You are at the Mercy of the Wizard of Excel

Previously, you learned how hustling can only bring you disorder and not results.

Do your employees have to follow the yellow brick road to see the “Wizard or Excel” whenever they need a report? Is this wizard the only member of your team who understands the ins and outs of Excel spreadsheets? Do the wizard’s colleagues resent the fact that they are beholden this single, all-powerful spreadsheet guru? Then, your company is at the mercy of the Wizard of Excel, and it’s time to make a change.

When you lack a user-friendly reporting tool, or if your current reporting software is too complicated for team member to utilize efficiently, you’ll always be at the mercy of the Wizard of Excel. Spreadsheets can be complicated, time consuming, and the average user lacks the skill set to be able to export and manage data in this way. Many legacy BI solutions are equally complicated, and they require high-level development skills.

Your organization hired your Wizard because that individual has those important skills, but having just one employee who knows the ins and outs of reporting is a dangerous game. If that person leaves or becomes suddenly ill, there is no one who can step in quickly to take that position.

And if you only have one person overseeing all reporting, how do you even know the data they distribute is correct? With a Wizard of Excel, there are no checks and balances in place to ensure the accuracy of information. New BI dashboard solutions put reporting in the hands of those who need it: the end user.

Everyone who must have information can get to it, without having to go through a gatekeeper or make requests of the wizard. These dashboards are easy to use, and don’t require development experience. These dashboards also protect your organization from experiencing data paralysis should your wizard ever leave.

In the next chapter, you will find out how your reports are as useful as the letter P in raspberry.