“This will shine a very bright light in to some very dark corners” (or similar) is something that I have been told on numerous occasions over the years, when I have had meetings and demonstrated BI/Analysis software. You may even be one of those people that remember saying it to me.
It is always said positively and backed up with the absolute intention that applying some of what I have demonstrated to them, will halt negative trends and throw a ring of steal around the business that is impenetrable by competitors.
Having access to all the information you need to make a difference is one thing. Having no defined way of introducing it to your business or your teams is where things fall short though.
I have sold software to hundreds of companies over the years and the overwhelming feedback is one of positivity that customers had chosen well for their business and were happy (even years later) with their decision.
The above paragraph is a great start point to a positive Blog but is it reality? I’m starting to see a very clear and obvious trend with companies that I have engaged with.
Taking on software to solve problems or to help a company achieve some key results, can only ever work effectively if the company knows how it is going to approach it and what it needs to change in order to remedy the issues.
One company that has been using analysis software for 7 years had no idea where they were losing £70,000 of profit each month.
Another company that has its sales team using analysis software only sees 15% of meetings with customers properly prepared for.
Another engagement with a client enabled me to unearth where they were losing £255,000 of sales per month to some of their “loyal” customers.
My last example is where a client had seen great results over the years and had seen their business grow more than they’d thought achievable. Imagine their surprise when I showed them where 52% of a target customer group were spending less and moving away to other providers.
The one common denominator that I have found in EVERY consultation so far? there is no strategy in place to enable the business and its users to address the issues.
If problems are identified when you see your business data being displayed in analytical software, I feel empowered enough to suggest that if you give ill thought out data access to your teams, then you are not resolving anything. The issues that caused the problems are still there and if no plan or strategy is in place to execute change, then people now have the luxury of not delivering on what they don’t know, but with a nice I-Pad or Tablet to play with.
If you are not working on how to get actionable results from your analytical software, you can rest assured that your competitors are probably OK with that.
If none of the above resonates with your business, then please accept my apologies. You might want to keep an eye on your churn rate as the competition might now be coming.
If you would like to discuss your own position then please get in touch.
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