There’s little doubt that PowerPoint is the go-to presentation software package, and many businesses use it to present business plans and data. We’re all familiar with the term “death by PowerPoint” but there remains a tendency to throw everything at a PowerPoint deck creating hundreds of slides for long, dull and uninspiring presentations. But when using PowerPoint in IBP review meetings, there are more critical pitfalls and in this blog, we look at what they are and how to avoid them.
PowerPoint pitfalls
One of the major drawbacks of PowerPoint is the time it takes to compile and format information for slide decks. In most cases, those who are involved in the organizations’ monthly planning cycle pull together information from disconnected sources and systems. It isn’t unusual for this to take days or weeks to achieve, essentially becoming a full-time job.
Crucially, this use of multiple sources severely impacts the quality of information. Without a single, empirical source of the truth, what is being presented is simply the presenter’s own story and (mis)interpretation. IBP reviews consequently descend into long and fruitless debates about the numbers rather than the action-oriented decision-making process they should be.
With a bloated deck and poor-quality data, it becomes extremely difficult for the senior executive team to assimilate the information it needs for critical decision making – what are the gaps and what needs to be done to keep the plan on track. Ultimately, this completely incapacitates the business planning process ineffective and makes strategy deployment next to impossible. It really is “death by PowerPoint.”
A data driven model
If your IBP review meetings are bogged down by PowerPoint in this way, switching to a data driven model will transform the way you look at data and how you respond to it.
Ollie Accelerator is Oliver Wight’s cloud-based technology platform for strategy deployment. It is an enabler of IBP providing clear and accurate insights to run your business. Ollie Accelerator streamlines organizational data collection and delivers clear, actionable insights for executive decision-making. One of the key features of the platform is its ability to instantly create storyboards with your data, delivering in seconds what takes days or weeks to achieve in PowerPoint. By visualizing what is happening in this way, you can holistically track business performance, identify opportunities and adjust strategies in real-time.
Unlike PowerPoint, Ollie Accelerator doesn’t hide the truth about what is happening in your business. It highlights the gaps and supports the creation of a valid plan to help you make your numbers.
If your IBP process is experiencing “Death by PowerPoint” and you are struggling to find the truth in your plans, operationalizing your strategy with Ollie Accelerator will deliver a single source of the truth that unifies your operations under a single dashboard. This will help you create credible plans and actionable outcomes to drive revenue growth, reduce operating costs and get sustainable results, fast.
Accelerate your business with Ollie Accelerator
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