In the current environment of rapid change many leaders are making decisions without the information they need because of several limiting factors. To have the best chance of making the right decisions, you need the right information. And, putting yourself in this position is arguably a pre-requisite for directors of section 172 companies.
A number of factors typically prevent organisations from making the best-informed decisions, but we've identified some of the most common challenges.
| Cause | Effect |
| Organisations do not have a single trusted source of data | Time and energy focused on reconciling reports and agreeing 'true' numbers – not making decisions |
| Management information and KPIs are not updated to reflect its new strategy | Information isn’t relevant or strategy-focused, leaving boards and management 'flying blind' |
| The business does not have enough people comfortable with analytics or business partnering to get the most value out of its data | Information is not turned into action |
| The business has so much data that it's difficult to understand what's really relevant | It's hard to filter the noise and understand what's actually needed for formal reporting and decision making |
To help you manage these challenges we've designed a visual framework that brings together all the actions you need to make the best-informed decisions.
The obvious starting point is your strategy. With changing circumstances and markets, you may need to update, adjust, or clarify it to keep yourself future-fit. Without this clarity on context and purpose it's just more difficult to make informed decisions.
To execute your strategy, you need to distil it into a business plan. A well understood business plan should enable all members of your organisation to recognise their own role.
To monitor progress and make informed choices, you'll need relevant management information, and KPIs aligned to the business plan with forward looking, lead indicators. And, those KPIs can only be reported if the quality of data (both internal and external) is good enough.
Underpinning all of that is an operating model: the processes, technology, skills, and culture that enable the delivery of all these aspects. Even if you do have all of this in place, you still need business partnering to turn your trusted information into solutions.
Many organisations have successfully addressed some of the framework – but haven’t quite got all the elements in place and aligned. A shortfall in any one area of it will undermine your organisation’s ability to make best-informed decisions in an appropriate timeframe. You need to take a proper end-to-end view of how well those foundations support decision making within your organisation.
Every aspect of this framework is complex. So, we're sharing our insight and technical expertise on all of them: from data to business plans.
Data
Understanding data quality management so you can establish a foundation of good, clean data that captures the information you need.
MI & KPIs
Setting the right MI, KPIs, and metrics to inform progress and decisions
Business partnering
Turning data into insight to set direction and drive execution
MI and KPIs
Understanding your own revenues and costs to drive commercial insight
Business plan
Establishing a compelling financial and non-financial investment/business case
Operating model
Embedding the right operating model of processes, systems, skills to underpin your decision making
Strategy
Reframing your strategic plan to prepare for a different future, ie strategic business planning
We're starting with data quality management - answering the question “how do you avoid garbage in, garbage out?”
We'll bring you practical guidance on keeping your data clean and trustworthy, and ensuring it's a reliable foundation for your business decision making process.
For insight and guidance on refining your business decision making process to achieve your goals, get in touch with Simon Davidson.
