In a world where big numbers and big data are becoming more and more important, it’s vital that your creative business has the right cloud reporting tools to keep an eagle-eye on those core numbers and key performance indicators (KPIs).
And that’s where a solution like CrunchBoards really comes to the fore. CrunchBoards is a cloud-based tool that gives you real-time reporting and long-term forecasting, but with a difference.
In the CrunchBoards world, it’s not all about cold, dry numbers, because they understand it’s hard to engage with when you’re wired creatively. Instead, your business information and KPIs are beautifully visualised using colourful pie charts, clear graphics and easy-to-read graphs that allow you to see the story behind your business – without all those pages of dull management accounts.
So, how does this graphical approach to reporting help your creative agency? We’ve listed the top five benefits of slotting CrunchBoards into your Xero set-up – and if you’d like to find out anything else about using CrunchBoards, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
1. Simplicity and Ease of Use
The first benefit of CrunchBoards as a reporting tool is that it’s incredibly simple and beautiful to use.
Your team can quickly get their heads around using the various ‘boards’ – collections of charts and KPIs that represent a common theme, such as cash flow, or client sales – and your people won’t be put off by a clunky user journey or a convoluted user interface; the front end is a joy to see.
From experience, we know that creatives respond better to tools with imagination, and CrunchBoards has imagination and innovation in spades. Indeed, if you’re comfortable with Xero, you’ll be up and running with CrunchBoards in no time.
2. No Wasted Time
Don’t worry about eating up time trying to manage yet another software tool. Not only is CrunchBoards simplicity itself to use, it also has a growing library of pre-made templates for you to use.
Whether you’re looking to measure the growth of your client base, your average spending on overheads or your average profit per project, there’s a template there that fits the bill. No messing around, no wasted time and no need for you to be a financial expert to pull off simple functions.
It’s efficient, effective and adds enormous value to your overview of the agency’s finances.
3. Measuring Performance as a Team
CrunchBoards’ ability to deliver such clear, visual reporting is great for team engagement – when everyone can understand the key numbers, the whole performance of the agency becomes more transparent.
You can steer your team towards the same goals by setting budgets and visualising your agency’s ongoing performance against your agreed budget.
With clear, pre-defined budget goals in place, you and the rest of the team can see exactly how you’re performing, at any point in time. That’s great for making your performance goals as visible as possible – and a real motivator for everyone to do their utmost.
4. Working with Non-Financial Numbers
With CrunchBoards, you’re not limited to working only with financial information – you can also record, review and analyse your non-financial data too.
In the digital marketplace, your website hits, your social media activity and your customer satisfaction levels are all vital elements of making the agency a success. CrunchBoards can integrate with Google Analytics, and other online tools, to give you the same visual overview of your non-financial information – an extremely powerful weapon to have in your armoury.
See which areas of your agency website are getting the most traffic, track the number of followers you have through your core social accounts or keep tabs on how well you’re meeting clients expectations at the end of a project in order to better cultivate your ongoing strategy and just watch the successes roll in beyond just your finances!
5. Get a Real Handle on Profitability
It doesn’t pay to forget the financial foundations of the agency, though. When you can see how money flows through the business, you’re in a much stronger position to make sure your creativity results in positive profits.
The financial management of the agency is hugely important. Ultimately, if you’re not making a profit from your creative work then your business’s days are numbered. And the final benefit of CrunchBoards is the ability to get a far more detailed handle on your revenues, your cash flow and your end profits.
Tagging and recording your important financial numbers in Xero means you can pull all that data straight through into CrunchBoards. And, once there, your profit board will keep you constantly updated on the health of your cash and profits.
It’s a chance to future-proof your business, get a more granular view of your financial drivers and deliver the insights you need to tweak and refine that financial model.
Ready to Start Crunching Your Agency’s Numbers?
At My Accountancy Place, you know how important we believe it is to demystify the accounting process and make your key numbers as transparent as possible – and it’s obvious we love tech that makes all of this much easier.
CrunchBoards is the tool that helps us deliver to on that promise to our clients. If you’re looking to uncover the true story behind your agency’s finances and business performance, implementing CrunchBoards as part of your wider Xero system will be a game-changer.
Come and talk to us about setting up CrunchBoards and start seeing your business information in ways you’d never even imagined. Now’s the time to prepare for the future success of your creative agency, with a great tool by your side.
