MI

A bit of a specialism of ours this one...

You're business is ticking along. It might be doing well, badly or somewhere in between. If that's as much as you know, then taking the next steps and growing your business will be a real challenge.

Below are some case studies to help find out whether the above describes you.

From simple spreadsheet systems to online web hosted MI portals (i.e. SAS BI Server, Business Objects, etc...), getting close to your business is the single best step you can make to improving your lot.

Problem 1 - Keith runs a small business selling custom mountain bikes out of his garage. He makes reasonable money at it but wants to focus on selling more of the bikes that make him most money. The problem is, all he has are paper records and is struggling to figure out which products he makes his margin on.

Solution 1 - Paper is passed it, save the trees! A really simple database will allow Keith to record what he sells, to whom, and for how much. Some equally simple reports sitting on top of the database will allow him to look at the big picture. How much does he make per product, per person, by geographic region and over time. He'll quickly see his 2 biggest profit generators are the city gent looking for a smart basic runaround for the summer months and the 16-25 year old male who lives in suburbia looking for a serious beast of a bike. Now he knows who to contact, and with which products. Great success!

Problem 2 - Jane used to turn quite a good profit in her dog grooming business, but now struggles to make ends meet. She keeps a spreadsheet recording dogs she's groomed, whether it was a call out or an in-house job, how much she charged and that sort of thing. Where did it all go wrong?..

Solution 2 - Where indeed.. A quick, simple, and more importantly for Jane, cheap solution is to soup up her spreadsheet and build some reports on it. Pretty quickly we see that Jane isn't moving with the times. Because she's good friends with most of her clients she hasn't felt comfortable putting her prices up in over 4 years. Business is business Jane, and inflation is a cruel mistress. Time to start charging more.

Get in touch with us here to see if we can help you understand your business. Remember, our advice is free, and you are free to take it or leave it.