SMEs should plan for faster, cheaper and useful reporting

Representative image

The proliferation of e-commerce and digital media has brought with it its own set of complexities in understanding customer preferences, behaviours and segmentation.

The internet offers an exciting opportunity to interact with consumers and gather data. Marketing researchers can offer timely, user-friendly and more economic deliverables to small and medium enterprises through web-based information reporting sites. They address small and medium enterprises' needs for faster, cheaper, and useful information.

While most web-based information reporting sites contain sections serving various purposes, their primary objective is to distribute project results to a multitude of users. Project results usually are distributed using a combination of three types of reports: predefined, customisable and ad hoc.

Predefined reports are equivalent to using the web to deliver paper reports. The format is predefined, and different users can receive customised information based on their level within the organisation.

While predefined reports do not take full advantage of web-based reporting’s functionality, they are convenient to use and a good way to control the information users receive.

Customisable reports allow users to choose information in a report by selecting from a predefined set of inputs. The data in customisable reports is pre-calculated and pre-summarised; users simply choose which numbers to pull.

The three major advantages of this type of report are that response time is minimised because no calculations are performed; less statistically sophisticated users can explore the data while being limited to appropriate comparisons and most users’ data exploration needs can be fulfilled while avoiding the costs associated with ad hoc reporting.

True ad hoc reporting capabilities can be incorporated into web-based reporting systems by using an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) server.

The OLAP server allows users to manipulate the data virtually and calculate results on the fly. To use OLAP, users must understand the data and its use. Therefore, OLAP access should be limited to personnel who are statistically knowledgeable.

Web-based information reporting sites provide numerous advantages over traditional paper reports:

Easier and faster access to information: Information can become available to end-users as soon as it is entered and, if needed, cleaned and summarised. Users can also view their information from any location with net access.

Easy export of information to other programmes: In a well-designed system, data and charts can easily be exported and loaded onto word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. Secondary reports can easily be built.

Cost savings: Because these are all variable expenses, additional users can be added to the system at minimal cost. Also, because they are recurring expenses, the savings continue over the project’s lifetime.

Multimedia information: As more users gain high-speed internet access with 4G and 5G, the type of information delivered will change for the better. However, the advantages of web-based reporting do not come without some costs or unique issues that SMEs must address. These include:

Internet access and speed: To use a web-based system, all users must have internet access and this can be a problem for some SMEs in remote locations where corporate policies limit employees’ connectivity. The speed of the ner connection is an important factor to consider when designing web-based systems–the connection speed has a bearing on the type of information that can be delivered.

Web browsers and browser-level standardisation: Several browsers with various versions are in the market and different versions support different functions. When designing web-based systems, the developer and the client must determine which browsers and at what levels, their systems will support. For instance, Safari is not supported by many providers.

Security: Clients often worry about information being stolen while travelling over the Internet. Encryption technology can address the problem by coding information before it is sent and decoding it after it reaches the users.

Printing: The web’s universal language is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML can be interpreted differently from printer to printer, and researchers can lose page formatting and wind up with poorly printed output. Therefore, many web-based systems use components such as ActiveX controls or Java Applets to ensure reports are uniformly printed.

Unique costs: While the variable costs associated with web-based information reporting systems are low, the fixed costs of designing and implementing such systems can be substantial. Size of the database, the number of reports, the number of reporting levels, users, customisation levels for each user and the types of reports influence the cost.