advocate for reporting software but it I can see the benefit for my business. For my quarterly reports I need to incorporate data from three different sources.
Why don’t you give the guy a break TR?
Really? IT Consultants are the Bain of true efficiency. Most are freelancer loosers that either got fired or couldn’t find a job in the 1st place, so they start a company pretending to be “experts”.
They then sell their wares to desperate businesses that are looking for a quick fix. In the end the business ends up spending more time and money then if they would have if they would have had their own IT group deploy a solution that empowers the end user to create their own reports. My team was so eager to get at the data they needed, that they would install any tool that had a free eval and use it with success with no training at all. We got smart and purchased the tool that was the most versatile and hod IT write a web app that allowed them to put it to production. The project took about a week and has save thousands in every department in the company. No consultant was smart enough to steer us in that direction so we figured it out on our own.
Freelance losers? You’re the “looser”! (Perhaps you should learn to spell before you post insults…) My team is brought in to companies all the time to fill the gap in IT; particularly in smaller companies. The product the writer describes could be perfect for many of our clients. (My goal as a “loser consultant” is to help my clients become more efficient and independent. It’s pretty much a “win-win” for us. They get good advice and we get great referrals.) Sorry you’ve had a lousy experience – but cut the generalizing.
Dave – Thanks for the info. We’ll check it out.
Typical slow-witted consultant response jumping to the incorrect conclusion; it’s not my spelling, but my typing that needs work. But being an efficiently expert, you’d recommend that using a mobile device with a tiny keyboard, may lead to more typos, ergo, is less efficient than just waiting to do you work in a proper office; because after all, content is less important than good typing skills.
As a generalist, I have learned that in general, consultants generally act in a predatory manor; like a Hyena looking for a suffering ill-fated entity to sap the last bit of breath from (I know, BizConsult, I used a dangling participial, so my grammar needs work too).
The general point that I was trying to make, my most generally unimpressive BizConsult, is that if you empower your team with the proper tools, like the kinds of things Dave describes, then you don’t need to pay consultants to come in and “save” you. After all this fine debate, you should admit your hidden agenda; you want repeat business…right? So, why would you recommend a tool to your “gravy train” that would eliminate the need for your services?
Didn’t you mean to say, “Dave — Thanks for the info. We’ll check it out, and recommend against it if it is mentioned.”? Bottom line and I would like to invite others to chime in here: CONSULTANT = WASTE OF $$
Typical slow-witted consultant response jumping to the incorrect conclusion; it’s not my spelling, but my typing that needs work. But being an efficiently expert, you’d recommend that using a mobile device with a tiny keyboard, may lead to more typos, ergo, is less efficient than just waiting to do you work in a proper office; because after all, content is less important than good typing skills.
As a generalist, I have learned that in general, consultants generally act in a predatory manor; like a Hyena looking for a suffering ill-fated entity to sap the last bit of breath from (I know, BizConsult, I used a dangling participial, so my grammar needs work too).
The general point that I was trying to make, my most generally unimpressive BizConsult, is that if you empower your team with the proper tools, like the kinds of things Dave describes, then you don’t need to pay consultants to come in and “save” you. After all this fine debate, you should admit your hidden agenda; you want repeat business…right? So, why would you recommend a tool to your “gravy train” that would eliminate the need for your services?
Didn’t you mean to say, “Dave — Thanks for the info. We’ll check it out, and recommend against it if it is mentioned.”?