7 tips to supercharge your business decisions

How data analysis and forecasting can change the way your small business works

When you’re part of a small business, it’s easy to feel like every day is a sprint to the finish line. A breakneck race to complete all the tasks you have planned for the day—plus a hundred other small fires to extinguish. But, if your business is going to flourish in the long term, then day-to-day business operations should be more like running a marathon. Maintaining momentum. Planning far ahead. Judging when to conserve your energy, and when to put on a burst of speed.

To do that, you need to be prepared, not just for the next obstacle or opportunity, but for the one after that–and the one after that, too. And you need to ensure that even the short-term decisions are informed by accurate information.

The payoff for this type of long-term, data-based decision making is potentially huge: Intent-based marketing company Aberdeen has found that data analytics has helped finance executives achieve increases of up to 86% in year-on-year operating profits and 32% greater financial budgeting accuracy.

But how do you find the time or the data required to prepare useful forecasts and make more informed decisions?

We’ve gathered seven key tips to help you get started, split over three focus areas.