Insights are the lifeblood of many businesses today, and large companies have bolstered their operations with so-called ‘insights engines’: dedicated analyst teams leaving no data point unseen. Conversely, startups and SMEs lack the time and resources to organise and extract learnings from their data.

The question is: Do smaller businesses need to care about insights? How can overstretched founding teams balance resources to produce a healthy amount of data-driven decision-making?

Before 2020 became a swear word, a global study called insights2020 surveyed over 10,000 business professionals and established a tight correlation between customer-centric insights activities and product adoption. It might seem obvious, but knowing your customers as intimately as possible is once and for all proven a surefire way to win over hearts and wallets. 

Today’s commercial world looks different. Some business models thrived, and others forfeited. Timing, adaptability, and luck were core success factors during the worst of the pandemic. The most insightful firms that knew their internal processes, company values, customer needs, and markets sufficiently to make tactical cutbacks or investments fared the best. 

Identifying and explaining friction, advantages, or fluctuations in any area of the business is what I refer to as insights. 

Deconstructing the insights engine

I have managed the insights engine for a consumer goods company for several years. Similarly to other big manufacturers like Unilever and P&G, we relied heavily on data to reach customers.

Our insights department was a golden example of a well-oiled insights engine built to feed actionable learnings from consumer research and performance analysis into operational and marketing decision-making.

As Insights Manager, my role was to be the voice of our consumers within the business discourse, backed by research and sales figures. In this capacity, I was involved in all areas of decision-making, guiding pricing decisions, branding, marketing, and distribution.

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I had a front-row seat to our business, with access to leadership discussions and fixed attendance in operational and sales meetings. Not only did I represent the customer, but I was also a fly on the wall in every room – the company know-it-all.

I am here to tell you that contrary to the complex image of the insights engine as a turbo motor to be feared and revered, our insights practices were not outputs of complex machinery. Instead, our day-to-day work was an exercise in listening to consumers, taking an honest look at our performance, and compiling learnings into easily digestible soundbites for decision-makers in our organisation. 

From the vantage point of a fly on the wall and consumer connoisseur, voicing the needs of our customers and stakeholders became second nature to our team. Our team’s omnipresence gave us an aerial view of the business that helped us draw conclusions where others saw none. 

Only for big companies?

The Insights 2020 study discussed building insights engines to keep businesses running faster as a strategic and operational upgrade. Every year, Nerdwallet publishes the Small-Business Opportunity Index combining elements from different economic and business trends data. 

In December 2022, the Index had declined from its base of 100 in September 2021 to 78.1 in just a year, reflecting a weakening environment for starting small businesses. 2023 has seen an acceleration of this weakening, with high pressure on tech companies in particular. Their advice was for startups and SMEs to reevaluate certain business practices.

While most smaller companies will not be able to build insights turbo engines, I propose companies of all sizes can, and should, implement a business insights mindset. Instead of complex machinery with specialised parts and roles, a more suitable and equitable metaphor is the humble sail of a sailboat, where every person in the sailing crew plays a role in adapting to new conditions with all hands on deck. 

A new definition of data

Incorporating lessons from running a regional insights team, I set up a consulting business to help SME founders and owners augment performance and create new opportunities with simple insights practices. A key takeaway is that many SMEs lack overview and awareness of the data on hand.

The traditional view of data is often limited to quantifiable or measurable metrics like financials, volume, and market shares but the work involved in generating the learnings is often time-consuming and requires specialised analytical skills. 

I advocate for a broader definition of data as any information that can reveal friction, advantages, or changes in the business. This stance opens abundant opportunities for insights to sprout at every layer in the spirit of our all-hands-on-deck sailing analogy. In smaller teams, all staff become subject-matter experts with valuable information to harness. 

Pulling in data and viewpoints from all layers of the business can feed into a comprehensive picture of the company that can reveal critical takeaways.

A healthy insights-led mindset grounds on instilling company-wide curiosity that encourages teams to spot patterns and anomalies in structured and unstructured everyday business operations: Where is there misalignment? What are the knowledge gaps? Which parts of the company are exceptionally well-ordered? Where is there chaos? 

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Giving every role a seat at the table, listening, and having conversations with all layers and players is a cornerstone insights practice that small companies can adopt. 

Transparency breeds insights

Another simple yet crucial step to achieve an insights-led approach is the transparency of financials and performance metrics across the organisation. Having a policy of transparency and openness about business financial health, high-level figures, values of customer segments, and accounts can have almost therapeutic value for firms and their teams. 

With one client, the sales team was unaware of their shared progress, company performance, and value of account growth. Sales staff were investing a disproportionate amount of time closing lower-value sales while missing opportunities with higher revenue segments and big brands. The realisation led to adjustments to their sales strategy, and we included financials on the agenda for weekly sales meetings. 

The sales staff knowing their numbers helped them generate insights within their team. Providing a high-level snapshot overview of company financials and performance can be a simple way to stimulate critical thought, self-assessment, and team evaluation of available data that can lead to insights-driven business wins. 

A practice I maintain with clients is to save all insights work in one document. A living, breathing, and evolving pulse of an organisation, such an insights document can offer an aerial view of the business to aid data-driven conversations, especially when made available to all teams and employees. With more eyes on the data, smaller businesses can stimulate curiosity and encourage better-informed firmwide interactions. 

Adopting an all-hands-on-deck insights attitude, SMEs can reach new horizons with sails as effective as insights engines. At the bare minimum, transparency of numbers, learnings, and results can foster more cohesive dialogue and understanding across teams and layers of the business.

With a broader view of data and an insights mindset embedded in the organisation, actionable learnings and insights are achievable for any size company straightaway.

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This article was first published on March 3, 2023

The post A new insights attitude for SMEs in the era of the ‘insights engine’ appeared first on e27.