The Information System's Value for SME's

10-GG-Blog-La-Valenza-del-Sistema-Informativo-per-le-PMI

Being able to dispose and analyze Strategic Data in a Timely manner can make the difference …

From Business Management System to Strategy Development System

In the current competitive context of SMEs, characterized by sudden changes in market conditions, the architecture of the corporate information system assumes an increasingly decisive role for companies: being able to take decisions “in real time”, based on timely, accurate information , but never redundant, today allows those decision-makers (with professional skills and sensitivity) to grasp, on the one hand, the weak signals of external change and, on the other, to interpret some “strategic” data to be subjected to careful analysis and evaluation.

The main limitations in the information systems of SMEs

The chronic lack of information (which characterizes a significant part of SMEs) is in most cases traced back to the presence of “verticalized for the sector in which they operate” (or “specific” systems to manage all aspects of a business operations) but not adequately implemented and very difficult to query in order to extrapolate the data necessary to analyze the management trend: these systems, on the one hand, have the advantage of being standardized in addressing the main operational problems of company, on the other hand, they prove to be lacking (if not absent) of tools to analyze the past, present and future management of the company and, above all, to formulate the strategy of the company.

The mistaken belief of entrepreneurs that information systems are “information” …

The great attention of the decision-makers focused on corporate information and IT systems has often led them to believe that they have the task of always satisfying any type of information requirement: from the production of the data, to its processing, as well as to its correct measurement. But this awareness is wrong, as the potential of a computer system that does not allow the usability of data, however advanced it may be, is somewhat limited not only for the external professional but also for the company decision-making subject.

A possible solution to the problem

This situation that leads the consultant to collide with the IT systems of their client companies can be overcome by using what can be defined as their “tools of the trade”: database (“Ms Access” file) or spreadsheet-spreadsheet models (file “Ms Excel”), with which it can build an “extended information system”, integrating the data of the information system with other information of a managerial, commercial or strategic nature.
G&G Consulting has created a management dashboard, easy and quick to read for the entrepreneur, within which the main economic-financial information is summarized at a certain reference date (in particular turnover trend, margins, incidence of fixed / variable costs, debt and cash-flow), of a commercial nature (market positioning, competition analysis, customer satisfaction), of a procedural nature (efficiency of internal processes) and of an organizational nature (degree of staff preparation).