How to use data reporting to boost your business performance

In recent years, the big data revolution has put unprecedented levels of customer and operational data in the hands of business managers – and data generation is growing fast.

According to the IDC Digital Universe Study, by 2020 1.7 megabytes of new data will be created every second for every human being on the planet.

But the challenge for business managers is turning such a large volume of data into accurate metrics you can use to make effective business decisions in real time.

Integrated ERP software can provide the solution. For example, MYOB EXO features built-in Clarity Reports that streamline your data analysis and provide insights into multiple facets of your business. Often, unexpected figures on reports can raise more questions. This is why MYOB EXO also offers integration with powerful Business Intelligence applications that allow managers, directors and board members to slice and dice data on the fly. These types of applications allow key stakeholders to drill down on data collected.

You may not need this level of control in your reporting. Instead, MYOB EXO allows you to simple set queries that are relevant to your business and the software mines your customer and operational data to generate custom reports that reveal how each of your key business units are performing via an analytics dashboard that can be individually tailored for each user.

These reports can even be scheduled to run at specific times and delivered to email inboxes — a great way to remind line managers how their departments are tracking.

Alternatively, well-designed ERP solutions also provide interactive dashboards for users that provide their KPIs and how they are tracking represented graphically.

And with built-in triggers automatically alerting you to potential problem areas in real time, you’ll never miss a beat as the data you’ve collected is transformed into an essential business tool.

Here are seven key metrics that you should cover when creating customer data reports:

Overall revenue

Tracking your sales revenue is one of the best ways to assess the performance of your advertising and marketing efforts, time-sensitive promotions and new product launches. Compare spikes in sales revenues against your promotional activities to reveal which provide the best return on investment, and which don’t produce the desired results. This allows the organisation to focus their resources in areas that provide the results they are looking for.

Gross profit margin

Gross margin is the cost of goods sold subtracted from your total sales revenue – which reveals your gross profit margin on each product or service line. Monitoring your gross margin will reveal which of your customer accounts are the most profitable, and where you may need to reduce overhead costs. We have all heard the old adage that 20 per cent of our customers make up 80 per cent of our income. But do you know who your most valuable customers are? And do you focus your time and resources on retaining them?

Cash flow

Mismanaged cash flow is one of the most common reasons for business failure. That’s why it’s important to constantly balance incoming funds with outgoing expenses. To do this, monitor the average time your debtors take to pay their accounts and set your payments to your creditors along a matching timeline.

Productivity

Monitoring the productivity of your people is vital to keeping your profitability on track. Use data reports that examine time sheets, call logs and sales made to analyse employee behaviour and identify the high performers in your team, and where support is needed to improve performance. The cost of replacing personnel is far more costly to the business long term than providing short-term support to employees to help them achieve.

Marketing performance

Signing a new customer is often much more expensive than retaining an existing one. That’s why it’s important to know how much it’s costing you to recruit new customers with reports that compare your total marketing costs against the number of new customers. If this figure balloons, it could be a sign you need to rethink your marketing activities.

Employee engagement

As the war for talent continues, businesses continue to compete to attract and retain the best people. Tracking employee engagement data will help you identify what your business is doing right – and wrong – in the eyes of your employees. Addressing issues swiftly will help keep your high performers on your team.

Customer experience

Data collected from Point of Sale feedback, customer surveys and complaints can reveal operational failures or other sticking points that may be frustrating your customers. Monitor these reports to keep pace with exactly how your customers are experiencing your business and identify any negative patterns.

The take-home message

Your ability to make effective business decisions depends on your access to accurate data reporting that reveals insights into the performance of your business in real time.

Implementing an ERP system with custom data reporting will help you make sense of a range of key business metrics that will influence your business decisions today and well into the future.

Contact us to find out how we can help you make better business decisions with data reporting or…