We live in a world of excess data. Whether we are talking about Big Data, the kind of information that flows in and around the internet and helps potential sellers know everything about us, or Little Data, the birthdate of every customer in our database, we have plenty of info that we can use. If only we had time to analyze, sort, and harness all of that data to drive changes in our business.
At the lowest level, we rely on our systems to apply the first level of organization to underlying transactional data. We depend on our accounting software to turn those mysterious Debits and Credits (that only we accountants understand) into Revenues and Expenses, Profit and Loss, Net Income and Cash Flow. We generate Inventory Reports at the end of the month, quarter, or year to validate our physical inventory quantities. We can run sales reports from our Point of Sale, E-Commerce, or Accounting systems to see what units we sold and how much revenue we generated. We can turn to our payroll systems to see who got paid, how much we paid in payroll tax, and how much cash was consumed in doing all of that.
But what if we want to go deeper?
How do we connect the dots? What if we want to understand or analyze trends in our data, or connect revenues and payroll, or consider inventory movement in relation to our sales growth for a given period? We need to look beyond traditional system-specific reporting.
Advanced reporting used to be available only to larger companies with big pocketbooks and even bigger teams of people with specialized database management and analytics training. But thanks to rapid advancement in development tools and technology, we now have affordable tools that make data insights more readily available to leaders, teams, and even front-line workers. Gone are the days of waiting six weeks after the end of a month to analyze business results. Leaders require insights daily, as the transactions happen, and they need to be organized to support rapid decision-making.
At KRD, we are in the insights business. That’s why we are turning to tools like Power BI, Fathom and Finagraph which allow us to bring data together across different systems. Our clients are looking for timely, actionable information that is easy for leaders to understand. We want to translate the language of business into visual models, what-if discussions, and actionable metrics.
That’s why we have invested in a new way of working with clients (Level 5 Advisor Certification) and new tools that support that shift, including our own Benchmarking Dashboard. We help clients organize transactional data to support deeper insights and then harness that data to get teams invested in applying it for greater success. We start by helping leaders set high level goals and then work to connect managers and line workers with those results through training and facilitation.
How are you turning data into insights in your business? We can help.
