Not that kind of data but finally the excuse to post an image of Data from Star Trek TNG I've been looking for, it's tenuous I know but it's that or a large picture of a graph!
Moving swiftly on....if you're a business then like it or not you are producing data of some kind. That could be in the form of sales data, job data, income data, customer data or just data because you've been on-line. I'm producing data simply by writing now.
Each piece of data needs to be managed in some way so that you can find it, use it and manipulate it to your advantage. This is how you get ahead, it's worked pretty well for Google! Manipulating your data may show you where your strengths lie, equally it'll show you were you're weaknesses are and these are the things that could be costing you and your business money.
Data manipulation is essential to any business as you need to know where you may lose money or where too much of your most precious resource is going, your time. Badly managed data can inhibit you significantly therefore you need a solution to allow the growth you want and need. Knowing which products sell the best or which give the highest profit margin is essential but also knowing who is the more productive in your team is of equal importance. On the flip side knowing which products are simply not bringing in the cash and being able to pinpoint them easily is a great way of saving money.
This isn't always available in an off the shelf product as it just doesn't have everything you want in it and trying to shoehorn your information in something that doesn't quite cut it is beyond frustrating.. That's where a bespoke solution comes in, something tailored around you, something encapsulating your personal processes to show your data the correct way but also in the best, most truthful way. There are myriad ways to achieve this and no two ways will be alike. Hopefully it won't include a garishly coloured, endless columned spreadsheet!
So how do you go about collecting your data? Well you could use the old fashioned way of paper and a pencil and that works. I have extensive notes all over the place for a lot of things and processes but that's the point....all over the place. This kind of thing needs to be accessible and in one place with a system of access that's simple and easy.
What digital methods can you use to collect your data?
If you have Office you most likely have Access. This can provide you with a simple enough means to store and access your data but not process it. You may well end up with an inefficient and unruly set of tables or table depending on your knowledge of relational database structures and SQL. You could try out a NoSQL database if you fancy getting a little off the usual path such as MongoDB that would certainly help in the unruly stakes mentioned before.
I've seen many variations on the spreadsheet, some of which have made me nauseous with the colourful columns and charts but if it works for you then it simply works. Personally I have a bias towards Excel as programming within it and automating it are my 'thing' unlocking the full power of the application. A simple solution to crunch your numbers and generate charts is easily created without the need for cumbersome formulae and you may not even realise you're using Excel by the end of it! Plus you probably already have the program at hand and have no need to invest extra cash, something I will be covering in a later post.
There are many weird and wonderful variations of common programs that are rebuilt as free and community maintained applications. Often they can be better than the commercial applications. For instance I use GIMP for photo editing rather than Photoshop as it's free, considerably easier to use (I think) and better (again I think) but mostly it's free. OpenOffice will give you all the resources and abilities Microsoft Office will but without the cost. Have a look see here if you fancy trying it out.
The new set of buzz words in any industry in recent times. Trumpeted as better but really just obfuscation of the fact that your data rests on other people's servers. That's fine if you want it that way of course. A simple Google search will show a myriad of ways and resources to do simple things all without glancing up from your phone at all, such as this one.
So, how can your data collection and manipulation be achieved? Call me old-fashioned but my personal solution would be a friendly, honest discussion with someone you trust to allow into your business and learn it. Only by learning it can the right solution be found with simple, easy advice. It may not be a short process but it could reap long term benefits.
This isn't always available in an off the shelf product as it just doesn't have everything you want in it and trying to shoehorn your information in something that doesn't quite cut it is beyond frustrating.. That's where a bespoke solution comes in, something tailored around you, something encapsulating your personal processes to show your data the correct way but also in the best, most truthful way. There are myriad ways to achieve this and no two ways will be alike. Hopefully it won't include a garishly coloured, endless columned spreadsheet!
So how do you go about collecting your data? Well you could use the old fashioned way of paper and a pencil and that works. I have extensive notes all over the place for a lot of things and processes but that's the point....all over the place. This kind of thing needs to be accessible and in one place with a system of access that's simple and easy.
What digital methods can you use to collect your data?
A database?
If you have Office you most likely have Access. This can provide you with a simple enough means to store and access your data but not process it. You may well end up with an inefficient and unruly set of tables or table depending on your knowledge of relational database structures and SQL. You could try out a NoSQL database if you fancy getting a little off the usual path such as MongoDB that would certainly help in the unruly stakes mentioned before.
Excel?
I've seen many variations on the spreadsheet, some of which have made me nauseous with the colourful columns and charts but if it works for you then it simply works. Personally I have a bias towards Excel as programming within it and automating it are my 'thing' unlocking the full power of the application. A simple solution to crunch your numbers and generate charts is easily created without the need for cumbersome formulae and you may not even realise you're using Excel by the end of it! Plus you probably already have the program at hand and have no need to invest extra cash, something I will be covering in a later post.
Open source programs?
There are many weird and wonderful variations of common programs that are rebuilt as free and community maintained applications. Often they can be better than the commercial applications. For instance I use GIMP for photo editing rather than Photoshop as it's free, considerably easier to use (I think) and better (again I think) but mostly it's free. OpenOffice will give you all the resources and abilities Microsoft Office will but without the cost. Have a look see here if you fancy trying it out.'Cloud based'?
The new set of buzz words in any industry in recent times. Trumpeted as better but really just obfuscation of the fact that your data rests on other people's servers. That's fine if you want it that way of course. A simple Google search will show a myriad of ways and resources to do simple things all without glancing up from your phone at all, such as this one.
So, how can your data collection and manipulation be achieved? Call me old-fashioned but my personal solution would be a friendly, honest discussion with someone you trust to allow into your business and learn it. Only by learning it can the right solution be found with simple, easy advice. It may not be a short process but it could reap long term benefits.
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