Lacking reliable information, far too many business leaders still base their decisions on gut feeling. Instinct can sometimes lead to success, but running a company without analyzing its performance and anticipating how it will evolve is risky in the long run.
How can you avoid this hit-or-miss management?
In this article, discover the 5 reasons why a management reporting tool is essential to:
Your ability to make good decisions depends mainly on the reliability of the information you analyze. Unfortunately, "80% of enterprise data is unstructured today" (Gartner), and "experts (...) spend 50% to 80% of their time collecting, cleaning, formatting and preparing data rather than analyzing it" (Global Strategy).
Adopt a reporting solution to leverage and analyze the incredible amount of data at your disposal. These tools connect to your software (accounting, human resources, sales, etc.) and automatically give you up-to-date management indicators, ready to be analyzed to monitor your performance and build or adjust your strategy.
Without reliable reporting, it is difficult to make consistent choices and take the strategic decisions needed, on time, to maintain our levels of performance and profitability.
Serge Gregoir | CEO of Eutraco.
While large companies have always been able to invest heavily in analytics solutions, companies of all sizes can now benefit, at a lower cost, from powerful reporting tools that provide accurate, complete figures. Sound management of your company can no longer rely on intuition; it must depend on careful analysis and interpretation of the information generated by your business. EBITDA, cash position, sales pipeline value, working capital requirement, absenteeism rate... These are all indicators to track so you can react quickly and make sure your company is running optimally.
The entrepreneurs and managers who succeed will be those who adopt these solutions to know their company inside out. They will know what is happening at all times and will be able to answer essential questions: Is my margin optimal? Should I change my customer payment terms? Which product should I invest in or divest from? What impact will this investment have on my cash?
We were able to focus specifically on analyzing our data (...) and increase our profitability as a result. At EBITDA level, it was more than 40%!
Claudia De Moor | Co-CEO, Vosschemie.
Know where you are going and anticipate what lies ahead. Your company's success depends not only on understanding existing activities, but also on anticipating how they will evolve. Whenever you make a decision, you need to foresee the impact it will have on your company.
Combining past and future data in a single analytics platform lets you proactively identify new opportunities and set clear objectives for your organization, along with a consistent message for your teams and stakeholders. Reporting tools let you run different forecasts so you can move forward with confidence. If I invest in a new product, what will the impact be on my cash? If my sales drop sharply, what actions should I take? How will an expected regulatory change affect my profitability?
Close, precise monitoring of cash planning is essential in every company. When the market is difficult and changing, this need is even greater, because it is very important to be able to respond quickly. If you have a clear view of your cash and can adjust it quickly, you stay in control.
Louis Piron | CFO - Etienne Piron.
Align individual and team efforts by giving people the information they need to properly understand your business.
Reporting platforms let you share relevant data and forecasts across your organization, strengthening your teams' engagement and collaboration. Sharing dashboards encourages new ideas and initiatives that are aligned with your company's strategy.
A reporting solution is also a powerful ally for recognizing your employees' results. We generally tend to focus on actions that have failed. A reporting tool also shines a light on the initiatives that work, which strengthens your employees' buy-in.
Our dedicated tool automates the extraction of the data we need for management in a way that suits us. Its ease of use lets us work efficiently and improves collaboration between our teams.
Tim Van der Valk | CEO - Van der Valk Beveren
Making decisions based on intuition is risky for your company and can have dangerous consequences. Your success will depend on your ability to access reliable information so you can react quickly to sudden challenges and seize the opportunities that come your way.
Rely on an analytics and forecasting platform to handle every situation without stress. These platforms automatically centralize and structure all your data into management dashboards that are ready to analyze. A reporting solution gives you certainty and confidence in how your organization is run and in its future, because you have information at hand anytime, wherever you are.
We have become a data-driven company: instinct has given way to numbers. We now have real-time information at all times, without burdening our employees with that load.
Stieven Victor | CFO - Sack Zelfbouw
(named "Best Managed Company" in 2020 by Deloitte)