You may not realise it, but your business holds a world of data that can really help you in your decision making and give your business a real competitive advantage.
Knowledge is power. Understanding the data in your business and gathering intelligence about your business, your suppliers, your customers and competitors will help inform decision-making that can help you to grow your business. The chances are you already have a lot of this in your systems – you just need to bring it all together as part of your business planning process.
The ‘knowledge is power’ concept isn’t new – thinkers including Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes in the 16th and 17th centuries knew that gaining more knowledge and understanding than your competitors will put you at a significant business advantage.
Create this competitive advantage by understanding and leveraging data generated in your business through its operations by using Business Intelligence.
- What is Business Intelligence?
- Where does your data come from?
- Technology
- Is BI worth it?
- Funding new tech
- Sources of business loans
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence is a management approach that, if done correctly, can improve your decision making and efficiency and deliver you a profit. It is essentially the use of technology, applications and practices for collating, integrating, analysing and using business information.
BI can deliver you historical, current and predictive data which can all be of immense value in your decision making, particularly when you are making business critical decisions about such things as funding for business growth.
Where does your data come from?
There are a multitude of sources of data in your business, sales, production and financial processes among others. You will already have a lot of this data in your accounts and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Business intelligence data can also be gathered from other companies in the same industry as you in order to benchmark your own performance so you know what stage your business is at in relation to your competitors and what you need to do to catch up or overtake them.
Technology
BI is a technology driven process. There are a number of vendors which supply BI solutions. You can find a list of some of the main systems here.
There is also a plethora of more affordable BI software solutions to suit the budgets of start-ups and smaller SMEs.
Is BI worth it?
In the past, SMEs have regarded BI enterprise software as a luxury and something beyond their means. Now, BI software has become more affordable and using it can deliver you a real competitive advantage.
You probably have more data in your business than you know what to do with. The art and science is how to use the data effectively within your business. What is important is that you become data-literate. In other words, you need to understand how to analyse the data you hold.
Funding new tech
There are some affordable Business Intelligence solutions on the market. But you will still need to finance the purchase. A good option is to explore a business loan. A business loan is a loan for commercial purposes – such as the purchase of enterprise software such as a business intelligence solution. A business loan could provide the funding without you losing equity; it’s a debt-based finance solution.
Business loans are available to businesses of all sizes from small start-ups to large established businesses. But actually, securing the funding can be a difficult hurdle. Most lenders will request evidence of the company’s financial stability, including consistent cash flow, to reassure them that the loan can be repaid.
Different lenders will have different criteria so finding the one most suited to your needs will give you the best chance of securing the funds.
Sources of business loans
Business loans are widely available, but the key sources are:
- Government backed start-up loans – great for start-up businesses looking for the benefit of unsecured finance with a low interest rate
- Peer-to-peer platforms – a very viable option for low interest rate loans to £300k as long as you have an excellent credit rating
- High street lenders – excellent for existing businesses with a strong track record, especially if there are assets available as security
Click here for more information on business loans.