| The data is in the system! Yes, that's right. | | | | capture has already changed. Therefore, a lot |
| Whatever you want to know about your | | | | of people resort to using Excel to present |
| business, your customers' spending patterns, | | | | the information they need to their bosses. |
| your stock level, your financial performance, | | | | And without good Excel Skills, it is going to |
| your customers' profile, and many other | | | | be a painful process for them. |
| questions you want answered. | | | | |
| | | | You can make use of readily available |
| Citibank, in an article published in 6 Dec | | | | worksheet functions to transform those raw |
| 2005 of Singapore Digital Life, reveals that | | | | data from the system, present them as useful |
| theyuse the data in their system to identify | | | | business information used for making critical |
| customers who fit their assumptions of the | | | | business decisionand planning. For those |
| potential customer base like age, salary and | | | | working in big corporations, you do not have |
| spending behaviour. | | | | to rely on your IT department to generate the |
| | | | reports for you. You will learn how to |
| Business Intelligence is not confined to BIG | | | | analyse those data using readily available |
| companies. A specialised system normally can | | | | function provided by Excel. |
| cost tens and hundreds of thousands. But | | | | |
| there are always alternative and the solution | | | | For SME, you do not need a powerful BI system |
| is right in your computer. Excel is a | | | | to get what the big companies are getting. |
| powerful BI tool that is commonly used in | | | | Using Excel, you can make the data become |
| Europe and US. The question is: Do you know | | | | valuable to your business without the need to |
| how? | | | | purchase any software. All you need is to |
| | | | make Excel comes in power and you will be |
| Using Excel, a travel agency was able to | | | | able to gain insights into your business like |
| profile their customers using the data they | | | | never before. |
| have diligently captured into Gilboa, a | | | | |
| travel management system. They were able to | | | | A combination of Excel and MsQuery provide |
| identify their niche and to allocate the | | | | the most direct way to tap into databases and |
| optimal amount of resources to grow their | | | | retrieve those information real-time so that |
| customer base. And they spent only a fraction | | | | you could prepare your report with ease. I |
| of the cost big companies are paying because | | | | used to use Excel to tap into our accounting |
| they use tools they already owned, that is, | | | | database server directly and create my |
| Microsoft Excel. | | | | financial statements. When it is set up, I |
| | | | just need to open the file and the statements |
| For big companies, an expensive system does | | | | will be refreshed without me having to do |
| not necessary mean they are able to get the | | | | anything. It makes closing the account a |
| data they want. From system design to | | | | breeze for me. |
| implementation will take at least 6 month and | | | | |
| as long as 2 years. By the time the system is | | | | Is the evidence strong enough for you to use |
| launched, the business environment would have | | | | Excel as a tool for business intelligence? |
| changed and the information they need to | | | | |