Business Intelligence For Custom Integrators

$300 monthly

Bi4Ci is a cloud-based set of Business Intelligence dashboards designed specifically for CI companies. The colorful infographics provide immediate recognition of good performance versus those areas needing improvement. Proven thresholds of quality for each metric quantify improvement opportunities. Standardized QuickBooks-based accounting allows trusted comparision with other user companies.

There are limited resources for helping technical owners become skilled business managers. While an overwhelming majority of Custom Integration firms use QuickBooks as their accouting software, few use it strategically or in a standardized fashion. The education and support of the business owner is ad hoc and, from company to company, often in disagreement on best practices.

Bi4Ci offers standards for account structure and core business processes such as revenue recognition, customer deposit accounting, requests for payment, progress billing, and project management - all of which can lead to greatly improved financial performance.

Any CI business who pays attention to its bookkeeping could use bi4ci. An estimated 2,000 CEDIA members alone qualify for its use.  Compatible with QuickBooks Enterprise & Premier desktop editions, the service automatically extracts key data daily. For each month-end, the system overviews six major metrics showing both YTD and monthly performance. Color-coded performance ranges are indicated by Gauges showing last month performance, while the background colors of each panel indicate YTD performance. Each of the six metrics has a drill-down tab to illuminate more detailed information to drive actions.

Of the SIX: Revenue Growth, Profit and Cash are the big three indicating the overall health of the business. Margin, Labor Productivity & Compensation are the major levers for driving profitability. HIstorical data for the past two years is imported as the user turns the system on. Trends and progression from RED (POOR) to YELLOW (OK) to GREEN (GOOD) to BLUE (VERY GOOD) are easy to see. 

To further illuminate quality of performance, users can see how their data stacks up against other companies: a COMPARE Tab provides Rankings on 12 discrete metrics.

Easy-to-access performance feedback across standardized and comparable metrics helps CI owners/operators make smarter decisions about their future.

While this is a B-to-B service, the client/customer benefits in many ways. Well-run companies have greater staying power. They can invest in employees and systems to better serve the client. Financially-strong companies grow and are able to respond with less chaos and distraction.  A well-informed business owner is a true asset to their clients, now and in the future.

The biggest benefit to the integrator is an improved bottom line; 5- to 10-point first year gains are not uncommon. The metrics show where margin/pricing opportunities lie. They uncover productivity issues with labor and quantify key compensation issues.  Net cash (real cash after deposits are covered) can increase dramatically with the request for payment process embedded in the base approach. Margin gains (3-12 points additional GM); Labor Productivity improvements ($1000-$2000 added labor revenues per tech per month); and Compensation re-structuring; all contribute to new-found and continuing annual profits of tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Bi4Ci service is easy to use and assimilate. Log-ins can be created for multiple users in the company. Monthly updates are instantly available following the month date change. Smartphone-sized dashboards panels can be viewed across platforms, with full-sized monitors providing a complete view of the dashboards and their sub-components.

When it comes to the highest impact education or support program available to owner/operators; this is it. Nothing impacts the bottom line like this easy to implement, and easy to use service. Once set-up; it's automatic, illuminating, and perpetuating.

Every company should be keeping score of its performance. But until Bi4Ci, there has not been a common, benchmarked scoreboard that quickly speaks to the key performance metrics of a Custom Integration company. Bi4Ci enables CI owners to assimilate and act on valuable information, in real time, while creating a common denominator for keeping score - within and between companies.

Never before has such information been so readily available and reliable.