These industries should be using embedded ad hoc reporting

Imagine you are a business owner, and it’s time to evaluate your quarterly performance. You gather all the data you need and sit down to take a look at what happened over the past three months.

As you go through the numbers, you realize that something doesn’t quite add up. You’ve been doing well in some areas, but sales have been dropping off lately. What could be causing this?

This is where embedded ad hoc reporting can come in handy. With this type of reporting, you can quickly and easily generate reports that help you drill down into the data to find out what’s going on. This can be a valuable tool for troubleshooting problems and deciding where to focus your efforts.

A few industries in particular can benefit from using embedded ad hoc reporting. Let’s take a closer look at some practical examples.

What is embedded ad hoc reporting?

Embedded ad hoc reporting is a type of business intelligence that allows users to generate reports quickly without needing IT assistance. This can be a valuable tool for businesses that need to be able to generate reports on the fly in order to make decisions about their operations.

The main benefit of embedded ad hoc reporting is that it empowers users to explore data and find answers to questions without relying on IT staff. This can help businesses save time and money by allowing them to quickly generate reports without waiting for someone else to do it.

Another benefit of this type of reporting is that it can be customized to meet the specific needs of a business. This means that companies can create reports that are tailored to their own data sets and requirements.

How BI and reporting differ

Before we dive into some practical examples of industries that can benefit from using embedded ad hoc reporting, it’s important to understand the difference between business intelligence (BI) and reporting.

At its core, BI is about understanding data. This involves collecting data from various sources, cleansing and normalizing it, and then storing it in a data warehouse. Once the data is in the data warehouse, it can be analyzed to generate insights that can help businesses make better decisions.

Reporting, on the other hand, is about presenting data in an easy-to-understand format. This can involve creating charts, graphs, and other visuals to help users understand what the data tells them. Reporting is often used to generate ad hoc reports, which are reports that are generated on demand in response to a specific question or need.

Why use embedded ad hoc reporting?

There are a few key reasons why businesses might want to consider using embedded ad hoc reporting:

1. It can save time and money: Embedded ad hoc reporting can be a valuable time-saving tool for businesses. It eliminates the need to rely on IT staff to generate reports, saving businesses time and money.

2. It’s flexible: Embedded ad hoc reporting is highly flexible and can be customized to meet the specific needs of a business. This means that companies can create reports that are tailored to their own data sets and requirements.

3. It’s easy to use: One of the main benefits of embedded ad hoc reporting is that it’s easy to use. This type of reporting doesn’t require much technical expertise, making it accessible to a wide range of users.

4. It’s interactive: Embedded ad hoc reporting is interactive, which means that users can drill down into the data to find the answers to questions. This can be a valuable tool for troubleshooting problems and deciding where to focus your efforts.

5. It’s visual: Embedded ad hoc reports are often visuals, such as charts and graphs. This can make it easier for users to understand what the data is telling them.

These are just a few of the reasons why businesses might want to consider using embedded ad hoc reporting. Now, let’s take a look at some specific examples of industries that can benefit from this type of reporting.

Industries that can benefit from using embedded ad hoc reporting

There are a few industries in particular that can benefit from using this type of reporting. Here are some examples:

1. Retail

In the retail industry, it’s crucial to be able to track sales data and understand what’s driving customer behavior. If companies are unable to generate reports quickly, they could miss out on important insights about their business.

With embedded ad hoc reporting, businesses can quickly generate reports that show them sales data by store, product, and more. This can help businesses make decisions about where to focus their efforts and how to optimize their operations.

For example, a retailer might use embedded ad hoc reporting to generate a report that shows sales data by store. This report would include information such as the total sales for each store, the average sale amount, and the number of transactions.

2. Banking and financial services

For banks or other financial institutions, it’s important to be able to track data about customer behavior and transactions. With embedded ad hoc reporting, businesses can quickly generate reports that offer data on things like customer balances, account activity, and more.

This type of reporting can also be used to generate reports about fraud or compliance-related issues. For example, a bank might use embedded ad hoc reporting to generate a report showing all transactions over a certain amount made using debit cards.

3. Manufacturing

Few industries depend on fast, accurate data like manufacturing. In the manufacturing industry, it’s important to be able to track data about production, inventory, and more.

Imagine, for example, that a company is running low on a certain raw material. If the company can’t generate a report quickly to show where the raw material is being used, it could cause production delays–and offer a competitive advantage to companies that can.

4. Healthcare

The healthcare industry is another one that requires access to accurate data in an ever-changing landscape. With embedded ad hoc reporting, businesses can quickly generate reports that offer data on things like patient records, treatment plans, and more.

There are a variety of ways that embedded ad hoc reporting can be used in healthcare, including tracking patient outcomes, monitoring compliance with regulations, and improving the quality of care.

This greater access to data can help healthcare companies fast-track improvements and make better decisions about where to focus their efforts. This, in turn, will help increase patient outcomes and satisfaction.

5. Telecommunications

Telecommunications is an industry that relies on data to function. Companies in this industry need to be able to track data about customer usage, network performance, and more.

Telecommunications teams can create custom reports with embedded ad hoc reporting to track data about customer usage, network performance, and more. Additionally, this type of reporting can be used to generate intelligence about things like market trends or customer behavior.

Plus, with embedded ad hoc reporting, businesses can create reports that are tailored to their specific needs. This means they can get the data they need when they need it—without waiting for someone else to generate a report.

6. Government

Government agencies have a lot of data—and they need to be able to make sense of it all. With embedded ad hoc reporting, businesses can quickly generate reports that offer data on things like budgeting, expenditures, and more.

This type of reporting can also be used to track data about compliance with regulations or the performance of government programs. For example, a government agency might use embedded ad hoc reporting to generate a report showing how well a program works. Or, they can utilize ad hoc reporting to investigate potential fraud.

Embedded reports and the future

Data is becoming increasingly important for companies that want to maintain a competitive edge. And as the data landscape continues to evolve, so too will the way that businesses utilize embedded ad hoc reporting.

As businesses become more reliant on data, they’ll need to find ways to access it quickly and easily. Embedded ad hoc reporting will continue to be a valuable tool for businesses that need to make sense of their data.

Plus, as the data landscape becomes more complex, businesses will need to find ways to make sense of it all. Embedded ad hoc reporting will continue to be a valuable tool for businesses that need to make sense of their data. With this type of reporting, businesses can quickly generate reports that offer data on things like budgeting, expenditures, and more.

So, if you’re not using embedded ad hoc reporting in your business, now is the time to start. It’s a valuable tool that can offer a competitive edge in today’s data-driven landscape.

Start building better reports with a BI tool

If you are looking for a resource that helps you use your company’s data in new, effective ways, look no further than investing in a BI tool. BI software makes it easy to create custom reports and dashboards from your data, so you can make better decisions about your business.

Using BI tools, you can quickly generate reports that offer actionable insights into your data. Plus, BI software makes it easy to share your reports with others, so you can collaborate on data-driven decisions.