In life, you have to make very important decisions. When you make important decisions in your business, you often need the answers to complex questions based on your data. How is one fund performing as compared to all my funds? How much money do I expect to bring in over the next three months based on existing contracts? Based on a multitude of variables, how can I determine which investments are at risk and therefore need my attention? Using your current data management tools, can you produce the answer to these questions? Without having an analyst spend all day trying to find the answer? Custom databases allow you more control by providing the answers to these and more complex questions instantly.

Database: The Movie

Databases have many advantages. For one, it becomes easier to access data in more complex ways than are possible in Excel. In Excel, all your data is displayed on one big spreadsheet. Relationships between data subjects are clearly discernible, and business forecasts based on the changing of a single variable can be instantly produced.

But if your data grows to be more complex, and you want to see the relationship between three or more data subjects, excel cannot handle that sort of a broad view.

An Excel file is like taking a Polaroid. It’s fast, easy, and gives you a quick snapshot of the data. But if you want to view data relationships over time, to get a better sense of your information so that you can make more accurate decisions, you need to get a broader view. Using your Excel file is like piecing together Polaroids to create a slide show of your daughter’s piano recital – something that looks laughable to the father next to you who is using a video camera. Databases reflect the constantly changing nature of your information and display data relationships in real time.

Have Your Data Manage Itself

Perhaps you are interested in tracking an investment and its relationship within a larger context. You may want to group your data into funds, display two, three or maybe all your funds at once. Data therefore needs to be stored properly on the investment level and grouped into separate funds.

Databases make it possible for you to store your information by using a complex data structure. This allows you to specify data types and relationships, organizing your information for easy retrieval and preparing it for accurate manipulation. When you take a hand in customizing your database, your business rules are the blueprint for your data, categorizing and funneling your information so that your data interprets itself. A custom or semi-custom database therefore allows you to be more in control of your business.

Multiple Users

In Excel, many users store or access data in a single file. This leads to possible errors and overwrites. However, Databases can handle multiple users. They can cause users to take turns and to track changes to ensure that these mistakes do not occur.

Perhaps the most important feature of databases is that the nature of their storage allows data to be recorded once and then repurposed in many different forms. One can view the data, edit it, or produce reports through the web, email and other outlets restricted to internal use, or edited for external reporting.

Make Your Business More Valuable to Buyers

An added bonus of using a custom or semi-custom database is that if gives you a piece of intellectual property that you now own. Since you encoded your business logic into the database, its special nature increases the value of your business if you ever want to sell. Furthermore, it instills buyer and client confidence when you display such control over your own data.

Have it your way

Maybe a custom-built database is the right tool for you. You gain more control over your data, moving from seeing things in two dimensions to 3D. Databases can save you time and money, cutting the number of analysts you need to maintain your information, and producing accurate reports on complex matters instantly. Where it might take you days or weeks to compile the data contained in different Excel files, because the structure in a database is arranged correctly, your data will be pre-arranged for fast manipulation and reporting even in complex situations – something that is impossible in Excel.

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