Overcoming the Seven Barriers to Business Success

Money makes the world go ‘round, but can you tell your organisation’s “money story”—how it generates revenue and profits, maximises cash flow and steers clear of trouble? Not the practiced version that is supplied to the company’s investors, but the actual per unit economics, the metrics indicating the financial viability of the organisation, what is working well and what needs to be improved, and when to hit the brakes or pound the accelerator?

To be able to tell this money story, business leaders must have access to transparent, realtime performance data to analyse and compare to strategic plans. Business leaders must be able to take the pulse of KPIs and other measurements to accurately and confidently describe how much money the company is making today (or losing) and likely to generate tomorrow. Such descriptions also need to be both comprehensive and specific—the full, deep-dive money story and the particular parts within this narrative like a product, market or geography.

Muting the ability to precisely tell these tales are what we are calling the Seven Barriers to Business Success, which we introduce one by one in this report. Each barrier limits leadership’s ability to know what is going on in the organisation to make informed, insightful and assertive decisions that can help businesses become more responsive and maximise their profitability. Not overcoming these barriers can often unfortunately lead to lost market share, and the inevitable crash that occurs when flying blind.