How much time do you waste at work? It might be more than you think. No, I’m not referring to blatant wastes of time like talking on the phone all day, surfing the web, or even sleeping. I’m referring to work-related practices that keep IT professionals busy, yet ultimately unproductive. Here’s the tricky part: They… Continue reading »
Feb
26
5 uncommon reporting features that will impress your boss
When your boss (or any other executive in your company) asks for a web report, what do you create? Do you create a standard web report that displays the necessary data, includes some interactive charts and graphs, and lets the user drill down to more details? Those are all nice features, but they’re fairly standard.… Continue reading »
Jan
29
4 common productivity bottlenecks (and how you can fix them)
How would you like to walk into your boss’s office today and say, “I know a way to improve productivity by 50%.” Of course you would! Who wouldn’t? Of course, that only works if you actually know a way to improve productivity by 50%. Sound impossible? It’s not that hard…you just have to know where… Continue reading »
Oct
02
5 common problems that kill IT productivity
Do you ever come to the end of a busy day and feel like you didn’t actually accomplish anything? Although you worked hard all day, you feel like you have nothing to show from all of that work? Chances are, you got caught handling minor, yet essential tasks that kept you from tackling more important… Continue reading »
Sep
17
3 great (and free) templates for quickly visualizing data
What is the most important goal in creating an effective reporting application? In my opinion, the answer is simple: It must communicate the data to the viewer in the clearest, most concise manner possible. In most cases, a traditional reporting application (like this one) will do the job just fine. However, some reports require that… Continue reading »
Jul
23
Struggling to manage your data? Read this story.
Are you struggling to manage your data? Is reporting a complicated job? If so, I have a story you’ll want to read. It’s about a business that was comprised of 15 different companies representing 8 different industries spread out over 50 locations across the United States. Sound complicated? It was. As you might imagine, managing… Continue reading »
Jun
05
Can your web reporting software do this?
For all the advancements in business analytics, many web reports are still quite unintelligent. Many of them are essentially glorified spreadsheets, displaying outdated data and offering limited features. So, what features SHOULD your web reports include in this day and age? For starters, they should deliver real-time data. Aside from that, here are 5 intelligent… Continue reading »
Mar
27
6 canned reports that take the reporting burden off of IT
If end-user reporting is a burden on your IT department, you’re certainly not alone. The question is…how can you reduce the amount of time your IT department spends creating end-user reports? One way to fix the problem: Create canned reports with run-time options for end users. This lets your users quickly access the data they… Continue reading »
Mar
13
One way to fix the spreadsheet problem
What types of problems do spreadsheets cause? Big, expensive problems. Here are a few examples: A well-known drug maker accidentally disclosed confidential information, forcing them to revise their financial forecasts, which lowered their share price. The London 2012 Olympics accidentally oversold 4 events by 10,000 tickets. A spreadsheet error led to a $153 million error… Continue reading »
Nov
18
Drowning in data? It gets worse…
Did you know that there is already more data in the world than there is space to store it? I recently ran across that surprising fact in this CIO.com article. The article goes on to say that the “demand for storage capacity will, over the next three years, increase at a compound annual rate of… Continue reading »
About the author
Joe Stangarone is a 30+ year veteran of the IT industry and president of mrc—the software company behind the award winning development platform, m-Power. Joe shares his leadership and technology insights through the Cup of Joe Blog, focusing primarily on ways businesses can save time, money, and increase productivity using technology.
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