Pivot table can change how you sort and analyze data. These data summation tables common in business software help you analyze large amounts of data fast. With just a few simple clicks, you have access to a whole new set of information and data points than you originally thought. Spreadsheets provide one solution to create pivot tables, but the best tools allow you to simply drag and drop fields in order to rearrange the data.
But what is a pivot table and how can they help your small business succeed?
What is a Pivot Table
A pivot table gives you powerful analytical processing power combined with increased data flexibility. Dynamic data allows you to summarize, sort, reorganize, group, count, total or average the data you have stored in a database. Being able to transform rows into columns and columns into rows allows for various groupings by any data field.
If you need a solid system for analysis, projection, and visualization a pivot table is a way to go. Its ability to move the data easier to view it from a different side or in a fresh new way allows you to spot trends that may have otherwise remained hidden.
Track Time Efficiently
When you manage a small business, time is money and in order to save money, you need to use your time efficiently. If you want to log and track time spent by your employees on various projects for different clients, pivot tables can help. Record the necessary information (date, time spent, employee, project ID, client ID) in the table to have it summarize and display the data. Whenever you add new information the table will update automatically, ensure there are no inaccuracies in the report.
Easily Generate Sales Numbers
Does your small business depend on your sales team to hit goals and numbers? Use pivot tables to organize and track sales by product, region or sales rep. With this information added to the pivot table, you can easily generate reports on sales numbers for any of the categories to track progress, identify products that aren’t selling, or determine what regions need additional reps.
Quickly Generate Reports
Do you depend on weekly, monthly, and annual reports to monitor how your business is doing? Pivot tables make it easy to quickly generate these reports and help you stay on track with your small business goals. With pivot table’s ability to slice and dice data you can even compare the numbers from December 2017 to the numbers from past Decembers. You can do week to week comparisons, month to month, or even year to year to see how you’ve grown.
Track Customer Call Logs
If the majority of your business is conducted over the phone, it’s reasonable to want to track the number of calls each employee is making. You can use pivot tables to track calls made, duration of calls, a topic of the call, and more. You can then sort the data in order to see things like which days you received the most calls, which employee fielded the most number of calls, and which customer called the most. This data can help you with staffing levels, and other important customer service information.
