Good reports help increase revenue and profitability. So, ask yourself how hard is it for you to instantly provide management with reports that can answer questions like these:
If you are like most Ops professionals, you work hard to provide some answers but you have not been provided the tools to deliver full reliable reports on utilization, consultants, customers and more. Your management thinks you can just create reports and they don’t understand how hard and time-consuming it is. You can change that for yourself but first consider your situation.
Leaders often think, “Well, I’ll just ask my Ops go-to person to create those reports or find the answers.”
They do not know if the Ops person is equipped with the right software to even deliver the reports. To them it is an Ops issue.
This forces Ops people to work extremely hard, pull together all kinds of processes, and yet when it comes to reporting they are limited by the tools they have. Hard, detail oriented work cannot compensate for missing tools and a foundation for reporting. Consider whether this happens to you.
Some Ops people think, “Our existing process is time-consuming but it is working. I’m not sure how far into the future it will carry us, but I’m too busy to deal with it today.”
Think about what your smartest peers are delivering in terms of reporting because that is becoming the new standard. Then, explore what they are doing. Think about how it would help you level-up your Ops game.
This is important because competitors with easier, more powerful reporting will have greater market insights and that will affect revenue. When that starts happening, pressure from management will start to mount. So plan to get ahead of that or misery will follow. Master it in your current role and it will open up great opportunities for your company and your own career.
Some Ops pros want to provide better reporting but think, “Wow, where and how do I begin? There is a lot of data and we have more than one system, multiple data sources, and so many processes.”
Operations is already a complex area with so many details to attend to. Data gathering and reporting is a sophisticated and specialized skill, so it can seem overwhelming to even consider adding it. The good news is that reporting and analytics is simpler and more affordable than ever before for people who aren’t necessarily specialized in business intelligence. Nowadays, it is in easy reach for SMB Ops so adding reporting to your business and your own skillset is an obvious next move.
At some point you have gone through a miserable software rollout! That painful memory can come thundering back at the mere thought of another software. That flashback slows down future change and makes it hard for you to consider new software at all. This is why many companies and Ops professionals are falling behind as they stick with outdated tools to avoid painful change.
The thing is, there are many great tools nowadays that could help, you just have to remember not to gloss over the implementation process when considering new vendors. Find someone who offers a rollout plan with milestones and a dedicated onboarding manager. Someone who won’t let it go into production for you until you are satisfied, and who will follow up to make sure the rollout is working smoothly. If your solution provider says we have a library of training videos and self help guides, then run like you’re being chased by something scary! You need a real-person with a team who will handle the process and can answer all your questions and deliver a painless, educational experience that builds your knowledge and skills in an engaging way. After going through that kind of good experience and having great reporting at your fingertips, you’ll be stronger than ever professionally.
You have been dealing with all of these concerns, pressures, and past experiences. Meanwhile, the industry has moved towards data-driven decision making. Whether you see your role as a good job or as a career to expand, there won’t be any escaping the need to master good reporting.
So, what do you do next? The best thing is to step back and take a stock of how your organization makes decisions today, how time is tracked, how invoices are set up, what data sources and repositories do you use, how many clients do you serve, how many consultants work there, what information would help decision-makers grow the business. Then think about what kind of reports would help them.
Then, don’t think you have to do it yourself. You can consider getting an operations and reporting expert to take you through a gaps assessment and evaluation process, but make sure your first interaction does not require a great deal of pre-work or preparation from you - it shouldn’t. Just remember, you are not alone in your concerns, and your professional growth.
We want to hear your other concerns and thoughts on these. Reach out for an informal private phone call with our own operations manager and tell us what concerns and frustrates you about operations and what you think would help you. This is not a sales call. We are Ops people too, and we apply what we learn from speaking with many people in operations to sharing knowledge in the Ops community and creating solutions that advance operations. Set up your complimentary call below.
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