Why CEOs Need Multi-Data Source Reporting

Hey CEOs: Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

Your Sales VP, working in his Salesforce CRM, can get some – but not all – of the important sales analytics he needs. He spends a good chunk of his time preparing native reports to provide you with the relevant sales information you request.

Your CFO, working in her Quickbooks financial software, can get some – but not all – of the important finance analytics she needs. She spends a good chunk of her time preparing native reports to provide you with the relevant financial information you request.

But what happens when you want to get both reports rolled up into one comprehensive and cohesive presentation? How are you supposed to aggregate these multiple data sources, and then take that information to the next level of deeper analysis, into a combined report that actually makes sense for you? How can you ensure that 1 (sales report) + 1 (finance report) = 3 (a holistic overview with deep analysis of your whole business)?

(Hint: You can’t, not without using a comprehensive analytics product…like InsightSquared!)

Just how many different data sources do I have?

For most companies, their CRM and financial software are likely just scratching the surface of the various data sources they get information from. Most companies also have to include…

  • Customer support software, such as Zendesk

  • Website tracking information, such as Google Analytics

  • Telephony / auto-dialer software, such as ShoreTel Sky

  • Marketing automation software, such as Marketo

Running a company is complicated business! There are many different aspects – and their accompanying data sources – that CEOs have to keep in mind. Furthermore, each of the aforementioned data sources, especially Salesforce CRM and Quickbooks financials, are absolutely best practices – no Sales VP wants to live without Salesforce. Companies NEED this stuff to help their operations run smoothly.

Why CEOs rely on multi-data source reporting

Scenario #1:

Your sales team just sold $120k in bookings on one of the company’s best deals of the quarter. Once all the i’s have been dotted and the t’s have been crossed on the contract, the sales info essentially stops there. The sales rep has done their job, and has entered the appropriate information in Salesforce.

But the buck does not stop there – literally.

After all, the terms of the contract must be paid out to your company. The contract typically will not come enclosed with a check for the full amount of the deal – most vendors collect from their customers on a monthly basis. If your company isn’t tracking the actual paid invoices in Salesforce, then it has to be tracked somewhere else. Like in Quickbooks, for instance.

If the customer is reliable with their monthly $10k payments, this isn’t as much of an issue. But what if the customer slips on their payments one month? What if that one month snowballs into three months of delayed payments? At this point, it becomes a serious issue for you…yet also one that might be unbeknownst to you – unless you have your multiple data sources rolled up into one comprehensive report. And what about a deeper drill-down? You might know that your Accounts Receivable (AR) is growing, but can you break that AR data down by individual sales rep? Not without multi-data source reporting.

Looking at each data source on its own merits provides an incomplete picture – when the sales information stops, the financial information picks up. For CEOs, being able to look at both Salesforce CRM and Quickbooks financial data at once provides the complete picture they require to run their business.

Scenario #2:

The quarterly Board of Directors meeting is just around the corner. For the CEO, this will be one of the most important presentations they’ll have to deliver. The Board will be looking for a comprehensive report that provides a summation of how the company is doing, in various different areas of running the business.

Imagine if the CEO has to run around to the Sales VP, the CFO, the head of the support team and anybody else responsible for producing native reports. He wouldn’t be able to access these valuable reports without having the Sales VP and the CFO first running the numbers, sussing out the most important details to share. What a pain!

But if the CEO is able to delve into a reporting and analysis product that has reports on all of his important data sources – from sales to finance to even something as granular as the sales reps’ call log – preparing for the Board of Directors meeting will be a cinch.

 
Now you know how CEOs stand to benefit greatly by being able to look at reports from multiple data sources at once, instead of sorting through individual native reports. Stay tuned for future posts on how exactly InsightSquared can shine a light on that multi-data source information.