New free app empowers small business owners
Editor’s Note: This post is sponsored by Staples. All the comments and opinions are my own.
Let me give you some bedrock business principles and share a couple of corollaries:
* If you can’t measure it you can’t control it, and
* If you can’t control it, you can’t grow it.
Those are simple enough and easy to understand, but implementing the means of measurement and control aren’t quite so simple and easy. Here’s what I’m getting at:
Because of the Internet and the fact that so much of our small business infrastructure today is computer based, we have more data at our disposal than ever before. That’s the good news. However, the bad news is that all of this business-critical information is located on different websites and different apps.
This makes accessing and analyzing the data difficult; it can be like herding cats.
It would be great if someone made an app that combined all of your small business’ most important metrics in one easy-to-use graphic interface so you can almost instantly get an up-to-date picture of how your small business is performing.
This, and more, is what Staple’s new free app – Quick Wins – does for you. It essentially creates a metrics dashboard that gives you all your vital information from:
* Facebook,
* Twitter,
* Google Analytics,
* QuickBooks, and
* Shopify.
Instagram and MailChimp metrics will be added soon.
Further, Quick Wins keeps all of these essential metrics synched across virtually all of the platforms you use. If you commute via train, you can grab your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet and instantly take the pulse of your small business.
I think virtually every small business owner will immediately see the value of this, however Quick Wins goes even further. Based on what your metrics are saying, the app makes suggestions on how you can improve your small business performance.
Let’s be honest, ideas are the currency of the day and it’s easy for small business owners to burn out trying to come up with the best ideas to drive growth, for example. Having a source of free, customized suggestions is invaluable.
There’s one more component of this app that I need to mention in this quick overview: community. When you start using Quick Wins, you join a like-minded community of small business owners and managers, where you get to share ideas, success stories and failures.
It’s undeniable that there is strength in numbers and the good thing about other Quick Wins users is that you know they are folks who are serious about moving their small businesses forward. The mere fact that they’ve downloaded, installed and are using the app shows that they’re committed. It’s sort of a self-selecting process that eliminates those who aren’t at your level of involvement.
You’ll be trading ideas with small business owners who share your aspirations, but at the same time, you’re certain to find many who have experience in areas that are new or less familiar to you. They’ll help you grow in certain areas, while you will do the same for others who are using the Quick Wins app.
I think Quick Wins really represents a new level of maturity in app development. For the last several years, we’ve been seeing a lot of good apps that have a single focus. Quick Wins demonstrates that the real power of apps and cloud connectivity lies in the ability to bring information together under “one roof,” make it easy to interpret, and make it actionable. Click here to download the app.