According to a survey from BusinessIntelligence.com, a mere 21% of business leaders are actually happy with the information their reports provide, and 74% of these reports are pulled from scattered, fragmented sources. All of a sudden, capitalizing on the beautiful myriad of data opportunities becomes an exhausting obstacle.
So the story plays out disappointingly: every team member feels the blow of inefficiency. They waste their precious time in futile meetings, skimming through page after mind-numbing page of Excel spreadsheets and email conversations. Accessing and understanding all the data is in itself a full-time job.
But when you have the right business optimization solution, everything clicks. Your whole business, and every little piece of its puzzle, comes together in an intuitive and accessible platform. Almost by magic, collaboration becomes a snap, and non-tech team members are empowered to manage information on their own. Here are some pitfalls that an inefficient business faces – and how you can escape the cycle:
1. You’re trapped in a vortex of back-to-back meetings
The average U.S. employee will waste about 31 hours in unproductive meetings this month. They’re impossible to avoid completely, but collaboration outside of that dreaded conference room is possible. You need a centralized system to see important data, address it with the people who matter, and take charge.
2. Critical information is drowning in email threads
We all know the feeling of frantically searching through a stuffed inbox to find that one confirmation we could swear we received two weeks ago. The good news is your most recent search can be your last once all of your conversations are centralized and organized.
3. You wait so long for reports that they become obsolete
There’s a special kind of irony in waiting on an analyst to compile a report that’s not even useful by the time it gets to you. Such is the curse of traditional business intelligence solutions. To keep up with the 21st century, you need the ability to access, prepare, and transform your data when you need it.
4. Your data is siloed, fragmented, and elusive
From analytics platforms and CRMs to emails and spreadsheets, the average enterprise has data strewn all over the place. We don’t need to tell you that your business suffers because of this. To truly embrace the power of your data, you’ll need to be able to access it in one place.
5. Collaborating with your own team is a struggle
Only 8% of CEOs are confident their reports facilitate collaboration. For the business that has organizational barriers, collaborating with your team can make even the most social entrepreneur cringe. Fortunately, you’ll find that once these barriers are torn down, collaborating isn’t so bad after all.
6. Each department is its own sovereign city-state
While a marketer might know ad spend and conversion rates, he or she would still need revenue data from finance to understand return on investment. In the marketing department, you’ll still need to be able to know what’s going on in finance to have a true grasp on the company’s bottom line. You need a solution that provides contextual, inter-departmental data so you can see the bigger picture.
7. Your static spreadsheets and reports are making enemies for you
Are you stuck making reports in Excel? From the bottom of our hearts, we’re sorry to hear this. But there’s good news: there’s a solution out there to compile all of your spreadsheet data into one place, transform it into intuitive and intelligible visualizations, and bring it to you in real time. It’s called Business optimization software.
8. You can’t tackle emergencies until after the damage is done
When unexpected spikes or dips occur in your key metrics, it can wreak havoc on your business. This is especially true when you have no control over it, because you never knew it was even happening. The right platform will deliver this info right when it happens so you can make timely, effective decisions.
9. Being away from your desk means being unable to access your data
Business moves fast. So fast, in fact, that waiting until tomorrow just won’t cut it anymore. With over 72% of business leaders say they can’t easily access data on their mobile devices, a mobile solution that lets you access business information 24/7 is a necessity. You do everything else on your smartphone, now you can manage your business there, too.
10. You’re frustrated with your legacy applications, but don’t know whether to replace or supplement them
You have a love-hate relationship with your legacy apps, but the traditional BI solutions you’ve seen just aren’t promising enough for you to invest in the switch. While you may be comfortable, your team members still need accessible, easy-to-share data in order to do their jobs better.
The information you care about – always at your fingertips
When a business fails to harness the opportunities of its wealth of information, it falls prey to debilitating inefficiencies. Domo aims to raise the bar with the world’s first business optimization software that unites your whole business—data, systems, and people—around actionable, real time data. What’s even better is that Domo gives you transparency, flexibility, and precision to make all the right decisions for your unique business to flourish.