Business Intelligence: Why does my business need this?
October 3, 2006 – 8:53 am
Lately I’ve been thinking about developing a business intelligence application to help businesses track their promotional efforts but what I am aiming to do before I even start to layout the “ground work” is some feedback from business owners. Let’s face it, if I am developing a business application I need to listen closely to my audience and well if you are reading this and you own businesses then you are my audience. I personally enjoy stats, ever since I took that course in college; I spoke to me and my love of numbers. Naturally I realize most people don’t share my love of numbers.
Basically what to do with this application is…
- Develop from the point of view of a business owner/marketer who wants to keep a pulse on his/her business and their marketing/sales efforts
- Keep it simple – I cannot stress that I was this to be a simple tool that a kid could use, not that they would, because when you are developing you cannot assume that everyone has the same understanding as you do.
- It has to add value – If it doesn’t provide value to the end user then why would they pay for it? Simple, they will not.
- It must be developed with the help of a community – This is a must and technically not a new way to look at development but definitely one where the majority of users decide what is seen in subsequent revisions or “Software by Committee” as I like to think of it
The idea: Most people’s marketing is a very individual process depending on variables specific to their business. Truly “Word of Mouth” marketing is the glue that works best for a wide range of businesses. But here comes a piece of the problem, “How do you track the effectiveness of your Word of Mouth marketing efforts let alone any other types that aren’t as systemized?” I mean do you just go out there are manually count the number of people referring others to your business because of a deal you are offering? Sounds a bit unrealistic but if you ever wanted to improve your Word Of Mouth marketing how could you ever track it?
Part of the Solution: When I think about the best way to approach a problem like this basically word of mouth is similar to the idea of Social Networking. Social Networking, If you are unfamiliar with that term is “a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds.” The other half of the equation is business owners, perhaps yourself who are looking for more information, live information on your business promotion efforts.
Next we’d need a defined distribution technique like email marketing and lastly a catalyst, something that your customer wants to buy from you. Let’s say that you offer them a discount or a free item if you buy so many or a 30 day free trial. Now let’s say that you sent that out to your existing customer list and waited for the replies in the form of sales.
The final Question to you: I always approach a project in terms of how feasible it is. Is it worth time investing another moment in a given business idea. For that part I’d need some small business owners that are interested in working with me on this. Without live trials to test this in I’d basically be shooting in the dark which is something I want to avoid.
What I am also looking for are people to poke holes in this idea, ask the tough questions and be critical about an idea such as this.
The next step in all this besides drafting a rough idea of the first model of this would be to open the lines of communication to business owners and other interested parties looking to build greater intelligence into their marketing efforts. Feel free to respond back via email or on here.
Luc
Business intelligence supporter