With such a wealth of data available at everyone's fingertips, it can often become pretty overwhelming when it comes to deciding exactly what to do with it. In this article, we aim to explore the ever-advancing technological world of stats and figures, and help bring it all together in a way that makes a little more sense.

In short; the line between business and data is blurring, and this means data is becoming more and more integral to the running of almost every business. Just think of how much data is being stored about you on a daily basis; you can barely blink at Google without it recommending you a fancy new eyelash curler to make those blinks extra fabulous. 

For most companies, data is mostly important in terms of driving operational excellence, or fostering far better customer-client relations. But the more data-savvy among businesses understand that it runs far deeper.

In almost all cases, data-driven decision-making takes precedent over gut-feeling or business experience - when it’s done properly. These days, there’s a wealth of data available at your fingertips - from Google Analytics and Bing Webmaster Tools to Facebook, Twitter and everything in-between. But it’s not quite as simple as grabbing all the data and metrics you can find and hoping there’ll be some secret code to sudden business growth hidden amongst the numbers.

Step 1: Strategise

First, you need to decide exactly what you want to glean from the data. Are you looking for new leads? Trying to boost your business visibility? Maybe you’re just trying to work out what processes are working and what aren’t. Either way, working out exactly what you want to learn is perhaps the most important step. 

Step 2: Identify

Once you’ve worked out exactly what you want to achieve, it’s important to identify the key areas in which data is flowing into your business. It can be anything, from customer interactions, to clicks on your social media posts, or engagement with your paid media ads. Of course, these will change depending on what your business entails; but the data is still equally as important.

Step 3: Collect & Analyse

In Conclusion

Choosing the right data-driven strategy is crucial to getting the most out of your data. If you know what you’re looking for, data can provide endless opportunities for fine-tuning and improving your business processes; from front-end sales & marketing to the more internal systems. 

And, it can work for any business. It’s not just industry giants like Amazon & Google that can harness the power of data effectively - even Joe’s Coffee Shop down the road could benefit from a little targeted data analysis. Should he market his brand new mocha-choca-latte-cino on Twitter, Facebook, or by distributing some local leaflets? Does his high-spending hipster clientele prefer the orange-peel-pumpkin-spiced vanilla latte or the classic Americano? Now that would make an interesting case-study; but I think we know the results. 

Data is our specialty. We bring technological know-how with a business-first mind, allowing us to focus on the operations and processes that require data to make the right decision. As such, any business can benefit from expert data analysis. Get in touch with us to see how we can help.

Just because a business has the resources to build bespoke software themselves, does that mean it's always a good idea? You may wonder why so many Social Media Managers don't actually manage their own accounts, or web-designers don’t maintain their own websites. In a similar vein, this article aims to explore the ins and outs of DIY tech, and why it can often be a good idea to get someone to build it for you.

Let’s think of it this way: you’re probably more than able to cut your own hair, but chances are, you get someone else to do it for you. (And if you don’t, fair play, but you’ve just ruined our analogy. Tut tut.) Cutting your own hair would be time consuming, probably very messy, and if you’re anything like us, you’re in for a good chance of ending up with some sort of mullet / bowl-cut hybrid. Not the best look.

Similarly, it’s often the case with business. Not mullets and bowl cuts, thankfully, but finding out that designing their own tech is actually far more of a hassle than it’s worth. Not only does it take up valuable time that could be spent on sales, existing work, or your general business processes, but this time translates into money. Or rather, a loss of it.

It’s an easy trap to fall into when it comes to designing your own software, managing your own social media or building your own spaghetti code spreadsheets. Theoretically, you may imagine that if you do it all yourself, you won’t have to spend much, if anything at all. But this isn’t always strictly true. The money you save in service charges and existing software will most likely all be lost through time. Time that you could’ve spent working on your own clientele.

This means that in reality, despite first appearances, building your own software becomes more of a false economy than a money-making shortcut. An expert, for example, might be able to build that exact same software you can, but in a fraction of the time - so, yes you have to pay them for their services, but the time saved will most likely equate to a far bigger ROI.

In fairness though, we’re not saying building your own software is entirely a bad idea - in fact, more often than not, bespoke software is the best way to create efficient, business-first tech that works precisely for your requirements. But the point here is that it’s often not beneficial to build it yourself, even if you do have your own tech-expert.

As such, there’s a multitude of ways you can get this software without having to use your own resources. And that’s the real ticket when it comes to business.

Want some bespoke software building? We bring both the knowledge and know-how, alongside a brilliantly business mind. In short, we can keep your ROI happy whilst bringing you the tech you need.

With the rapidly changing landscape of IT and business, having the right line-of-business (LOB) software is becoming more and more important to keep on top. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the ins-and-outs of software design, and aim to answer the question: Do you need to be a genius programmer to build high quality, line-of-business software? 

You may think it’s an obvious answer. Surely, without in-depth programming knowledge and know-how, where would you even begin with designing line-of-business software? But the clue’s in the name. If you don’t know what your business actually needs, how will you decide what exactly you want the software to do? 

The short answer, then, is a resounding no. Designing line-of-business software isn’t about knowing your way around the ins-and-outs of deep C++ script, or being able to jump into the Matrix at will. It’s instead about having an in-depth knowledge of your business requirements, and applying them to the design of a program.

A genius programmer can certainly make headway when it comes to designing software - they are a genius after all - but without knowing exactly what you need the specific software to do, you’ll probably just end up with a catch-all piece of tech that will need constant attention and development as your business requirements take shape. And we all know how that ends up... (the dreaded spaghetti code… *shudder*). 

Therefore, knowing exactly what you need the software to do before it comes to the build will put you in far greater stead than just rushing headlong into the nitty-gritty world of code. In much a similar way to choosing what software to use, it’s ironically more difficult - and arguably more important - to analyse your business and design a system around exactly what you need it to do, rather than actually programming and coding one.

As such, a tightly-scoped, simple program can actually deliver far more of a benefit than a genius-ly complex piece of software that’s able to simulate entire worlds, whilst also washing your dishes. Although - to be fair - that would be quite useful. But it certainly wouldn’t be cheap, and would probably take a good few thousand years to design.

Heading back to reality for a hot second, a little bit of both never did any harm, sure. But the point here is that this is software for business. And that means ROI, UX, UI and everything in between. As such, it’s probably best to let Mr. Business Whizz run wild before you even dip your toes in the type of code you want to use. That way, when your local tech person gets to work, you have a clear plan of exactly what’s needed; leading to a tightly scoped and efficient technological wonder, rather than a wild, untamed beast. 

So, in conclusion, the ultimate dream would be some sort of robotic business-whizz-programmer-genius-hybrid, but if you don’t have one of those to hand: know your business before you sow your code, and you’re well on the right track to getting your business running like clockwork. 

That sounded quite profound, didn’t it?

Need any help designing LOB software? We bring all the Business Whizz-dom you’ll need. We have a wealth of management consulting experience - but are also competent programmers. Go with us, and you get the best of both worlds. Check out our website for more information.

It’s easy to get swept up in the latest technology and gadgets, but when it comes to picking the right technology for your business, it’s not always about following the trend. ‘Buzzword’ software may look great on paper, but is it the right fit for your business? Will it deliver on ROI or break the bank? These are a few of the important questions we aim to answer in this article.

Firstly, when choosing your software, it’s important to consider exactly what you’re setting out to achieve. Whether you’re managing a small amount of data, a bus-load, whether you want a client-side service or server-side, your choice definitely matters. 

If you’re only managing a small amount of data, choosing the latest tech might be like purchasing a brand new hedge trimmer to cut your hair. It’d do the job, sure, but a nice and cheap pair of scissors would most certainly be the more sensible - and appropriate - option. Similarly though, the vice-versa can be true. Trimming your hedge with a pair of scissors is probably not going to cut it, if you excuse the terrible pun. 

That’s all well and good, but how exactly do you know which software to choose? With such a huge range of available tech, the differences aren’t always as simple and obvious as between a pair of scissors and a hedge-trimmer, but that’s why we’re here.

Firstly, let’s summarise.

There are a few important things you need to consider when it comes to choosing the right technology;

• Firstly, the purpose of the tech. You need to consider carefully whether or not it aligns with your business goals. Remember that terrible hedge-trimmer analogy?
  
  
• Secondly, the ubiquity of the tech, or rather, how widely used the particular software is. A more ubiquitous tech naturally has a wider range of support, and as such, it’ll generally be easier (and thus cheaper) to find competent developers with the necessary experience. Plus, if it’s used by many more businesses, it’s probably set to stand the test of time.
  
  
• And lastly - but definitely not leastly - whether or not your chosen software is open or closed source. This will undoubtedly bring up issues of cost, usability and security. There’s no definitive answer for which is best, but if you’re looking for a cheaper option, open-source is usually the way to go.
  

But that’s far from an exhaustive list.

There are still many other factors that come into play when choosing the right software for your business. Let’s take a look at some examples.

• Let’s say you’re building a system where you need to service a huge number of users outside of your organisation. Here, it’d be best to look at client-side frameworks, so you can take advantage of your clients machines instead of offloading too much stress on your own servers.
  
  
• If the users were inside your organisation, for example a large sales team who need to collaborate, consider a desktop application. This would have the advantage of keeping most of the infrastructure of the application local, so once installed, only raw data is transmitted between the client and the server, leading to a snappier experience all round.
  
  
• In the same vein, responsive-design web applications can allow you to use systems across a variety of devices, without requiring any software updates. The only issue here however is that the user experience can be significantly impacted by a lousy internet connection. Responsive applications are best for those with good internet connections, but would rather avoid installing updates.
  
  
• For heavy calculations, MS Excel is still a great way to go, because it’s so familiar to many. Clever use of macros and VBA (these are advanced features of Excel) can turn simple spreadsheets into powerful and robust tools that almost resemble bespoke software packages.
  
  
• Although not used very often any more, MS Access is still a quick and easy way to deal with small databases, too. It can be very cost-effective if already used by the organisation.
  
  

So, in short, the most expensive doesn’t always mean the best. More often than not, software specifically chosen for your requirements - rather than a catch-all super-program - will not only help deliver a much better ROI, but you may even find that it does the job a little better. What’s not to like?

Still feel none the wiser? Or just need a little help deciding? We’re here to help. Drop us a call or an email and we’ll help you choose the perfect fit.