End-of-the-year reviews are common in any business environment. It’s around this time of the year that executives are sitting down with their annual reports to explore areas of improvement, spot growth trends, and develop plans for 2023. Another pillar concern for company leaders is problem-solving and challenge anticipation. What business problems are you expecting next year? More importantly, what should you be prepared to solve? Every industry has unique problems to solve and core offerings. However, these are the most significant, universal challenges facing every business owner in 2023. In this article, we will offer a few insights to help you explore solutions. Spoiler alert, Power BI Reporting and having the right data solutions should be on your shortlist.
Businesses of all sizes, types, and industries should be looking for improvements they can make in 2023. These might vary depending on your company's niche. But identifying innovative ways to grow and scale is a universal goal. And your best asset worth leveraging is your company data. Harvard Business Review shared that 61% of executives don't believe their companies consider data as a viable asset. Even small and medium-sized enterprises have valuable data and analytics at their disposal. The question is, how are you using your data?
Small businesses are defined as those companies employing one to ten employees. This category is also measured in revenue, with small businesses generating less than $50 million annually. Generally, one or two dedicated IT professionals can handle this volume of users. Even companies within this SMB category should be using data to make strategic decisions.
Mid-sized businesses employ more than 100 but fewer than 1000 employees. These enterprises generate between $50 million and $1 billion in revenue. Mid-sized companies should average between ten and 49 IT professionals to properly collect and analyze the relevant data. At this size, companies should be leveraging significant analytics and can be delegating the data-related processes at every department level.
Whether you're selling bargain-priced widgets or offering consulting services by the hour, you're always going to be looking to expand your customer base. Finding new markets to tap into and growing existing niches will be key to your success.
Before you can devise a new strategy for growing your customer acquisitions, you must first assign data. How much does one new customer cost, considering ad spend, marketing, and discounts? Those metrics can be high, so choosing the right channels will matter.
If you had a bottomless ad budget, you wouldn't need to measure the costs associated with new customers. Since most small and mid-sized businesses DO have a budget, investing in the data solutions, including Power BI Reporting, will be a wise investment. You can then use the analytics to help you decide where to invest those budgets for ROI in growing your customer base.
Landing more customers is one thing. Yes, you need impeccable customer service to create positive customer experiences. However, sales conversions are based on lead generation and lead nurturing. If you're not successfully funneling enough leads throughout the customer journey, you won't achieve the conversions you need to grow your business.
Small and mid-sized businesses alike need to find high-quality leads on an ongoing basis. Attracting and nurturing prospects should command just as much strategy and processes as direct conversion efforts. Having the right data to help you identify who your target prospects are and gauge the various stages of the buying process is mission-critical to your lead generation success.
Start by evaluating your company's presence online, including your website and social media channels. User experience, addressing of target audience pain points, and brand messaging should all be consistent. And the only way to conduct a pulse check on the performance of these points is with the collection and analysis of ongoing engagement data. Power BI Reporting can be a game-changer for generating and funneling new leads.
You can have all the right core offerings and customer service elements in place, but without the right people working in the right positions, you could be missing valuable growth opportunities. Developing your teams and monitoring performance matters to both your workforce and your company's bottom line. As you identify business challenges to address in 2023, look for ways to improve your employees' impact with:
Today's employees don't want to be micro-managed but don't mistake performance monitoring for "hovering” over your staff. Instead, when you set performance expectations and measure the metrics, you can maintain accountability in the workplace without overburdening your teams.
Another challenge businesses will face in 2023 is spending. Growing and scaling your enterprise involves both sales revenue growth and prioritized expense management. Start generating more revenue and stop spending on initiatives that don't produce results.
Unfortunately, it's not easy to spot overspending or mismanaged budgets. However, leveraging the data and analytics behind where you invest funds and how you measure results can be just the solution you need. Stop guessing about where to advertise, what strategies to focus on, and how to estimate performance. Start using the data as your compass to see exactly where every dollar goes and how much it generates as a return.
Before you make decisions to increase spending, slash budgets, launch new products, or implement new strategies, invest in the best data tools. With the best resources, you can collect and evaluate actual metrics for sales, lead generation, employee performance, spending, and so much more. Leaders can then make intelligent business decisions about growth and problem-solving initiatives.
When looking for the right software solutions for your business, look for those tools that can:
One of the first steps you can take to make significant improvements in your business next year is to connect with us! The Power BI Reporting team can bring the valuable resources your company needs to make strides on all these critical fronts. Start tapping into all the best data and measure the performance metrics you need to adjust your business priorities and operations. Learn more about the Power BI Reporting Scheduler and get started!
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