Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Office: Spreadsheets

Some TPAs treat Excel like an old family recipe.

It’s been passed down from generation to generation, no one really remembers who created it, and every time you use it, you swear it’s the last… until next week.

Sure, it works. You export your data, do a little VLOOKUP magic, maybe some pivot tables, and email it around like you’ve cracked the Da Vinci Code. But deep down, you know the truth:

• By the time that spreadsheet hits your inbox, it’s outdated.

• Everyone’s version looks slightly different.

• Somewhere in row 3,284, a formula is quietly sabotaging your numbers.

Flying Blind Doesn’t Work Anymore

In the TPA business, there’s no room for guesswork. You’ve got deadlines that don’t forgive, clients that don’t forget, and compliance rules that don’t bend. Making decisions without accurate, up-to-date data isn’t just risky; it’s expensive.

The best TPAs aren’t just reacting to what’s already happened. They’re seeing what’s happening right now and making moves before it turns into a problem.

Why Quality Analytics Matter

High-quality analytics, dashboards, and reporting are the difference between scrambling to catch up and confidently staying ahead. They:

• Show you trends you didn’t even know to look for.

• Help you catch small issues before they turn into big ones.

• Keep your whole team aligned on the same, live data.

• Point you toward new revenue opportunities hiding in plain sight.

When you know what’s really going on in your business - and you know it in real time - you stop playing defense and start playing offense.

Dashboards: The Control Tower for Your Business

A good dashboard is like the cockpit of your TPA operation. One glance, and you know:

• How close you are to hitting your deadlines.

• Which clients' census files are in trouble.

• Which clients cause you intense heartache and barely pay anything.

• Which clients take forever to sign their 5500s.

• Where your deal pipeline stands.

• What you're forecasted to bring in new revenue next quarter.

• Which advisors are your MVPs (and which ones owe you a coffee).

No endless exporting. No waiting for “month-end reporting.” Just instant clarity.

How Stax.ai Helps You Get There

We built Stax.ai CX to put this kind of visibility in your hands every day. No separate BI tool, no technical wizardry required; just live, in-app reporting that turns your data into decisions.

Inside CX, you can:

• Report on any field, including custom ones.

• Pivot and slice data in real time.

• Share live dashboards with your team (with security controls).

• Link insights directly to actions: tasks, workflows, client outreach.

It’s the difference between pulling a report and running your business from your data.

The future belongs to the firms that can look at their dashboards in the morning, spot the red flags and green lights, and take action before lunch. That’s what quality analytics and dashboards deliver.

So the question is — do you want to keep wrestling with exports, or do you want to run your firm with the kind of insight that makes decisions easy?

Ready to see your TPA business in high definition?

Stop guessing. Start deciding with live dashboards and real-time analytics built for how TPAs actually work. Book a quick demo of Stax.ai CX and see how easy it is to go from numbers to next steps, without ever touching “final_final_v3.xlsx” again.