Utilising Excel's Data Analytics Capabilities to Propel Your Business Forward
In our work with providing companies with advisory services, there are often two scenarios:
1.????????Companies who have little to no digital record of their business activities
2.????????Companies that have data scattered across different databases or software
Both scenarios can be a drawback for businesses in today’s fast paced and data driven business landscape where companies need to sieve through their business data to get insights to strategically plan their next moves.
Another observation we have made is that although most companies we work with use Microsoft Excel, which is one of the most popular and readily available tools for data analytics, there is a gross under-utilisation of the tool.
The Hidden Potential of Excel:
Excel is widely known for its spreadsheet functionality, but its data analytics capabilities extend far beyond basic calculations and tables. Usually, many businesses rely on Excel for simple data entry and organisation but overlook its advanced features for data analysis, visualisation, and forecasting.
By harnessing the full power of Excel, companies can unlock a wealth of valuable insights that can drive strategic decision-making and fuel business growth.
Now, let’s look at why companies might be underusing Excel and explore how they can maximise its capabilities for generating actionable business insights.
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Why Companies Underuse Excel:
There are several reasons why companies may underuse Excel for data analytics purposes:
1. A lack of Awareness: Many professionals are unaware of the advanced analytics features available within Excel and/or may lack the knowledge on how to leverage them effectively.
2. Being too comfortable with Traditional Methods: Companies often stick to traditional data analysis approaches or outdated software tools, overlooking the vast potential of Excel.
3. Fear of Complexity: Often, Excel's extensive functionality can be intimidating particularly for those who have not received adequate training or guidance on utilising its more advanced features.
How can companies maximize Excel for Business Insights?
To fully maximise Excel's potential and extract valuable business insights, companies can consider the following strategies:
1. Invest in Training: Provide employees with comprehensive training programs or workshops to enhance their Excel skills and knowledge of advanced data analytics techniques. Hint: Leonine Learning is perfectly primed to help your company in this area.
2. Explore Advanced Functions: Even after relevant trainings, companies must encourage employees to use Excel's powerful functions such as PivotTables, Power Query, and Power Pivot for data modelling, analysis, and visualisation in their day-to-day activities. This would enable them build proficiency and increase their comfort levels with using Excel advanced features.
3. Embrace Data Visualisation: Companies should acknowledge that the tool they use on a regular basis has the amazing visualisation capabilities. They can leverage Excel's charting capabilities to create visually engaging and meaningful visualisations that convey complex information in an easy to digest format.
4. Utilise Data Cleansing Techniques: Companies can implement data best practices by using the data cleansing and manipulation techniques within Excel to ensure accuracy and reliability of the data being analysed.
5. Leverage Add-Ins and Templates: Businesses can also explore the vast array of Excel add-ins and templates available online to streamline and enhance specific data analytics tasks.
6. Integrate External Data Sources: Import and merge external data sources into Excel to expand the scope and depth of analysis, providing a more comprehensive view of the business landscape.
7. Emphasise Collaboration: Businesses can foster a culture of collaboration by utilising Excel's sharing and collaboration features, allowing teams to work together seamlessly on data analysis projects.
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To conclude, it is obvious that Excel with its extensive capabilities has immense potential to unlock valuable business insights that can propel companies forward.
By recognising and addressing the under-utilisation of Excel for data analytics, businesses can tap into a wealth of untapped opportunities and gain a competitive edge in today's data-centric world.
Through appropriate training and exploration of advanced features with a focus on data visualisation and collaboration, companies can harness Excel's power to make informed decisions, drive innovation, and fuel business growth.
It's time to unleash the true potential of Excel and discover the transformative power of data analytics for your business. As a start, you can check out our FREE Excel course on how to build automated dashboards for your business and encourage your employees/colleagues to sign up too.
To your business growth ??,
SOA
For Leonine Learning
Leonine Learning is the training arm of Leonine Investment Services "Leonine" that helps individuals and businesses bridge their finance and business- related knowledge gap.
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3. Online courses via our learning platform;?learning.leonine.com.ng. Checkout our?Build Financial Models Like a Pro?and?How to build automated dashboards in Excel?online course?
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