Idea Accelerator started out as one blog post twice a month two years ago. Since then the demand for independent business intelligence has grown with visitors to the site doubling compared to a year ago. A few months back I increased the frequency of posts on Idea Accelerator to daily. Some days are slower than others but visitor numbers reach new records – viewers tripling on some days.
I’ve now published close to 250 posts and will keep the daily frequency for the time being depending on demand and my business commitments.
Visitors also subscribe to get hold of the valuable special reports and tools to help them with generating new product and service ideas, new ideas for their business strategy and operations and ways to increase cash flow, improve sales and increase return on marketing spend.
What I try to give is business intelligence and not necessarily information of which there is a healthy an intriguing mass these days. It may be in the form of stories or personal experience but it’s still business intelligence. Reader attention spans are increasingly shorter. This means my business intelligence has to be short, quick to grasp and introduce valuable new ideas, concepts and insights.
You won’t find these business insights anywhere else. Not in business newspapers. Not in business weeklies. Not in small business magazines. Not on another websites.
The only other source is other business people. And how many do you know have a real-world and formal business education that can give you these business insights.
What’s the difference then between business intelligence and information?
Simply, business information includes a wide variety of facts and numbers that may or may not be relevant to a business. Business intelligence is the way in which you make information useful to support business decision-making.
Before your eyes roll over, perhaps a better way to explain the differences what Chris Burgess, Editor-in-Chief of the excellent agricultural publication “Landbou Weekblad” told his readers in a recent editorial:
Intelligence is the type of information that connects the dots.
Take cash flow as an example. Customers are paying up to 90 days late (some 120 days). Balance sheets are weak in this economy. Creditors want payment sooner from your business. Even large companies are at the brink as capital is under attack from government and labour. Saying your cash flow is important is just a platitude. Connecting the dots intelligently means introducing a guerilla-style cash flow management system so you are the ultimate survivor.
Garry Kasparov, the greatest chess player of all time, says it differently: “It’s not enough to be talented. It’s not enough to work hard and to study late into the night. You must also become intimately aware of the methods you use to reach your decisions.
If you are waking up at night in a cold sweat about your cash flow, I have a special report “Cash Flow Survival Guide” in production which will cure your insomnia. But first you’ve got email me to put your name on the waiting list for a copy.
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