What Is a Business Report?

A business report is a set of data that provides historical information related to a company’s
operations, production, specific department’s insights, and creates a base for future decision-
making processes or factual insights needed to organize business functions.

To understand the best uses for business reports it’s essential to properly define these kinds of
reports.

“A business-style report is an orderly, objective communication of factual information that

serves some business purpose”. It organizes information for a specific business purpose.
While some reports will go into a more detailed approach to analysing the functionality and
strategies of a specific department, other examples of business reports will be more
concentrated on the bigger picture of business management, for example, investor relations.
That’s where the magic of these kinds of reports truly shines: no matter for which business
goal you need, their usage can be various and, at the same time, effective.

Traditional business reports are often static and text reach (bullet points, headings,
subheadings, etc.). Classically formatted in sections such as the summary, table of contents,
introduction, body, and conclusion, this business report format is no longer the most efficient
when it comes to extracting the needed insights to succeed in this fast-paced world. On one
hand, by the time these reports have been finished, the data on them might not be useful
anymore. And on the other, the fact that it is mostly text and numbers makes them hard to
understand, making the analysis process segregated and not efficient.  

The visual nature of modern business dashboards leaves all the aforementioned issues in the
past. Thanks to interactive data visualizations, the analysis process can be done fast and
efficiently while empowering non-technical users to rely on data for their decision-making
process. 

Types Of Business Reports 

Before creating business reports it is important to consider the business goals and objectives,
to pick the right type of report for each situation.

1. Analytical reports

Analytical reports are business reporting tools that use qualitative and quantitative data to
analyse the performance of a business strategy or as support when a company needs to make
important decisions. A modern analytical dashboard created with a report tool, can include
statistics, historical data, as well as forecasts, and real-time information.

A sales example:
This visually appealing business analysis report is full of relevant sales KPIs to measure
performance such as the average revenue per unit, the customer lifetime value, acquisition
costs, as well as some sales targets to be met.

The value of this analytical report lies in the fact that you get a lot of relevant data in one
single dashboard. The data can be filtered and explored on different time frames such as
daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on the discussion that it needs to support.   

With this kind of business report sample in hand, managers can quickly understand if they are
meeting their targets, find improvement opportunities, get a bigger picture into business sales
performance, and find efficient ways to proceed with new strategies.  

2. Research reports

Businesses often use these kinds of reports to test the viability of a new product, study a new
geographical area to sell, or understand their customer’s perception of their brand image. To
generate this type of business report, managers often contact market research agencies to
gather all the relevant information related to the studied topic.

This brand analysis dashboard is a great example.

We can see the results of a survey that was conducted to understand the brand’s public
perception on different topics. The value of this market research dashboard lies in its
interactivity.

Often, research reports are depicted in long and static PowerPoint presentations. Here, all the
data can be filtered upon need and the whole presentation of results can be done on one
screen.

For example, if you want to know the brand awareness of a specific region or age group, you
just have to click on the graphs and the entire dashboard will be filtered based on this
information. Like this, the analysis process is fast, interactive, and efficient. 

3. Industry reports

Benchmarks and targets are an excellent way to measure a business's performance and
success. But these targets need to be based on realistic values, especially considering how
crowded and competitive today’s markets are. For this purpose, is that companies perform
industry reports, by getting a clear picture of the average industry numbers such as the
competitive landscape, industry size, economic indicators, and trends they can plan smart
strategies and create realistic targets for performance. 
The report prepared by Technavio about the Global Ice Cream Market as an example.

 One can see relevant numbers concerning the ice cream market,
 how it was impacted by COVID-19,
 and what is expected to happen between the years 2020-2024.

For example, the business report sample shows that the ice cream market has actually been
positively impacted by the pandemic and that it grew 4.33% during 2020.

The report also shows that there is increasing popularity of plant-based ice cream and that
this trend is driving the market growth. This is invaluable information for an ice cream
company as they have an opportunity to invest in new products with almost certain success.

4. Progress reports

This business report is not necessarily based on deep research or advanced analytics, but
rather focuses on delivering a clear picture into the performance of a specific area or business
goal.
The image above is a business report example of a balanced scorecard.

The goal here is to quickly understand the performance of metrics related to 4 key business
areas:

1. financial,
2. customers,
3. learning and growth,
4. and internal objectives. 

Each of these metrics is displayed in a current value and compared to a set target. Paired to
this, the business report template has 5 colours for the performance status. This allows
anyone who uses this report to quickly understand just by looking at the colours if the target
is being met.

5. By business function

Getting a bigger picture into a company’s performance is a great benefit from modern
business reports. But, apart from helping the company as a whole, the real value of these
reports lies in the fact that they empower specific departments to leverage the power of data
analysis for their decision-making process. Rather is the sales department, human resources,
or logistics, the entire organization will be data-driven.

Let’s look at it with a business report example by function on marketing.  

 With metrics such as the total number of impressions, clicks, acquisitions, and cost per
acquisition, being depicted on intuitive gauge charts, you quickly get a clear understanding of
the performance of your campaigns. Like this, you can spot any inefficiencies before they
become bigger issues and find improvement opportunities to ensure your marketing efforts
are paying off. If you want to dig even deeper, this interactive business report can be filtered
for specific campaigns so you only see data related to it, making this dashboard the perfect
tool to support team meetings. 

Retail store dashboard company report example

Retail is one sector where it pays to utilize your data to its full advantage. Whatever branch of
retail you work in, knowing how to write a business report example is crucial, as is knowing
which types of business reports to work with.
Why Do You Need Business Reports?

These reports also enable data collection by documenting the progress you make. Through
them, you have the means to compare different periods of time and activity, growth, etc. You
can better see which products or services are more successful than others, which marketing
campaign outperforms which other, and which markets or segments require more attention.
Collecting all this data is indispensable – and by doing so, you build a paper trail of your past
(or, namely, a data trail). They let people outside the company (like banks or investors) know
about your activity and performance and enable stakeholders to understand your
organization’s tangible and intangible assets.

Report examples for business: The benefits

 Risk assessment & opportunity: With business reports samples, one can increase the
understanding of risks and opportunities within the company. Sample reports
accentuate the link between financial and non-financial performance: they streamline
processes, reduce costs, and improve overall cohesion in an informed, commercially
‘safe’ way.
 Trends & connections: Business report samples can help compare performance to
other business units or companies in the same sector. On a more specific level, a
report template can help dig thoroughly into details, and discover correlations that
would be otherwise overlooked. In today’s hyper-connected digital age, gaining a
deeper insight into the data will empower the organisation to formulate strategies that
will accelerate key areas of your business growth through trend identification. This
fact alone highlights the importance of a business analysis report.
 Business intelligence (BI): If used correctly, it will provide the answer to an
important question: ‘Will I survive on the market?’ By creating a business report of a
company built to improve your BI activities and answer essential organizational
questions, you will gain the ability to tackle deeper into specific insights that can
bring operational value and control the overall expenditures. By knowing how to set
up such a report with specific examples and templates, you will be able to provide
building blocks to establish a successful business intelligence strategy.
 Buy-in: While there are many different types of business reports for a company, they
all have one common trait: gathering data and tracking the business activities related
to something specific. By working with the right reports, users can perform in-depth
visual analyses of many key business areas or functions and provide informed
recommendations that will ultimately improve efficiency and encourage innovation.
Regardless of how good or beneficial an idea might be, getting buy-in from senior
executives or external partners is often a major roadblock to progress. However, a
good report template presents a level of depth and presentation that is both factual,
convincing, and will encourage buy-in from the people with the power to sign off on
new strategies, initiatives, or ideas.
 Operational efficiency: The more factual the report is, the clearer the data. When
your data is well organized and crystal clear, it’s possible to interpret your business
activities in a cost-effective way, reducing the time required to analyse findings while
saving countless working hours sifting through metrics for actionable insights. A good
template for business reports presents an in-depth analysis where the writers show
how they have interpreted their findings. For example, a marketing report can reduce
the time needed to analyse a specific campaign, while an HR report can provide
insights into the recruiting process and evaluate, for example, why did the cost per
hire increase.
 Specificity: When you create a business report, you are giving yourself a key
opportunity to address specific issues and are often used when decisions need to be
made. They have several purposes: some record information to plan for the future,
some record past information to understand a situation, and others present a solution
to a business problem.
  Accuracy & consistency: In the Age of Information, data is a vast landscape, and if
you want to use it to your advantage, aiming for consistency as well as accuracy is
key. If your data is off or presents findings that are hit and miss, it could cost your
business in the long run. 
 Benchmarking: If you know how to set up a business-centric report with efficiency,
you will gain the ability to set defined, accurate benchmarks. By frequently setting
targets based on your most important business goals and working with visual
reporting tools, you will keep your organisation flowing while catalysing your overall
growth and productivity levels.
 Communication: One of the best uses of business reports is improving internal
collaboration and communication. By gaining 24/7 access to your most essential
business data while enhancing the way you analyse and present it, you will empower
everyone in the business with better access to information, which, in turn, will
enhance internal communication and collaboration.

How To Set Up A Business Report?

The primary importance of a business-centric report lies in gaining confidence and clarity.

Know your audience: Before starting writing your report, it’s vital to establish the goals and
the audience. Knowing who you want to direct it to is key in its elaboration, from the tone,
vocabulary/jargon you choose to the data you will focus on. A report to external stakeholders,
to the CEOs, or to the technical engineers’ team will be drastically different from one
another.

Objective: Likewise, the scope varies according to the objective of the report. State
beforehand the needs and goals, to direct you on the right path. It should be impartial,
objective, with a planned presentation which enables an interactive flow of data and
immediate access to every piece of information needed to generate clear findings.

To help you write your daily, weekly, or monthly business-centric report template, let’s go
over some steps you should not miss.
1. Determine and state the purpose:, defining your goals according to the needs of
your audience is important. As we said, a report usually assists in decision-making
and addresses certain issues. You can state them at the beginning of the report. The
clearer and more specific the goal, the better will be the content. You won’t lose time
adjusting information when you present your purpose in a clear and well-defined
manner.

2. Gather and organize the information: now that the purpose and scope are clearly
defined, you can start gathering the data under any form needed that can address the
issue. Thanks to that information you will carry out data analysis to understand what
lies beneath and to extract valuable insights. These findings need to be balanced and
justifiable – what significance they have to the purpose of the report. Identifying key
performance indicators for a specific business, organizing, comparing, and evaluating
them on the needed level, can be one of the most important parts of creating this kind
of report.

3. Present your findings: explain how you uncovered them, and how you interpreted
them that way. Answer to the original issue by detailing the action to take to
overcome it, and provide recommendations leading to a better decision-making
process.

4. Align your visualizations: Expanding on presenting your findings, it’s also important
to get your design elements right when considering how to write a business report. As
a rule of thumb, your most essential at-a-glance insights should be at the top of your
report, and you should aim to be as clean, concise, and minimal as possible with your
presentation to avoid cluttering or confusion.

5. Be responsive: Remain robust and responsive when writing a business-based report.

What does this mean, exactly? It means that in the digital age, the landscape is always
changing. As such, if you want to get the most from your reports, you must commit to
editing and updating them according to the changes around you. In an informational
context, what is relevant today may be redundant tomorrow, so to remain powerful
and relevant, your reports must always be optimized for success. When you write a
business-style report, you should understand that, to some extent, you will need to
rewrite it again and again. Keep this in mind, commit to regularly assessing your
reports, and success will be yours for the taking.