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Chief financial officers aren’t going to stop concentrating on the books by any means. But they are increasingly looking to leverage the power of data to make better decisions – and to make those decisions more of the time. The future belongs to these individuals, who are taking advantage of the ability to mine, organise, analyse, and act upon data.

That’s thanks to the ready availability of the technology which enables data driven decision making. It is also a reflection of the increased interest that CFOs are taking in identifying and deploying technology in their organisations (an effect which isn’t limited to the financial office, either, as people across smart businesses look to maximise the operational efficiency through technology).

Everybody loves Excel because it is a powerful, versatile and capable tool which can deliver the goods for simple tasks while being just as adept at sorting out deeply complex data processing requirements. But there always has to be a but – and in this case, it’s those annoying errors which seem to creep in to almost everyone’s Excel work.

This week, we’ve picked out the most common ones we’ve made, with easy solutions to help you avoid them in future.

Microsoft Office has evolved way beyond the traditional ‘Word, Access, Excel and Powerpoint’ quartet. As stunning as these programs were (and are), the latest incarnation, Office 365, blows them out of the water.

Microsoft Office 365 can take your business to the next level, delivering the tools required to accelerate daily tasks and goals. Super-efficiency, ultra-streamlined processes, better quality products and enhanced client relationships are all within your grasp; read on for the seven reasons how Office 365 can boost your business.

Looking to boost business performance without adding a great deal of cost? The answer lies in automation. Long accepted as a great way of enhancing productivity and performance with ‘round the clock’ efficiency, there is an increasingly wide array of automation opportunities for the everyday office.

These days, robots are responsible for 10 percent of manufacturing tasks and it’s growing all the time. By 2025, it will be 25 percent, according to a Boston Consulting Group study.

But it isn’t just manufacturing where automation is relevant. Anywhere in the office where processes depend on passing around pieces of paper, for example, there is an opportunity for automation. By digitising that piece of paper, it is possible to accelerate the workflow and the process, remove inefficiency, eliminate mistakes which come from ‘rekeying’ information and free people up to concentrate on more value-added tasks. Thinking, rather than shuffling paper.