Rounding out the menu with class instruction

Interest in spreadsheets prompts GlobalBizpro to open a dedicated training facility

By Randal Jackson, Auckland | Monday, 06 August 2012
Auckland-based reseller GlobalBizpro plans to launch a 16-seat dedicated training facility in August, after experiencing positive end user uptake of its Excel training workshops.

Director Grant Harwood says improved integration of accounting systems and the Microsoft SQL database has reinvigorated interest in Excel reporting among accountants and finance managers.

Spreadsheet training has stemmed from the reseller's accounting and business management focus. GlobalBizpro is an Auckland-based MYOB EXO reseller. It is also the New Zealand distributor for Global Business Systems, a vendor of business management software designed for SMBs. The company has experienced a notably busy six-week Excel training period and delivered a dozen fully booked sessions, including an advanced three-day workshop.

Harwood says the company will soon announce an advanced course for auditors, which it will jointly promote with a chartered accounting partner.

“The age of re-punching data is over,” he says. “Now, a single click connects data sources and populates reporting with live systems data. More software vendors actively integrate reporting tools, making it easer to extract data and render it to spreadsheets.”

Harwood says users can often do the basics on programs like Excelt.

“But they realise there is a long way and a short way of doing things," he says. "Smart formulae and techniques can halve reporting times."

GlobalBizpro promises course participants they will shave at least a 25 percent off their monthly reporting times. Workshop attendees receive three months of email support, exercises and additional tips.