A Leader’s Honesty Worth Learning From

One of our partners said this to me over coffee the other day:

“He’s been running his company for ten years: stable revenue, a well-functioning team, satisfied customers. And yet, when he first looked at a newly built dashboard – he saw something he had never seen before.”

There was a product he thought was “carrying the company” – but in reality, it barely generated profit.
One salesperson, always loud and “working the contacts,” hadn’t closed a deal in months.
And the number of customer service tickets had been rising for three months – only no one mentioned it.

It wasn’t because he wasn’t paying attention.
It was because the data was there – it just wasn’t visible.

Data-Driven Decision-Making Is Not a Luxury for Big Companies – It’s a Survival Tool

Many still think: “We’re a small company, we don’t need BI or analytics.”
But in fact, in smaller businesses every decision matters even more – especially when you need to react quickly with limited resources.

It doesn’t mean every leader must become a data scientist.
But it does mean that our decisions should be based on facts, not opinions.

What Does It Really Mean to Decide Based on Data?

It means that for questions like:

• Which product generates the most profit?
• Which campaign brings real leads?
• Where does order fulfillment break down?
• Who in the team is overloaded?
• When and why does a customer churn?

You have clear answers. Not guesses. Not “I think.” But numbers.

Where Do You Start If You Have Nothing Yet?

Too many companies start digitalization with the system, and too few with the questions.
We always say: first be clear on what you want to see.
Then it’s easier to decide what tool can provide it.

A simple dashboard can sometimes be worth more than a full ERP no one uses properly.
The best decision-making is not about quantity – but focus.

3 Basic Rules Worth Following:

1. Don’t collect data if you don’t know what you’ll do with it.
   The goal isn’t more data, but more value. A pointless Excel file is worth as much as a half-written email.
2. Don’t just analyze the past – look at what’s happening right now.
   A business leader doesn’t need weekly reports, but a live view. The current state is at least as important as the trend.
3. Data only matters if it triggers questions.
   If it doesn’t reveal anything new you didn’t already know – just looks nicer – then it’s not data, it’s decoration.

What Happens When You Truly Start Thinking Data-Driven?

• Less guessing. More trust.
• Less firefighting. More foresight.
• Fewer pointless loops. More focus.

A well-thought-out, data-driven approach helps not only management.
The team also understands more clearly why things happen.
Decisions become more predictable – and you understand them not after the fact, but beforehand.

We Don’t Just Deliver Software. We Think With You.

At 10xone, we’re not trying to push “yet another module” on you.
We ask: what do you want to see, know, feel – before you make a decision?
And then we build a system that’s not just smart, but livable.

Because data doesn’t decide for you.
But it helps you learn not just from mistakes – but from patterns.

If you’d like to talk about this, reach out to us.
Whether you already have a system, or just Excel – the best time to start is always now.