Are you recording, measuring and analysing enough of the data being generated by your business?
With so many apps, software and digital solutions now available to businesses, there's a wealth of useful data to trawl through – and plenty of hidden insights for you to benefit from.
Here are 5 ways to get more insights from your business data
1. Track your business finances
Managing your business accounts used to be something you left to your finance director. But with cloud accounting now the norm, every business now has 24/7 online access to detailed information about its financial position and performance. Deeper analysis and insights are usually available at the click of a button, helping you spot the pitfalls and potential opportunities.
Your accounting platform can show you:
2. Review your credit score
The credit risk rating your company is given by the big credit agencies can have a huge impact on your ability to borrow. A high risk-rating will mean that banks and other lenders will be reluctant to offer you funding. And suppliers will be less open to offering you trade credit.
Some credit bureaus, like Experian, now offer ways to check your business credit score. With a better understanding of your credit data, you can take action to improve your score.
To get in control of your credit position, you should:
3. Monitor your sales and marketing data
Steady sales revenues are a must for any business that wants to grow, but how much oversight do you have over your historic and future sales data? Using a sales and marketing platform like Salesforce helps you track your sales, campaigns and customer relationships – giving you a goldmine of data to sift through and analyse:
Key data areas to analyse will include:
4. Track your staff performance
Your people are one of the company’s most important assets. But do you really know how well your employees are performing, or how engaged they are with the goals of the business? Today’s HR software makes it easy to set core skills and capabilities and track how each team member is performing over the course of the year.
As an employer, you can:
5. Measure your performance against targets
One of the big benefits of tracking your business data is the ability to measure your performance against a given target. Whether it’s a budget target for a new department, or a sales target for a new marketing campaign, you have the performance data at your fingertips. This helps you motivate the team, work towards a common goal and ‘gamify’ your progress as a business.
If you share these targets and performance data with your people at monthly team meetings, this transparency can work wonders for motivation. When your employees, management team and executive team are all aiming for the same goals, you’re a more effective team.
Transforming your company into a digital business may seem like the end of the process. But the reality is that getting in control of your data sharing, analytics and performance tracking is the genuine goal for any ambitious business.
We can help you connect your app stack and focus on analysing the most important data for business success. Get in touch with your WDF team member on 02 6921 5444.
Business Manager
WDF Accounting and Advisory | Accountants Wagga | Your partners in business
Providing carefully tailored accounting solutions in business advisory, tax compliance, bookkeeping, Self-Managed Super funds, and more.
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