Small and large businesses alike can leverage the power of Excel as a foundational business intelligence tool. The platform is streamlined, user friendly, and has extremely powerful data analytics capabilities.
Here’s how you can use Excel today for your business intelligence strategy.
Capture Data
First and foremost, Excel is a tool used for data. Whether you manually key in data or import data from an external source, Excel can hold mass datasets for you to quickly analyze and visualize.
Link data from other sources to dynamically update data, or get advanced and use Power Query (also known as Power Pivot), to importa and combine multiple datasets into one powerful visualization.
Manipulate and Analyze Data
Excel allows you to not only capture and organize data, but also manipulate and analyze the datasets. Quickly filter the data, select from dozens of charts and other visualizations, or create a pivot table to summarize data and analyze trends.
The Quick Analysis tool lets Excel quickly review the data and suggest valuable outputs based on the data you select. This simple yet effective tool gives you insights into data that you may not have considered before.
Advanced Capabilities
Once you have a foundational understanding of Excel, you can begging to implement advanced capabilities that Excel has to offer. Calculated fields and advanced formulas can help turn your data into meaningful outputs. For example, you can easily implement formulas to identify trends in the data, create specific outputs based on parameters you set, and show summarized data that your team can use for effective analysis.
Macros can automate routine tasks, allowing automatic data manipulation, visualization, and analysis so you can focus on the story the data tells.
Excel for Business Intelligence
Excel should be in every data team’s arsenal. The all-powerful tool can be used by all levels of the business for simple data analysis to complex data models and forecasts. Be sure to check out our other posts for more top Excel tips!