Why you need self-service reporting

In today’s fast-moving business market, it is a challenge to predict the future, and this is a reason why many companies are in a need for self-service reporting. Magical self-service reporting allows users to produce reports and visualizations on-the-go!

No matter if you want to stay ahead of your competition, improve performance, or increase profits, a quality data analytics solution is a must. Those three indicators suggest that you are ready to implement a data analytics solution that provides self-serve reporting:

1. Reports lead to more reports

Traditional reporting is most of the time frustrating and takes lot of energy. Often you must wait days for IT to generate a report and when it comes it can be already outdated information or it results with further delaying decision-making. Such reports are static without the ability to answer additional questions on a granular level. When more information is needed, you must go back to IT and request additional reports. And all goes in circle. 

On the other hand, self-service data analytics enables anyone (even people that are not technical users) to access and generate reports on demand, such as during business meetings. And the best thing is that if more information is needed users can quickly get more detail. 

2. Desire for visual charts

Would visualizations help you present complex data with better clarity and efficiency? A graphical depiction of numbers presents your data in a way that people can easily digest, retain, and recall.

There is almost nothing so effective like a well-told story trough visualization tool that allows you to set the scene and explain what happened, why it matters and how users can turn it into something actionable.

With graphic representations of data, it is easier to guide users from a broad overview down to the details. Visualizations might be simple such as bar/pie charts and maps, or they can be more complex such as funnels, gauges, waterfalls, and many other elements.  

3. People in the company are already use it

You will often find out that many colleagues are already using analytics at work. Many department heads and top employees understand that the IT department is stretched, yet they have important projects to deliver. As such, they may have already adopted and easy-to-use analytics solution for their personal use.  Ask around or take notice at your next business meeting and you are likely to find resourceful employees who are already using self-service analytics to quickly make informed decisions.

A study by the Harvard Business Review revealed that ‘high-performing, customer-oriented workforces’ have a high prevalence of employees using ‘bring your own technology.’  For instance, American-based big box store, Walmart, realized employees were using their phones to help them at work. Consequently, Walmart has embraced this trend by creating an employee app so they can help customers locate items within the store. So implementing a company-wide data analytics solution may not be difficult at all – perhaps you already have many users and advocates.