Review your company reports.
Most of the time we generate a new report every time we have a new need, without worrying about existing reports. Now, if we review the templates of the reports that we already have, we would surely find one that adapts to a greater or lesser extent to our current need, either directly or by making a small modification.
On the other hand, during said review we could also detect a report that we are sure will never be necessary again, for example because it responds to already obsolete legislation. These reports can be eliminated, thus simplifying maintenance tasks.
It’s also important to have a nice organization of the generated documents and their asociations in case of being necessary.
Eliminate all the unnecessary ones.
If we manage to remove all the reports that are not really necessary, then the commercials will have more time to sell and will sell more. Also, they will be happier, because they do not like spending their time filling out forms.
Those responsible for maintaining the computer tool that generates the reports will also have more time to optimize those that are really useful. In addition, they will be less short on time and with a new request they will be able to review the history of reports and check if there is already an equal or at least similar one.
To successfully fulfill this mission the most important is involve Sales Managers, we need their help to approve the elimination of unnecessary reports, so we must make an effort to show them that they really are.
Automate your generation.
The capture of data from business operations should be as automatic as possible: in what phase they are, what tasks need to be carried out soon, what critical aspects does the opportunity have, etc. In this way, salespeople spend as little time as possible on bureaucratic tasks and dedicate themselves to selling. Likewise, the information must be sent automatically to the central systems, where the exploitation will take place.
The generation of reports, both periodic and specific, must also be automatic. To do this, it is enough to adapt the standard functionality of IT solutions to the specific needs of the company. The reports generated can be sent by email or by any other messaging mechanism, without human intervention, on the scheduled dates and times.
As for custom reports, it is relatively easy to incorporate the ability to generate them when we need them. To do this, it is enough to create specific filters, which allow us to select the criteria with which to carry out the queries we need at any time and, furthermore, to do so with the push of a button.
