How much time do you spend on your reporting each month?
Ballpark? Hours, days, a week? More?
At Bundle, we’re dedicated to removing the manual, time-consuming elements of reporting giving you faster access to the information you need, presented in a way that’s actually readable!
We do this via automated reporting, and we think it’s such a game changer that we’ve put together five compelling reasons for you to make the switch.
1. Automated Reporting Makes You More Efficient
First and foremost, automating your reporting can significantly increase your efficiency. I mean, how many times does someone winch when you speak to them about how much time you spend reporting? It’s a lot, isn’t it.
Manual reporting is a proper time-consuming process, often involving tedious tasks such as data entry, data cleaning, and data validation. Let’s be honest though, while important, these tasks take an absolute age and make you dread the entire process.
With automated reporting, these tasks can be performed in a fraction of the time, freeing you up to focus on more important aspects of your business, like reading more of our blogs. Bundle can pull data from various sources within your business, cleanse it, validate it, leaving you with just a click of a button to generate stunning, interactive reports filled with vital data. Not only are you saving time, but you’re also reducing the risk of human errors and inaccuracy. What’s not to love!
Efficiency in Action
Consider a scenario where you’re required to generate weekly sales reports. Without automation, this could involve manually pulling data from your sales system, cleaning it, validating it, and then creating the report itself.
Now imagine you have multiple sales reports covering different products, territories, and owners which you then need to consolidate and write a narrative for a board that just wants the final numbers. I’m turning pale just writing this.
With automation, however, this process can be reduced to a matter of seconds.
Just program Bundle to pull the data at a specific time each week, let it work its magic and then schedule it to send to the right person at the right time. No more delayed reports, and you save hours each week. Plus, you look like an absolute legend in the process.
2. Automated Reporting Increases Accuracy
Another major benefit of automated reporting is the increased accuracy it offers.. If we’re being honest, manual reporting is prone to human error.
Whether it’s a simple data entry error or a more complex calculation error, these mistakes can have significant implications for your business, and they also make you look silly as you present data that has more holes in it than an EastEnders Christmas special.
Automated reporting, on the other hand, eliminates the risk of human error. No, we’re serious, it does. Once your automation software is set up correctly, it will consistently produce accurate reports. Thus giving you greater confidence in your data and allowing you to make more informed decisions.
Accuracy in Practice
Let’s say you’re manually calculating your monthly profit. This involves subtracting your expenses from your revenue. If you accidentally enter an expense as a revenue, this could significantly skew your profit calculation, leading to incorrect decisions. Not so smart now, eh!
With automated reporting, this risk is eliminated. Bundle accurately calculates your profit each month, giving you a clear and accurate picture of your financial performance.
3. Consistency Is Key
Inconsistent reports can lead to confusion, misinterpretation, and incorrect decisions. Also, while we’re stating the obvious, the Sky is blue and the earth is round.
Automated reporting ensures consistency by using the same processes and calculations each time a report is generated. There are no shortcuts, no tired eyes, or bored fingers.
This consistency can make it easier to compare data over time, identify trends, and make predictions.
We’ve all been there. Trying to put together a report, and you’re stuck collating data from different people to present back. One person sends in Excel, another in Google Sheets, another sends a Power Bi link, someone else copies and pastes it into Slack, and another person chisels it into a stone tablet. Not only are you staring down the barrel of a deadline, but now you’re trying to interpret five different stories into one coherent message.
By adding in that consistency (remember it’s key), you ensure that all the data is collected and interpreted in the same way, with the same format and calculations being used. Not only does it save you a mountain of time (get it, Moses came down from the mountain with the tab… Oh, forget it) you’re also ensuring that it’s easy for the various stakeholders to digest and understand.
Consistency in Practice
Imagine you’re manually creating monthly sales reports. One month, you might calculate your average sale price by dividing your total sales by the number of sales. The next month, you might calculate it by dividing your total sales by the number of items sold. This inconsistency could lead to confusion and incorrect conclusions.
With automated reporting, this inconsistency would be eliminated. Bundle calculates your average sale price in the same way each month, ensuring consistent and accurate reports.
