One thing at Top Tech Service we are very proud of is we focus on helping client to grow their business by looking at their current and but more important their future plans. Successful Salesforce implementation and high ROI needs a proper planning. Planning helps a business chart a course for its goals; it is an integral part of a business’s strategic development. In this research, we found that 27% of SMBs either had no plan or only had plans for the current financial year. We believe this represents a significant gap in the SMB sector to manage market risks. With better planning, there could be future competitive advantages and improved productivity. It will affect the allocation of resources.
Planning helps SMBs succeed
Successful businesses consulted in this research regularly assess their current operations, identify market segments with future growth potential and adjust resource allocation accordingly, making sure that focus is shifting away from areas where their products are no longer competitive or commoditised to the more productive segments of the market.
For example, people analytics business Revelian, has a detailed multi-year plan that separates between costs and revenues for existing business (based on past performance) and plans around specific growth initiatives the business can take advantage of if market conditions allow. Corporate plans need not be inflexible documents followed to the letter; they can be flexible to adjust to changing circumstances.
Strategic planning helps SMBs to navigate these transitions over longer time horizons through setting intermediate goals and milestones rather than responding abruptly.
From Deloitte report in 2014, we found that SMBs with longer planning horizons were much more likely to have increased profit than those with shorter term plans or no plans. Specifically, 83% of SMBs with more than 5 years planning horizon saw an increase in profit compared to only 39% for those that didn’t plan at all.