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27 Microsoft Excel Experts Predict The Future Of Excel In Business Intelligence

With over 750 million users worldwide, Microsoft Excel is the traditional tool of choice for presenting and analyzing data.

And now, it’s in a position to be the new BI tool of choice, as well. With Excel 2016, Microsoft announced some forward thinking built in Business Intelligence (BI) features. In the age of big data, this is huge.

This announcement, however, raised many questions in the field of big data manipulation. Is Excel powerful enough? Can it manipulate the amount and types of data businesses deal with today? Does Excel have a future in Business Intelligence workflows?

In the search of answers to these questions, we rounded up renowned MS Excel experts and picked their brains on it. We asked them one visionary question:

Where do you see the future of MS Excel in Business Intelligence Workflows?

And here is what they shared with us:

1. Purna Duggirala – Chandoo

Chandoo.org // @r1c1

Purna Duggirala There is a running joke in BI communities.

“What is the most used feature in any business intelligence solution?”
It is the Export to Excel button.

Jokes aside, Excel continues to be the #1 platform when it comes to analyzing data, finding information, preparing charts and presenting them to decision makers. In that sense, I see Excel playing a strong role in BI workflows in future.

Excel continues to be the #1 platform when it comes to analyzing data, finding information, preparing charts and presenting them to decision makers. In that sense, I see Excel playing a strong role in BI workflows in future.

– Purna Duggirala

With the addition of features like Power BI (Power Pivot, Power Query, Power View, Power Maps etc.) that naturally integrate with Excel, analysts, reporting professionals and BI people are finding Excel more relevant for full-length BI implementations.

In order to remain the favorite analytics app of everyone, Excel needs to do what it is amazingly good for. These are – offer a sandbox-like environment where anyone can play with data and come up with information, keep the Excel software offerings clean & simple (with the addition of Power BI, buying and using Excel has become a complex process), give users competent & compatible Excel apps for tablet & phone devices and include features to do powerful data analytics processes with one-click (as against a complex set of formulas, pivot tables & manual steps that many analysts do now).

Long live Excel.

2. Ken Puls – Excel Guru

Excelguru.ca // @kpuls

I personally see Excel as THE future of Business Intelligence workflows.

No matter how many systems a company has, how big they are, or how many millions of dollars have been spent on them, the reality is that the majority of data is exported to Excel before decisions of serious consequence are made. I’d go so far as to say that there are only a handful of finance departments in the world who don’t run their critical decision making analysis through Excel.

With the increasingly diverse toolset being added to Excel — Power Query to source and clean data from disparate dirty sources, Power Pivot to aggregate those disparate sources into business intelligence models, Power View to create dynamic dashboards from those models and Power Map to tell the data story on a geo-spatial plane – it’s very clear that Microsoft is investing heavily to make Excel the Business Intelligence tool of choice.

I personally see Excel as THE future of Business Intelligence workflows.

– Ken Puls

The killer for Excel today is not the fact that it isn’t the best out there for building business intelligence, it is the fact that far too many users are ignorant of the vast amount of capability that was added in the last five years. The attitude of “Excel can’t do that” is still pervasive and relied upon by its competitors to sell THEIR products.

My advice to anyone looking at building business intelligence systems today and considering switching to a competitor’s product: find a business intelligence expert who REALLY uses Excel. Ask them what can be done. Chances are you already own the software that will do it all, you’re just not aware of how.

3. Bill Jelen

Mrexcel.com // @MrExcel

The new Power BI Desktop offering from Microsoft will make it easy to create powerful dashboards that you can share to various end points such as iPads within your organization. The easiest way to get data into Power BI is from an Excel file, so Excel continues to be the most important component in the Power BI workflow.

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5 Chrome Apps And Extensions Lawyers Should Be Using

Keyboard Law Technology

While it’s true that highly niched professionals like lawyers require a specific set of tools, sometimes something as simple as a Chrome add-on can be just as (or dare we say, even more?) powerful.

If you’re a lawyer looking for better, faster ways to get things done, working with Google Chrome can be a plus. Whether you’re on the web for legal research, accessing databases, or working remotely outside of the office, Chrome offers a long list of apps and extensions to help improve the way you work.

And the right ones can make a world of difference.

So take your online productivity up a notch. A couple of these Chrome apps and extensions can speed up the most common and time consuming tasks.

Collect Online Evidence With WebPreserver

When you have cases involving social media harassment, incriminating posts, or cyberstalking, it automatically means spending hours online gathering screenshots. Not only that, but your research needs to be legally admissible. Luckily, there’s an extension for that: WebPreserver.

This Chrome extension will allow you to preserve, timestamp and authorize your findings with a single click. The extension links you to a web capture system designed for law firms and agencies to instantly create legally admissible evidence.

Research More Effectively On WestlawNext With Bestlaw

This next Chrome extension is centered upon offering you an expanded toolset to improve your workflow with WestlawNext. Bestlaw claims to add the features WestlawNext forgot.

WestlawNext Research Toolbar

Image Source: Bestlaw.io

Bestlaw does this by adding a toolbar to the document you’re reading. With it, you can copy Bluebook citations, generate table of contents, jump to footnotes, look up case information on Google and Wikipedia, share documents via email or social media and more.

Use Locate A Lawyer To Quickly Find & Consult With Other Lawyers

Looking for another lawyer? Use Locate A Lawyer in your search. Developed by LawInfo.com, Locate A Lawyer can give you quick access from Chrome to its directory of pre-screened attorneys, all with verified qualifications and credentials. You can easily search by name, zip code, firm, and area of law.

Use Agilewords To Speed Up Legal Document Reviews

The review and approval process is necessarily a lengthy one at times, especially for legal documents that need feedback, editing, updating, and approval. For lawyers who need to collaborate on legal document, there’s Agilewords, the document reviewing tool you can access directly within Chrome.

This tool provides you with features such as real-time collaboration, secure uploading and hosting, revision tracking, online/offline editing, and the ability to audit your document’s access.

Instantly Look Up Citations From Webpages With Jureeka!

When researching a case, you may come across web pages with legal citations that appear throughout the article that aren’t hyperlinked. This Chrome extension can save you that hassle of toggling back and forth, looking up citation sources. Jureeka! will turn those legal citations into hyperlinks as long as it is on a web page. So even if the author of the article does not link the citation, Jureeka! does.

8 Last Minute Resources To Help You With Your Tax Return

Audits, tax payments, confusing forms—just three reasons why everyone hates tax season. And though you don’t need another, you can probably think of a few more yourself. It’s hard to feel anything but dread this time of year.

So you do what you can to make things easier and cheaper. But even that has its drawbacks. For instance, if you decide to cut out the accountant and the fees, you may have to do some major research to properly file a tax return on your own.

That being said, if you aren’t too tax savvy, finding answers to your questions will be the real challenge. Of course, there is the IRS website for official directions and answers, which should be on the top of your list. Yet if you need some clarification or insight, what sources do you turn to at the 11^th hour?

Try and see if a few of the following sites can help boil down the essentials for you. They come well-stocked with helpful, easy-to-read articles and credible writers that have extensive experience and knowledge in the field.

H&R Block TaxTips

The Tax Tips section of the H&R Block blog covers some of the most common topics including filing status, tax deductions, and tax refunds. This blog makes sure that you have the answers to all the basic questions on filing.

Intuit Accountants

As you may know, Intuit has been providing small businesses, accountants and individuals with tax preparation tools like QuickBooks. Fortunately, the accountants that use the software are highly active in helping their clients and each other with tax questions on both the blog and the online Intuit Accountants community. Sift through them with a few keywords and you’re likely to find a thread or post that can point you in the right direction.

TurboTax Blog

The TurboTax blog is also another good starting point for tax tips. If you’re a TurboTax user, you might be going through this blog already. Topics you can find posts on include deductions, 401K, incomes and investments, home, education and a few more categories that can generate some of the most commonly asked tax questions.

About.com Tax

Because instructions and policies on filing taxes can be really confusing, a good idea is to start at the beginning. The About.com Tax section is filled with basic (and intermediate) tips for individuals, articles for business professionals, and even advice for tax preparers. There’s a good list of Tax Planning categories to explore, so you’re bound to find the answers you need.

TaxGirl.com

Unlike most of us, Kelly Pillips Erb, tax attorney and tax writer/blogger is enthusiastic about taxes—and it shows! Her blog, TaxGirl.com, and column on Forbes.com are both all about explaining and discussing tax issues as well as covering news in the industry. Her insights and articles provide a lot of perspective that can help you make well-informed tax-filing decisions.

eSmartTax.com & Liberty Tax Service

eSmartTax.com is the online division of Liberty Tax Service, a US-based tax preparation service. The site and content are easily accessible and provide you with tax related topics, discussions and resources. The main Liberty Tax Service site itself contains a good section on tax resources and posts on their Tax Lounge blog you can go through.

AccountingWeb.com

It was hard to pick one single blog from this roster, so we give you the full list. Like the Intuit Accountants community, AccountingWeb.com is a good starting point for those needing the perspective of an accountant. All writers have their credentials and fields of expertise listed, so you can determine which professional might have the answers you need.

Tax Policy Center

This one makes the list for its authoritative value. Made up of experts with years of experience in tax, budget, and social policy, Tax Policy Center is focused on bringing you information on the policies behind the taxes you file. With an official library of publications, a dedicated blog, and sections devoted to Tax Facts and Tax Topics, this site is hands down a must-visit resource.

Remember that these sites only provide you with extra information, not legal financial advice on preparing your taxes. Thus, while you may feel some anxiety about filing taxes on your own, it doesn’t mean you have to go into it unprepared.

This was a very short list for such a complex topic. If we missed one which you think should be on here, let us know by adding your own go-to resources in the comments!

A 6 Tip Starter Guide On Document Management

Document Management

Ask yourself, how much time do you spend looking for a single document? Could your file-managing habits use some improvements?

If you work on a computer every single day, it’s all too easy to drown in a pool of digital formats. You create presentations, write essays, analyze spreadsheets, and edit images.

And at one point or another it all gets saved and stored, proving at the same time that document management is behind almost everything we do electronically.

If you need a few quick fix tips, we put together a guide on some basics to keep in mind which can help improve any digital document routine.

1. Organize Email Attachments And Documents

This is a great place to start. Your email is a powerful tool which is unintentionally used as a document management tool, as well. You email files to yourself, use it to recover accidentally deleted files, send and forward files to others, and receive them yourself on a daily basis–all of which is easy. Digging them up, on the other hand, isn’t.

For situations like this, download your attachments in bulk with a tool like Mail Attachment Downloader by GearMage. Doing so can help you transfer and organize file attachments into your document system smoothly. It can extract and download email attachments from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other IMAP/POP accounts. Filter out file types, specify download location and other specifics.

2. Integrate Cloud Storage Into Your Routine

The web has grown into a cloud computing platform that makes everything accessible online. Yet cloud services can create more stress than they’re worth if you don’t plan out how you’ll be using them.

Uploading Files To Cloud

Upload files wisely by integrating them with your working habits. A few methods to consider:

For mobile work, automate your apps to upload files from your device straight to the cloud.
Use dedicated services for different formats.
Create a designated cloud folder “recycle bin” to download stuff you won’t need permanently. It will keep your local folders free of junk files.

3. Create A Nested Folder System

This tip is a must. A structured folder system is reflective of how you remember information. It can literally point you in the right direction with every level you click through. All you need to do is make sure that your folders have a logical hierarchy.

Start off with a main folder. Then start creating sub-folders to filter out files like on-going work from finished work, current documents, documents for review or documents organized by year. The main thing to remember is to label folders according to your work process.

Saving Files

4. Use A Standard Naming Convention

Use consistent and logical file naming conventions. File names should include things like dates, document status, names–details that can pinpoint and categorize the file’s contents.

File names should be easily scannable, naturally ordered, and highly descriptive. Some suggestions:

Make updated files stand out by using an underscore before the date.
Decide on the format such as dd-mm-yy or first name, last name.
Use a numbering scheme to keep large folders of files in order.
Don’t be cryptic with special characters, acronyms or generic terms. Chances are you won’t remember what they referred to later on.

5. Separate Your Files By Format

Sometimes file names won’t come to mind as easily as the format will. If this is the case with you, you may want to organize your files by format. If you use this method along with nested folders, it can be a faster way to find a file. You don’t have to re-sort or sift through a folder full of different file formats.

6. Archive And Delete Files Regularly

The worst part about creating documents is that they can quickly get outdated or obsolete especially with files created ad hoc. Set up a time frame for yourself to delete files regularly to keep them from piling up.

With the way file management and creation is constantly evolving, knowing just a few of your habits can go a long way to creating a document management system that works with you. What are some of your best practices?

6 Innovative Alternatives To The Traditional Business Plan

Got an idea you think the masses will love? Thinking of starting up your own business? You’re not the only one.

Competition is fierce and many ambitious individuals have the same vision of success as you do. And the best place to start beating the competition (after coming up with a killer idea) is with a well laid out business plan.

Now if you’ve looked into the topic, then you know that there’s a lot of debate on whether or not the traditional business plan is still effective. For budding entrepreneurs today, the business plan is outdated, overly complex and unnecessary. This leads us to ask the obvious question: If you still need to map out your business idea for others, where does this leave you?

If you’re looking to create a business plan that can impress investors, here are some modern ideas and innovative services you should consider.

Use A PowerPoint Slide Deck For Effective Pitch Meetings

PowerPoint has always been the tool of choice for presenting ideas. Why not use it for pitching your business?

Walking potential investors through a PowerPoint presentation on your iPad can be very effective. Take Tim Young, founder of Socialcast, for example. He used 5 slides for a business pitch in 2010 and managed to raise over 10 million in investment funds for 2 startups.

From his experience, he found that a presentation can help your pitch because “by sharing a screen and sitting in close proximity to each other, the environment naturally becomes more comfortable and relaxed.” Certainly an idea worth considering if you get nervous while presenting.

Create A Successful Business Model With LaunchBoard

With LaunchBoard, you can create, both simple or complex business models in no time. The tool is a perfect solution when you need to define your business and understand your customers. With several important features, such as analyzing data and deciding the best way to move forward, the tool has all the necessary options for any companies to succeed.

Image Source: LaunchBoard.io

You can track your team’s progress with an easy access to members KPI’s and the ability to get involved in every decision-making process. Discover and develop new market opportunities, brainstorm and test ideas, organize files quickly and make all information understandable to everyone.

Use A Lean Canvas For Concise Business Plans

Just because your business plan is short doesn’t mean it isn’t well thought out. When you create one with Lean Stack, you can boil down the essentials down to a one page blue print for quick at-a-glance reading.

Using a Lean Canvas is best for those situations where you’re making a pitch to investors who have very little time and can’t go through all the nitty-gritty details. This is a paid service, but offers free 30-day trials for both individual and team plans.

Grow Your Busines With Strategyzer

Image Source: Strategyzer.com

With Strategyzer’s business model canvas, you are getting a platform and services that understand their customers. The numbers speak for themselves — over 5 million active users. With Strategyzer you can easily create better products and quickly grow your business. Moreover, with this app, you can analyze any business idea and identify its market potential. It offers training options for the entire companies or simply one person.

Create A Visual Business Plan With Pinterest

This idea may go against what you know about best business plan practices, but using Pinterest can be a creative way of visualizing your idea for others. In fact, Tim Berry, angel investor, business planner and entrepreneur, stands behind the idea.

According to him, a business plan created with Pinterest is more accessible than a slide deck and is helpful in steering your business in the right direction. This method doesn’t describe your business; it focuses on the output of the plan.

As Tim Berry points out, “a business plan is worthwhile because of the decisions that result from it. If the Pinterest plan helps you organize a team and set the main points so you can move forward logically, why not?” I think that sums it up exactly.

Use Live Plan For Easy To Read Business Plans

Like the other suggested ideas, Live Plan tries to combine the serious nature of business plans with easy to read formats. It offers everything needed to keep your financials, business pitch and plan in check with an admin dashboard and support for team collaboration.

LivePlan Explainer from Palo Alto Software, Inc on Vimeo.

Live Plan makes it easy for you to forecast and prioritize the main financial elements of your business strategy like value propositions, key partnerships, cost structure and so on. This service is perfect for pitching a concise business plan investors and banks can instantly understand.

In this day and age, packaging and presenting your business plan effectively is becoming increasingly important if you want to stand out. Have you created a traditional business plan in the past? Which alternative would you use?