Turning information to insight, BI crucial for SMBs

By Simon Dale, senior vice-president, Business User Organisation, SAP Asia Pacific Japan | Jul 8, 2009

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Small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) face operational challenges that are distinctly different from those of larger companies. It is how SMBs respond to such challenges that can mean the difference between their business’s success or failure.

Additionally, SMBs tend to have a much smaller margin of error than larger enterprises, making their decisions much more critical.

Let’s take a look at the unique challenges of the typical SMB:

• Growth: Without profitable and sustained growth, SMBs risk being made irrelevant by faster-growing competitors or being swallowed by larger companies. However, maintaining profitable growth is a balancing act for decision makers, who must control multiple levers. Consistently pulling the right levers requires clear insights into the business, as well as the external environment.
• Speed: More nimble processes are one of the biggest advantages that SMBs have over larger companies. But this speed can also hinder companies that react quickly, yet blindly. All business users must have visibility into what is working well so they can quickly capitalize on it — and what is not so they can rapidly address it.
• Focus: Unlike large enterprises, SMBs tend to sell a narrower range of products and services. This requires them to be even closer to their markets, products, and customers. Their continued success lies in getting everyone in the company working with complete visibility and clarity. Without this kind of focus, companies end up losing their momentum and have a hard time keeping a pulse on the market.
• Diligence: Due to the scale of their business, decision makers don’t have much room for error. They therefore need to be able to calculate and determine the future impact of any problem that surfaces so they can focus on the most important issues and make diligent and informed decisions.

With the challenges above, how then can SMBs see, think, and act clearly so that they can better understand their risks, formulate smart business strategies, and take actions that align with those strategies?

To make timely, well-informed decisions, you need just that: time and information. This means having fast access to accurate information from every department in your company, and time away from fighting fires to focus on priorities, problem solving, and market opportunities.