What to Look for in Automated Reporting Software (+7 Top Tools)

Automated reporting software helps agencies by eliminating manual data entry and automatically generating reports using multiple data sources. As a result, you can focus on data analysis rather than spending hours on manual reporting tasks.

But which automated reporting tool should you use?

Some reporting software provides simple reports and dashboards, while others offer advanced data transformation, real-time data analysis, and interactive reports.

This guide explains what to look for in automated reporting tools. We also take a closer look at how TapClicks can supercharge your reporting process for clients.

Tired of wasting hundreds of hours a month manually creating reports? Try TapClick's free 14-day trial to see how it automates reporting with ease. 

Recommended Reading

20+ Best Reporting Tools (and How to Determine Which One Is Right for Your Business)

How to Choose Automated Reporting Software

Having helped thousands of companies over the past 12 years scale their reporting and marketing operations, we have found most automated reporting tools on the market include:

• Built-in data integrations with major marketing platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn.

• The ability to create live dashboards and schedule standard reports.

• Basic reporting capabilities that help automate the reporting process and reduce manual reporting tasks.

However, many reporting solutions lack key features that agencies and enterprises need for comprehensive reporting, such as:

Limited Integrations With Traditional Marketing Channels

Many tools do not support radio and TV ad management platforms. Agencies running multi-channel campaigns must manually enter business data, which increases the risk of errors.

A strong reporting software should provide data integration across all advertising channels.

Lack of Automated Data Analysis

Marketing teams often spend hours aggregating and calculating total spend, clicks, and CTR across platforms. Most tools lack features that automate data transformation, forcing users to do manual calculations. 

If, instead, you have a tool (like ours below) that can automate this step, then all you have to do is define the metrics and set up the calculations once before activating it across all reports and dashboards. This can save your team a massive amount of time.

No Automated PowerPoint or PDF Report Generation

While most tools offer interactive reports, many agencies and in-house teams still require formal, comprehensive reports for executives and clients.

Without built-in report generation, teams must take screenshots from dashboards and manually insert them into presentations. The right automated reporting software should allow businesses to automatically generate PowerPoint or PDF reports at scheduled intervals.

TapClicks addresses these challenges by offering report automation capabilities that improve data collection, data accuracy, and reporting processes.

With support for multiple data sources, customizable dashboards, and automated report delivery, it provides you with a comprehensive reporting solution.

General BI vs. Dashboard Reporting

All automated reporting tools include some level of report automation, but their features and complexity differ. 

Many tools fall into one of two categories: business intelligence (BI) tools and dashboard reporting tools. Understanding these differences helps you select the right reporting solution for your needs.

Business Intelligence (BI) Tools

Business intelligence tools, such as Tableau, Looker, and Domo, are built for advanced data analysis and big data visualization. These platforms merge information from multiple data sources, allowing companies to perform complex data transformations and gain deep insights. 

Enterprises use BI tools to track financial reporting, forecast trends, and build customized analytics models.

While BI platforms offer full control over data, they often require dedicated IT support and extensive training before teams can use them effectively. They are also costly, which makes them better suited for large organizations that need custom reporting capabilities rather than basic reports and dashboards.

Dashboard Reporting Tools

Dashboard reporting tools are specifically designed to take in data (usually marketing or business performance data) and visualize it in evergreen dashboards or snapshot-in-time reports. 

These platforms automatically pull business data from marketing platforms, CRMs, and other sources to create reports that update in real time. They are typically far easier to learn, require very little technical expertise, and are more affordable. 

What some tools in this category lack, which causes some companies to move to general-purpose BI tools like Tableau for their data visualization, is flexibility, being able to do whatever data calculation you want and build whatever visual or graph you want.

Comparison: Business Intelligence vs. Dashboard Reporting

TapClicks: Enterprise-Level Dashboard Reporting

TapClicks is a marketing dashboard reporting tool designed to give agencies and brands full control over their reporting process while maintaining ease of use.

TapClicks supports automated data calculations, cross-platform analytics, and scheduled PowerPoint or PDF report generation, unlike traditional dashboard platforms. The platform integrates with major marketing platforms, CRMs, and financial tools for tracking key performance indicators.

2 Ways TapClicks Automates Reporting Tool for Agencies and Marketing Teams

The focus on scalability sets TapClicks apart from other automated reporting tools. Every feature has been designed to automate manual reporting processes. Brands and agencies can manage hundreds of clients or campaigns without excessive manual effort.

Differentiator #1: Connects to Nearly Any Marketing and Ad Platform

The most fundamental aspect of automated reporting is the ability to import data automatically into a reporting tool. Most automated reporting tools include some level of data integration, but many support only a limited number of marketing sources.

This forces businesses to manually import data from certain platforms—such as radio ad buys or Amazon Ads—while others, like Google Ads, integrate automatically. Manual data imports consume valuable employee time and increase the risk of errors.

TapClicks eliminates this issue by offering direct data integrations with over 250 marketing and ad platforms, referred to as instant-on connectors. This extensive network surpasses what most competitors provide.

In addition to major platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, TapClicks supports non-social platforms and niche media systems, including Verizon Media, Adroll, and AppNexus.

Businesses engaged in both digital and traditional advertising can import, analyze, and report on campaign data without relying on brokers. These integrations require no coding or API expertise, so marketing teams can access real-time data effortlessly.

Smart Connectors

For platforms not included in TapClicks' built-in integrations, we offer Smart Connectors. These help to manually pull data daily to keep metrics updated.

• Businesses no longer need to build and maintain API connections, which reduces the workload on internal development teams.

• TapClicks manages the entire data integration process, including API maintenance and updates.

• Users always have access to accurate, up-to-date data without technical complications.

Contextual Reporting

Upon initial setup, TapClicks automatically imports data from the past 12 months. You can analyze and visualize historical trends across clients and campaigns. This historical data serves as a benchmark for performance metrics and provides valuable context for reports.

By comparing current performance with past results, management can identify areas of improvement and track progress over time.

Recommended Reading

Marketing Reporting: Making the Most of Your Data

Differentiator #2: Automates the Creation of Dashboards and Marketing Reports

The second key aspect of automated reporting is streamlining data analysis and visualization. Traditionally, brands and agencies spend significant time manually compiling data, calculating key metrics, and designing reports. This process typically involves:

• Collecting data from platforms like Facebook and Google Ads.

• Manually aggregating impressions, clicks, and other performance metrics for each campaign.

• Calculating key indicators such as click-through rate (CTR) and return on ad spend (ROAS).

• Creating graphs and charts, then pasting them into PowerPoint or PDF reports.

• Repeating the entire process for every client or campaign on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.

TapClicks eliminates these manual reporting tasks by automating the entire reporting process. With it, teams follow a simplified workflow.

Data is automatically imported. Then, custom calculations are set up within the platform. You then select and apply any visuals (widgets, graphs, and reports).

Once a report is built, it is saved as a template, which can be:

• Reused across multiple clients or campaigns, eliminating repetitive work.

• Scheduled to update automatically with fresh data at any chosen frequency—daily, weekly, or monthly.

Automating data aggregation, metric calculations, and report generation allows businesses to save significant time, ensuring reports remain accurate, up-to-date, and ready for distribution.

Step-By-Step Guide: How to Set Up a Dashboard With TapClicks

To set up a new dashboard, users simply navigate to the TapClicks dashboard and click on Manage Data Sources on the left sidebar.

Select the desired channel for the dashboard, enter the corresponding credentials, and authenticate TapClicks to begin extracting performance data.

Step 1: Group Metrics or Perform Calculations Across Different Platforms

Businesses managing campaigns across multiple ad channels often need to consolidate performance metrics into a unified report. To achieve this, similar statistics from different platforms must be combined into a single metric for accurate performance tracking.

For example, a social media agency may need to report overall engagement for a client’s campaigns. Each platform tracks engagement differently—Twitter measures retweets and comments, while Facebook records likes and shares.

Manually calculating total engagement requires logging into multiple platforms, exporting data, summing up individual metrics, and compiling results into a spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide. This process becomes even more time-consuming when managing hundreds of campaigns on a weekly or monthly basis.

With TapClicks, users can create custom metrics tailored to specific reporting needs. The platform allows businesses to define a metric, such as Engagement, and configure it to automatically aggregate related data from various platforms into a single dataset.

Instead of manually calculating totals for each report, TapClicks automates this process, saving time and ensuring consistent, accurate reporting across all campaigns and clients.

For example, Engagement is defined to include clicks and phone calls from Facebook Ads, then below that, Clicks, Check-ins, Clicks to Play videos, and more from another platform.

The following is a list of YouTube metrics from the same screen, which are also used to define Engagement.

Manually adding up totals from various engagement metrics for a single report can be a tedious and time-consuming process. TapClicks allows businesses to configure these metrics once and apply them automatically to every future report across hundreds of clients.

The strength of TapClicks lies in its ability to integrate custom metrics into any visual, chart, graph, or report for any campaign or client, regardless of the platform. Since TapClicks connects to nearly every marketing platform (see Differentiator #1), these metrics update automatically each time a report is generated.

This functionality alone helps brands and agencies save hundreds of employee hours per month.

Step 2: Display Data in Clear Reports Using Charts, Graphs, and Visuals

TapClicks follows the same set-it-up-once, replicate-as-needed approach for visualizations as it does for metric calculations (see Step 1). Once metrics are configured, they can be integrated into report dashboards without repetitive setup.

A dashboard in TapClicks consists of charts, graphs, and other visuals that display performance data. Every dashboard functions as a template by default, allowing you to apply it across multiple reports or campaigns without additional configuration.

TapClicks provides flexibility in dashboard creation. You can either build a dashboard from scratch by selecting visualizations or widgets that best represent key metrics or use pre-built templates as a starting point. 

To save time, many users opt for template-based dashboards, customizing widgets as campaigns evolve.

TapClicks offers over 20 dashboard templates covering ad platforms like Google and Facebook, as well as eCommerce platforms like Shopify. All templates are white-label, so businesses can customize them to match their branding.

Widgets can be adjusted based on data sources (or channels), preferred data organization (such as ad groups or ad cost), selected metrics (CPM, CTR, PPC, etc.), and visual presentation (graphs, tables, bar charts, etc.), ensuring reports are tailored to specific business needs.

You can read more about our widgets and dashboard capabilities here.

Client-facing dashboards reduce the need for standard reports each month by providing instant access to live metrics. A key feature of TapClicks allows users to set individual permissions at the widget level, controlling what clients can view. 

Dashboards display only the most relevant metrics to highlight the value of your marketing efforts while keeping sensitive data restricted.

Automating Dashboard Updates

If an agency manages 20 dashboards for multiple clients and needs to add a new metric to all reports, most reporting tools require updating each dashboard individually.

TapClicks simplifies this process by allowing users to update a single dashboard template, with changes automatically applied across all live campaign dashboards. 

Recommended Reading

Marketing Campaign Dashboard: Templates That Scale Across Channels & Clients

TapClicks' Report Studio: Automating Reporting for Presentations

Automated dashboards provide valuable insights, but many agencies and in-house marketing teams still need to generate and send PowerPoint or PDF presentations on a weekly or monthly basis to stakeholders, clients, or executives.

Traditionally, marketers must take screenshots of visuals from reports and dashboards and then manually paste them into presentation slides—an inefficient and time-consuming process.

To address this challenge, TapClicks offers Report Studio, a feature that integrates its automated reporting capabilities into a presentation builder. This tool functions as a direct connection between TapClicks and PowerPoint, allowing users to create automated reports without the need for manual formatting.

With Report Studio, users can drag and drop graphs, charts, and widgets displaying key metrics—such as click-through rate over time, engagement trends, or total conversions across multiple campaigns—directly into presentation slides. 

TapClicks automatically pulls the latest data from connected platforms, applies predefined data calculations, and generates updated visuals within the slides.

These presentations can be scheduled for automatic generation and email delivery at set intervals—weekly, monthly, or on-demand—ensuring that all reported data remains current without manual updates.

Once again, a massive time saver.

Similar to TapClicks’ dashboard templates, Report Studio includes a selection of pre-built presentation templates, allowing users to build and customize reports to match specific business needs quickly.

TapClicks Ad Order Management and Project Management Solutions

Most BI and reporting tools focus on just analytics and reporting. In contrast, we've also built ad order management and project management solutions into TapClicks. This way, enterprise-level agencies can manage their entire ad buying, project management, and reporting from a single, integrated tool.

Specifically, aside from our reporting tool (TapReports), TapClicks' marketing platform includes:

• TapOrders is our order management tool. It allows you to submit and clarify orders, automate all handoffs between sales and Ad Ops so nothing is missed, and so much more. Check out the full benefits of TapOrders.

• TapWorkflow is our project management tool. It allows your ad op manager to coordinate and fulfill all creative deliverables. It does this by keeping all communication visible, automating handoffs, and using data to highlight operation delays. Check out the full benefits of TapWorkflow.

• TapAnalytics is our analytics and visualization tool. It pulls all the data from each API connector into a single dashboard so you have all metrics in one place to make data-driven decisions in real time. Check out the full benefits of TapAnalytics.

If you want to know how delayed handoffs between your SEO and design team impacted the overall ROI for the campaign, you can do this in a couple of clicks without integrating any third-party software.

This level of reporting (which can be automated) provides you with accountability and visibility in every handoff, and deadline. This highlights where efficiency can be improved, who is responsible for it, and how it impacts the overall execution and ROI.

If you want to see how TapClicks can save your marketing team hundreds of hours a month by automating your reports, book a demo and get our free 14-day trial today!

7 Other Automated Reporting Software Tools

For those looking to explore additional automated reporting tools, this section provides an overview of seven other platforms that offer report automation, helping businesses find the most suitable solution for their needs.

Tableau

Source: Tableau.com

Tableau is a business intelligence tool that is used to provide general data management or actionable insights for large brands and enterprises. Tableau offers powerful data visualization, which includes standard reporting and dashboards, both of which can be automated.

One key feature it provides is embedded analytics. Tableau users can integrate their data into external applications to provide analytics and reporting to their customers, partners, and suppliers.

Domo

Source: Domo.com

Domo is a business intelligence and data visualization platform designed for mobile access and data-driven decision-making. It integrates with hundreds of data sources, including CRMs, social media, and web analytics.

Reviews indicate that customizing reports can be time-consuming, and its tiered pricing model often requires costly add-ons for additional features. In contrast, TapClicks offers customized and automated reporting without these limitations.

A standout feature of Domo is App Dev Studio, which allows enterprises to build custom intelligent apps with little to no coding. These apps help automate workflow processes, ensuring teams have the reporting tools needed for informed decision-making.

Looker

Source: Cloud.google.com

Owned by Google, Looker is a big data analytics and business intelligence platform designed for large enterprises. It supports advanced data analysis by extracting query logic in each report.

Looker connects to hundreds of data sources, processing raw data through 50+ SQL databases before applying its proprietary modeling language, LookML, to transform results into metrics. These metrics are then visualized and automated so users can quickly make data-driven decisions.

While Looker excels in deep-dive analytics and scalability, it requires dedicated IT maintenance and can be complex to set up and customize. For businesses with the resources and expertise, Looker delivers multi-layered insights for detailed marketing reports.

Datorama

Source: Salesforce.com

Owned by Salesforce, Datorama is a marketing intelligence platform focused on marketing analytics and reporting rather than general business intelligence.

A key strength of Datorama is its customizability, allowing mid-size and enterprise marketers to connect multiple data sources through its Integration Engine for report generation and real-time decision-making. It also offers mobile support through its app marketplace, enabling users to monitor specific marketing KPIs, such as lead generation and Facebook Ads.

While designed for agile marketing workflows, Datorama has fewer native data integrations than TapClicks and requires more setup time before reporting can begin.

AgencyAnalytics

Source: AgencyAnalytics.com

AgencyAnalytics is a dashboard reporting platform designed for agencies, offering automated reporting software with 60+ pre-built integrations for major marketing channels, reducing setup time.

The platform includes SEO tools for rank tracking, competition analysis, backlink monitoring, and site audits. A key feature is its drag-and-drop editor, which allows users to customize reports and dashboards. Additionally, its white-label dashboards support integration with company branding.

While TapClicks offers Whitelabel dashboard reporting and SEO tools there are a couple of points of differentiation to keep in mind:

• TapClicks offers almost five times as many integrations as AgencyAnalytics.

• TapClicks is built for agencies that want to scale, so several accounts can be grouped into a single client, and there is no limit to the number of campaigns that can be run.

Microsoft Power BI

Source: Microsoft.com

Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence tool designed for enterprise-level data analytics and dashboard reporting. It offers 120+ native integrations, automated and ad-hoc reporting, and a vast library of built-in visualizations.

Users familiar with Microsoft tools will find the interface intuitive, but those without prior experience may require additional training. While Microsoft provides complementary tools like Power Automate and Power BI Report Server, Power BI is sold in tiered packages, requiring businesses to assess pricing based on included features.

Zoho Analytics

Source: Zoho.com

Zoho Analytics is a self-service BI tool offering 100+ connectors, advanced data reporting, and visualization. It includes interactive dashboards and customizable reporting templates, which can be used for ad-hoc or automated reporting. Reviews highlight its report design as one of the best in the industry.

A standout feature is its AI-powered intelligent assistant, which processes natural language queries for real-time data analysis.

While Zoho Analytics provides robust capabilities, it requires technical expertise, and its pricing tiers may not be ideal for smaller businesses. For those with the budget and in-house resources, it serves as a powerful reporting and analytics solution.

Why TapClicks Stands Out Among Automated Reporting Tools

While many business intelligence and reporting tools offer automated reporting, TapClicks excels in scalability and efficiency. It provides more data integrations with marketing platforms, a customizable Report Studio for tailored dashboards and reports, and unlimited accounts per client for campaign updates.

TapClicks also integrates order management, project tracking, analytics, and reporting into one platform, eliminating the need for third-party software. Businesses seeking a comprehensive reporting solution can start with a free trial to experience its full capabilities.

Book a Demo and Try Out TapClicks for Free! See how TapClicks can transform the reporting process!

FAQs About Automated Reporting Software

What is automated reporting software?

Automated reporting software collects, processes, and presents data without manual effort. It integrates with multiple data sources, automatically updates reports, and helps businesses track key performance metrics in real time.

What is the best tool for reporting?

The best reporting tool depends on business needs. TapClicks offers extensive data integrations, customizable reports, and automation features, making it ideal for marketing, sales, and business intelligence. Other tools include Microsoft Power BI, Looker, and Domo.

How can we automate reports?

Reports can be automated using software that connects to data sources, applies calculations, and generates scheduled reports. Tools like TapClicks allow businesses to set up custom templates and real-time dashboards, eliminating manual report creation.

What is automated financial reporting?

Automated financial reporting pulls data from accounting and financial platforms, processes it, and generates reports like profit & loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports without manual input.

What industries benefit from automated reporting?

Industries such as marketing, finance, sales, healthcare, and eCommerce rely on automated reporting tools to track performance, customer insights, and financial data.