Business intelligence for a wholesaler: why does it so often not stick?
Because most business intelligence tools answer the questions someone set up in advance, from the data someone connected and shaped for them. In a wholesale business turning over £2m–£20m there's rarely anyone whose job that is. The dashboards go stale, and the questions that matter in a board meeting still get answered on gut feel.
What is business intelligence, in plain terms?
Reports and dashboards built on data pulled out of your systems: sales by customer, margin by product line, stock turn. It works well when the questions are known in advance and someone owns the reports.
Why does it stall in a wholesale business?
Someone has to build it, and keep building it. A dashboard is only as current as the last time someone changed it. Larger firms have an analyst for that. Most wholesalers this size don't, so the reports stop matching how the business runs within a few months.
It answers last quarter's questions. Dashboards are built for questions you knew to ask. The ones that matter, like whether to raise prices across the board or only for some customers, are usually new each time. A dashboard can't answer a question nobody built it for.
It usually sees one or two systems. Most set-ups start with sales and stock from the ERP. What customers are saying on calls, what the sales team is chasing, what marketing sent last week: all of that sits elsewhere. The answer you get is accurate about the part it can see.
What should you ask before buying a business intelligence tool?
- Who builds the reports, and who changes them when the question changes?
- Which of our systems will it see on day one, and which won't it see?
- What happens when someone asks a question no dashboard covers?
- What does year two cost, including the time of whoever maintains it?
- Can we see it working on our own data before we commit?
Is there another way to get the answers?
Yes: connect the systems you already run and ask the question in plain English, instead of building a report for it in advance. This is the approach Sysgraft takes. It reads from your ERP, your CRM and your other systems, and can take in meeting recordings and call transcripts, so one question is answered across all of them.
Would it be more advantageous to apply a 3% price increase to all customers, or 5% to the 80% of customers with lower spend?
A real question a Sysgraft customer asked. It's a decision, not a lookup.
Every answer shows its sources. When the data doesn't support an answer, it says so, and says why.
When BI is the better choice: if your questions are settled, your reports rarely change and someone in the business owns them, a business intelligence tool may be exactly right. The problem it doesn't solve is the question nobody planned for.
What does that cost, and how long does it take?
- You approve a full specification before you commit to a subscription.
- Live, working software 10 to 14 days after sign-off.
- No upfront development fee. One fixed monthly subscription, £250 to £1,295 by turnover, over a 36-month minimum term.
Straight answers
Do I need to replace my ERP to get better business intelligence?
Usually not. If the ERP does its own job, the gap is visibility across systems, and that can be added on top without replacing anything. Sysgraft reads from the ERP you already run.
What's the difference between a dashboard and asking a question in plain English?
A dashboard shows answers to questions someone set up in advance. Asking in plain English works for the question you have today, including ones nobody planned for, as long as the systems that hold the answer are connected.
Who is Sysgraft for?
UK wholesale and distribution businesses turning over £2m–£20m. Sysgraft's clients are Orthene Chemicals, Holemaker Technology and Foremost Pro.