Business Data
Having actionable data – organizing and analyzing that totality of a business in a way that can drive decision making – has become a very hot item in 2019. You’re probably well aware that data-driven decision making is taking over large companies. But you may also be wondering how it could possibly help your clients. After all, their contracting businesses are not a Fortune 500 company; what sort of ‘data insights’ can really exist for a simple business that just remodels kitchens or does interior/exterior painting? As it turns out, way more than you might think.
The contracting business has a lot of inherent complexity. There are many administrative moving parts, from bids and change orders to purchase orders, timecards, subcontracts, and more. Delivering a job on time at a quality level that impresses the customer is challenging enough, no doubt taking up 100% of your client’s time; expecting your client to spend the time crunching the numbers to optimize her/his business so that she/he can improve profitability over time is probably unrealistic. But those optimizations may be closer than you think.
Software like Knowify, when used properly and combined with your expertise in accounting and finance, can help tease them out quickly. For example, have you ever looked at job profitability by zip code? Or compared profit margin across the basic job types your client performs? You might discover that she/he makes way more money on kitchens than living rooms, or siding jobs rather than roofing jobs. You can also look at the productivity of her/his crews.
Adapted from the Knowify Manage Contract Jobs Dashboard by Insightful Accountant (identities removed)
Knowify_project-profitability-display
We had one customer discover that one of their crews was 20% less productive than the other two. That’s a big deal! It can be very hard to understand why a job didn’t hit its profitability target, but with Knowify you’ll be able to see where you’re systematically underbidding, or where hard-to-see deviations in performance (like an unproductive crew or a foreman who doesn’t manage materials carefully) are impacting the overall profitability of your client’s company. If you can find a way to help your client recapture those dollars, you’ll already be setting her/him up for a more successful future! You will also be demonstrating the tremendous value an accountant / advisor can bring to a business.
The long and short of it is that software companies like Knowify employ data scientists so that you don’t have to. We’re lucky to have a PhD with a background in data visualization on the staff. Her expertise enables us to produce features and reports to help you not just see but also understand your client’s business in real time. Better data should ultimately translate to better decision making, giving your client a competitive edge in the market. It’s 2019: time to take advantage of the emerging #ProductivityRevolution and help your clients to transform their businesses!
About the Author:
Dan de Roulet is co-founder of Knowify. de Roulet, who has a long history as an entrepreneur and business developer, strongly believes in the potential of the Knowify software to significantly streamline construction company operations.