Is ad-hoc reporting still creating a backlog?

During a recent conversation, a friend of mine complained about his IT department. He had been waiting for some reports for 2 days now and it was really slowing him up. I was surprised. He didn’t have web reporting capabilities? His company always struck me as cutting-edge, yet in the year 2010, ad-hoc reporting was still creating a backlog.

Are companies really that far behind? These days, a simple task like reporting should take minutes and not require the IT department at all.

I’m curious: If I were to take an informal poll asking people how they would rate their companies from a technology standpoint, what would I find? Does my friend’s company represent the majority or the minority?

I assume his company is in the minority, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe many companies suffer from these same problems. Do you still have to request reports from IT? Do you have to wait on data? If so, you may want to check out these examples of what reporting should be like in this day and age.

Basic reporting

Ranking report

Interactive reporting

If your company needs better reporting, let us know. One of our consultants can answer any questions you may have and walk you through the steps necessary to improve your company’s reporting. It’s probably not as hard as you think.