How can you see when the economy heads south or improves before the professionals do?  As it turns out, fairly easily.  Small businesses are on the front lines of the economy and the changes in your business will be visible to you before the government data gets interpreted and reported by the pros.  Many small businesses were able to recognize the current economic crisis in advance and were able to do so using very simple and inexpensive tools – just a spreadsheet and their company’s own data. 

This process,  known as “data-mining”, is the analysis of your firm’s own data, searching for anomalies.  Data-mining allows small businesses to not only check the health of their business but identify subtle changes in client behavior that indicate broader economic trends.  Real time analysis of these trends allows businesses to change their spending and hiring plans before it’s too late. 

You too can be a data-miner.  All it takes is a spreadsheet, a little bit of time, and a healthy dose of curiosity about hidden trends within your own data.  Like to learn a little more – Check out this article, “Customer Data Mining for Gold” and get that spreadsheet cooking!

~Megan Meisner
Business Development Manager
TLP