6 surprising ways to use embedded ad-hoc reporting in your business

Imagine this scenario:

You are the founder of a rising startup that has just scored its first funding round. You’re in a board meeting with your investors, and they’re asking about your plans for growth.

You launch into your presentation, complete with charts and graphs illustrating your points. But then one of the investors interrupts you.

“This is all well and good,” he says. “But can you tell us what these numbers mean in terms of real-world impact? Can you show us how this will affect our bottom line?”

You’re caught off guard. You didn’t prepare for this question.

But luckily, you have embedded ad-hoc reporting on your side. With a few clicks, you’re able to pull up the data that the investor is asking for. You have your BI tool connected to your data sources, so you can quickly generate the reports you need.

In seconds, you’re able to answer the investor’s question and continue with your presentation.

The investor is impressed, and you can move on with the meeting.

If this sounds like a far-fetched scenario, think again. Embedded ad-hoc reporting is becoming increasingly popular in businesses of all sizes across all industries. And it’s not hard to see why.

Embedded ad-hoc reporting is a powerful tool that allows you to quickly generate reports on the fly without going through a lengthy and complex process.

Not only that, but embedded ad-hoc reporting is also highly customizable. You can tailor your reports to fit your specific needs, so you’re always getting the information that you need when you need it.

If you’re not using embedded ad-hoc reporting in your business yet, now is the time to start. Let’s take a look at six unique ways that you can put this tool to work in your business.

What is ad-hoc reporting?

Ad-hoc reporting can be defined as “the process of generating reports on the fly, without having to go through a lengthy and complex process.”

In other words, ad-hoc reporting allows you to quickly generate reports without having to pre-plan or design them ahead of time.

This can be extremely helpful when you need to generate a report on short notice or when you need to customize a report to fit your specific needs.

What is embedded ad-hoc reporting?

Embedded ad-hoc reporting is a type of ad-hoc reporting that allows you to generate reports directly from your BI tool.

In other words, rather than having to export your data to another program in order to generate a report, you can do everything within your BI tool.

This is extremely convenient, as it allows you to generate reports quickly and easily without having to switch between different programs.

6 ways to use embedded ad-hoc reporting in your business

1. Gain real-time insights into your business performance

One of the best ways to use embedded ad-hoc reporting is to gain real-time insights into your business performance.

With embedded ad-hoc reporting, you can connect to your data sources and generate reports on the fly. For example, if you have an internal sales database, you can generate a report that shows you how your sales are trending over time.

This is valuable information that you can use to make decisions about your business in real-time. If you see that sales are starting to decline, you can take action to correct the issue before it becomes a bigger problem.

Plus, with embedded ad-hoc reporting, you can easily share these reports with others in your organization. This way, everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal.

2. Get a 360-degree view of your customers

Another great way to use embedded ad-hoc reporting is to get a 360-degree view of your customers.

This is particularly valuable for companies operating in the B2B space. When you have a complete view of your customers, you can better understand their needs and pain points.

Consider adding a CRM data source to your embedded ad-hoc reporting tool. This way, you can generate reports that show you everything from customer contact information to purchase history.

With this information at your fingertips, you can make more informed decisions about your marketing and sales strategies. You can also use this information to provide better customer support.

3. Improve your decision-making with data-driven insights

Nothing keeps a CEO or CIO up at night like a bad decision. With so much on the line, it’s critical that you make data-driven decisions that will help your business succeed.

Embedded ad-hoc reporting can help you do just that. By connecting to your data sources and generating reports on the fly, you can get the insights you need to make informed decisions about your business.

What does this mean? Essentially, you can use data to guide your decision-making process.

For example, let’s say you’re considering expanding your business into a new market. With embedded ad-hoc reporting, you can generate a report showing you the market’s potential opportunity.

You can also use embedded ad-hoc reporting to run what-if scenarios. This way, you can explore different options and see what the potential outcomes could be before you make a final decision.

4. Stay ahead of the competition

In today’s competitive business landscape, staying ahead of the competition is more important than ever.

One way to do this is by using embedded ad-hoc reporting to track your competitors. By connecting to data sources like social media, news feeds, and website traffic data, you can generate reports that show you how your competition is performing.

This information can be invaluable. It can help you understand what’s working well for your competition and where they might be vulnerable.

Now imagine if you had this report embedded on your company intranet. Your team can view it regularly and use the information to make decisions that will help you stay ahead of the competition.

5. Increase transparency across your organization

Transparency is critical for any organization but can be difficult to achieve. One way to increase transparency is by using embedded ad-hoc reporting.

One way to use this is by creating reports that show how different departments are performing. For example, you can create a report that shows sales data by region or customer type.

This information can be shared with everyone in your organization. This way, everyone is aware of how different departments are performing and can work together to improve overall performance.

Now, if you have stakeholders who want to see this information but don’t have access to your embedded ad-hoc reporting tool, you can easily share reports with them. This way, they can stay up-to-date on what’s going on without needing to login to the tool.

Similarly, you can also use embedded ad-hoc reporting to increase transparency around company finances. By creating reports showing budget data, you can ensure that everyone in your organization knows how money is being spent.

6. Generate custom reports for specific audiences

Not all reports are created equal. In fact, different people will often need different types of reports.

This is where embedded ad-hoc reporting really shines. With this tool, you can easily generate custom reports for specific audiences.

For example, let’s say you want to create a report for your sales team. You can use embedded ad-hoc reporting to pull data from your CRM and generate a report that shows sales data by region or customer type.

On the other hand, if you want to create a report for your marketing team, you can use embedded ad-hoc reporting to pull data from your marketing automation tool and generate a report that shows marketing campaign performance.

The bottom line is that embedded ad-hoc reporting gives you the flexibility to generate custom reports for specific audiences. This way, you can ensure that everyone gets the information they need to do their job.

Why invest in an ad-hoc reporting tool?

If you’re not already using embedded ad-hoc reporting in your business, now is the time to invest in a tool.

There are plenty of reasons to do this, but here are three of the most important:

1. Improve decision-making

2. Stay ahead of the competition

3. Increase transparency across your organization

Investing in an ad-hoc reporting tool will help you achieve all these things. When you have increased visibility into your data, you can make better decisions that will help your business succeed.

Don’t wait any longer. Invest in an ad-hoc reporting tool today and start reaping the benefits.

Expand your data reports with Domo BI

If you’re looking for an embedded ad-hoc reporting tool to help you achieve all of the things we’ve discussed, look no further than Domo.

Domo is a BI tool that gives you visibility into all of your data, no matter where it’s stored. With Domo, you can easily create custom reports and dashboards that will help you make better decisions.

Plus, Domo makes it easy to share reports with stakeholders. By creating practical reports and embedding them in your website or intranet, you can ensure that everyone in your organization has the information they need to do their job.

Ready to see how Domo can help you take your business to the next level? Request a demo today.