Informed decisions are good decisions

Making decisions under pressure is always more difficult. In the face of soaring demand and last-minute changes to orders, installers need accurate information at their fingertips to help them make the right call on the go. Rhonda Ridge of AdminBase examines the importance of analysing data, and the far-reaching benefits when you get it right.

 According to a report commissioned by Deloitte Analytics entitled The Analytics Advantage, 96% of respondents said that analytics would be becoming more important to their business in the next three years. Analytics for those who aren’t already aware, is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. Nearly half of those questioned for the report also said analytics were already a key factor in decision making. But access to the right information at the right time, is key. One of the Heads of a business analytics group for a North American financial services company summed it up perfectly:

“A little bit of the right information at the moment of truth is worth far more than all the information in the world two weeks after the fact.”

Managing data needs to be easy

Many of us feel there is so much information out there that we don’t have the time or inclination to sift through it all to see what’s useful. In fact, managing data was cited in the Deloitte study as one of the main barriers to businesses using analytics more often. Companies were reported to struggle with the amount of data at their disposal and the best way to analyse and categorise it.

A lot of systems that manage data offer the option to export information to other programmes so you can analyse it elsewhere. The trouble with this is, as soon as data is exported, it’s out of date. In the examples of an installer management system, as soon as you hit the export button, a colleague might update the system with a new lead or job completion and render the exported data old news. Companies need a fully integrated system that stores the data and reports back on it in a way that’s easy to read and digest, is up to date, and is presented in a way that aids decision making.

Lifting the restrictions

The AdminBase installer management system provides all the benefits of analysing data for the good of the business, without any of the restrictions. For example, we have built in reporting options for all users. If the data is in AdminBase, you can run a report on it, without the need to export the data to another programme. The reports can be viewed in virtually any layout, including graphs, pie charts, donuts and Gantt. Most of our customers find the reports we create and customise to their business is all they need, but should they need anything extra, all reports are customisable by the end user too.

The system also offers plenty of installer specific support. For example, we have a dedicated function for Fitters Available Hours, which takes the name of a fitter or installation team and calculates the spare hours they have within a set timeframe. This allows decisions to be made about the best use of those spare hours. Another function tracks leads. You might get a lot of leads from advertising in the local paper, but if all those leads are for single window jobs and your radio advertising brings in high value jobs, you can make an informed decision about where to spend your advertising budget next.

Designed for installers

These are just two examples, but the AdminBase installer management system has been specifically designed to support installers across the entire business. We want installers to see at one click of a button, what is going well, what needs adjusting, and the best way to drive the business forward. Good analytics should help you make informed decisions about your company. AdminBase offers installers precisely that.

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