Experts say admitting you have an Excel problem is the first step to recovery.
Last month we presented signs that you might have an Excel addiction. Perhaps you recognized yourself or your organization in that blog. Identifying the problem is simply the beginning. Now, is the time to begin to recover from your Excel misuse.
So, what’s better than a spreadsheet? A tool that integrates data from a variety of sources in your organization and provides the ability to analyze, plan, and forecast as the data becomes available. Utilizing a Business Intelligence system that is designed for your needs. You’ll want to keep your spreadsheets for simple tasks, but there are some processes that you should move out of Excel today.
You can excel in understanding your budget outside of Excel
Moving your financial reporting and analysis to a dashboard will provide you and your decision-making team with a deeper understanding of your financials. By linking data sources to your dashboard you will have access to changes and updates in real time. You can stop looking up online videos to learn how to use complex formulas to get your information. Widgets and gauges developed just for your organization will give you the information you need and allow you to view it just the way you want. You won’t need to switch from spreadsheet to spreadsheet to dig deeper.
Manage your project in a dashboard
A spreadsheet is perfect for keeping track of small projects. Like, hosting a party or cataloging a personal library. It is not the perfect tool for a multi-year project involving thousands of tasks completed by hundreds of people across multiple continents. A dashboard built to monitor process and provide live, real-time updates makes managing a project a more efficient task. Data can be visualized and accessed by team members and provide the team with immediate understanding of project status and performance. With a dashboard featuring key performance indicators, progress toward goals no longer requires complex analysis.
Cut out the import and export step.
Industry specific software is a necessity. But sometimes it is not exactly user friendly. Taking data from one system and ensuring that other departments can utilize it in another system often involves imports and exports. It is exceptionally frustrating to find errors in that step. One employee didn’t save here, another didn’t update there, and suddenly no one has quality data.
Incorporating systems that can synchronize your data. Rather than depend on humans to manually synchronize it, will result in greater efficiency and better data for making important decisions.
No matter what you want to know from your data, the analysis is only as good as the data that is available. Spreadsheets full of corrupted, incomplete, or out of date data result in incorrect analysis. It’s time to bid goodbye to Excel and see your organization excel by moving to a customized Business Intelligence solution.