Measuring Business Performance

A key performance indicator or KPI is a way of tracking business data more effectively. It helps you to identify what works and what doesn’t so you can improve your business. This applies to all aspects of the business, including marketing, sales, customer service, finance and accounting.

Business performance measurement has become increasingly important over the past decades. Today, companies are tracking even the tiniest statistics, which used to be completely unthinkable. This huge flood of data requires that businesses learn how to manage it. And that’s where these KPIs come in handy. They help management teams to understand what’s really happening under their watch. It’s important for all business owners to take part in this process, but there are ways to make it easier. Identifying the KPIs that matter most is one way to streamline your efforts and focus on what’s really important seeing your company achieve its goals.

 There are many ways to measure a company’s overall performance. These can be classified under three different types of business metrics, which are financial, operational, and strategic.

Some of the most common business metrics include sales revenue, profit margin, growth year-over-year, customer acquisition costs and retention rate, net promoter score and Employee Happiness.

Business leaders must understand better than ever before that their customer experience can drive or diminish profits, and they must have the tools to create a cohesive web of data points across the enterprise — from marketing to IT to business development — that keeps everyone’s finger on the pulse of the customer, no matter where they are in their journey.

Business performance metrics can provide insights into the health and status of a company. They can also show you the current and potential future state of your business and give you a guide to help steer your company into a position that will generate the most profit and longevity. Using metrics to measure business performance should be an essential tool for any enterprise.

Reimagining Customer Experience with a Digital Transformation

With the growth of the internet into every aspect of our lives, it seems that more and more the things that used be considered luxury amenities become common place. To put it simply, customers are rapidly expecting more from business. Service must be quick, efficient, and more personalized than ever before. Not being so can mean falling into obscurity or closing up shop like the scores of other business that were slow to adapt.

Luckily, digital transformation is not as hard or demanding as it seems to be. There are many companies that provide IT solutions to do the job for you. Little do many business owners know, many aspects of the business that can be digitized — tasks and workflow that can be given over to technology — all of which goes directly to improving customer experience (cx) and satisfaction.

Benefits of Digitalization

A digital transformation can consist of things like workflow automation, other business process automation, self-help customer and web applications, and anything which cuts the middle-man or makes the entire transaction quicker and more efficient for the customer. The benefits of allowing technology to carry more if not most of the load includes:

1. Better Data Collection

Technology like data collection software or applications are able to not only gather and store data, but are able to optimize it for analyzation. It can even translate raw data into detailed reports regarding things like the business’ performance, growing or shrinking profit margins, and/or trajectory of purchases over a period of time.

2. Efficient Management of Scarce Resources

With the automation of business processes, less mistakes occur. With less mistakes, resources are saved and are able to be utilized to its fullest potential.

Examples of these be seen in the food industry were portions are carefully accounted for by highly specialized software that can estimate things like how long each unit has before spoilage, calorie count, dispensation of proper portions. This means less waste/spoilage as business are able to sell the maximum amount of food possible.

3. More Opportunities for Customer Insight

Data collection can even extend to collecting customer reviews or satisfaction ratings. These things allow a company to gauge where it can improve operations, especially a company looking to reach more people.

4. Improves Organizational Relationships

Employees are positively affected by automation because they are able to focus on more fulfilling work as the more repetitive and mundane tasks are taken over by computers and software. Digital transformation also allows for easier communication between department, minimizing misunderstandings and allowing problems to be addressed real time.

5. Increased Profits and Productivity

The more efficient handling of the business’ resources and automation of workflow goes greatly into improving the overall productivity of the company. Output increases along with product quality and operational costs go down — all of which goes directly to boosting profits.

6. Better Customer Experience (CX) Overall

With endless choice confronting the customer every time he/she goes out or check the cellphone means that creating positive CX is essential in maintaining customer loyalty and patronage. As making a good impression to consumers becomes the name of the game, there are several ways in which a digital transformation can improve your customer experience that are discussed below.

How it Can Improve Customer Experience

Now that the benefits of things like business process automation and company software/web applications have been explained, know that the main way technology aids a business, is in the ways it improves the overall customer experience. It does this by:

Making Your Business More Available

Beings present constantly in a customer’s life makes you more than just a business, it makes you into a staple. Social media posts that links into your company website, an online shopping option, a comprehensive online marketing strategy that uses positive reviews and testimonials — this are just some of the techniques modern business use to get into customers’ minds and maintain their place as a regular option.

Improving Your Customer Service

Digital transformation can go a long way into more efficient and helpful Customer Service. Consider looking into things like people analytic tools, rating prompts, and chat bots that asks for a customer review survey after a resolutions. Incorporating this simple but effective digital tools and features can in turn give you the data necessary to form an impactful marketing strategy — one that addresses recurring customer concerns and meet future supply demands.

Letting the Customer feel Self-Reliant

In letting customers help themselves by visiting your easy-to-navigate website minimizes the need for them to be inconvenience by contacting you. Many hotels no allow customers to book a room and check in using nothing but their mobile or web applications. Some even go so far as to let your phone serve as a room key using a specially sent QR or Bar Code.

Such features go along way to make the customer feel independent and minimize the need for lengthy interactions. What many modern consumers are looking for is more personalization in services and products. To cut the middle-man all together and have businesses that lets them decide on more and more specifics .

Making the Process more Efficient

Finally, the digital automation of your business speeds up processes and eliminates wait-time. A modernized business can service customers immediately and provide all the customer was looking for and more in a matter of minutes. The best way to have a customer stay loyal is to take up as less of their precious time as possible.

Conclusion

Technology is not the beast that will phase us all out in a few decades. Think of it as just another way in making life for you, your employees, and your customers much easier. It lets all parties concerned focus on the more fulfilling and rewarding tasks that otherwise might be pushed aside by tedious technicalities and paperwork. Time is the most precious thing in the world and a digital transformation of your operations saves as much of it