In this digital era, where technology is both the driving force and the battleground, successful business management is important as it has a major impact on tech businesses' sustainability, performance and ability to compete.
We at Staria have worked together with many tech and SaaS businesses overt the years, and have learned a lot on the obstacles that executives and managers in tech businesses encounter on a daily basis. In this text we will elaborate our findings.
The common pains we see in...
... the management and finance of tech businesses
Tech businesses have to cope with a lot of uncertainty. We often see them struggling with e.g. following questions:
- How to forecast future cash flows and ensure cash balance?
- How to create high quality financial reporting to investors with limited resources?
- How to incorporate more key stakeholders in the forecasting process?
- How to make forecast updates quick and agile in the rapidly changing environment?
Financial forecasting is a strategic tool that at its best is so accurate that it helps tech businesses' management to plan, adapt, and thrive in an unpredictable landscape. Forecasting plays a big role in strategic decision-making, resource allocation, getting funding and managing risks.
... SaaS
Due to the nature of SaaS business, data-driven approach isn't always easily implemented as data is usually scattered into various sources. Also, SaaS businesses have to deal with recurring revenue streams and subscription-based pricing models. This makes e.g. building Profit and Loss (P&L) statements and Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) forecasts challenging. We often see SaaS businesses struggling with e.g. following questions:
- How to gather, clean and combine scattered data to create SaaS metrics?
- How to create customized SaaS P&Ls?
- How to run ARR forecasts?
- How to carry out cohort analysis?
... service delivery
Whether it's providing software solutions, technical support, or consulting services, delivering value to customers is paramount for success in the competitive tech landscape. Tech companies are not just about tech, it's also about managing human resources and projects. That's why we often see tech businesses stumbling also with these questions:
- How to optimize resource utilization?
- How to coordinate communication among team members and clients?
- How to effiently manage workload and resource allocation?
- How to ensure project timeline adherence?
Pick the correct pain killers to ease your tech business
A good pain killer for the above-mentioned challenges – whether it’s the complexities of business reporting and planning, resource management or project profitability – is a well-suited BI & Planning solution.
BI & Planning tool Naviloq unites the most requested BI and Planning features, out of the box. It's the full package of BI capabilities in a simple interface – you can do planning, forecasting and optimized financial reporting with it. You can also combine and secure data from all business units into Naviloq's built-in data warehouse. But how exactly does Naviloq help tech businesses to strive?
SaaS metrics in Naviloq.
Enhance reporting in tech business
Naviloq meets complex reporting requirements regardless of company size or complexity – without coding. Reports are easy to use and flexible.
1. Gather, clean and store data from all operational sources:
Centralize scattered data into Naviloq's built-in data warehouse. Data can be consolidated from multiple sources such as timesheet, project management, CRM, accounting and ERP systems, or spreadsheets like Excel.
2. True SaaS metrics:
Set up metrics to guide your tech business. Create accurate calculations of ARR/MRR, ARPU, churn rate, net revenue retention, CAC and LTV.
3. Management & Investor reporting:
As mentioned, creating high quality financial reporting to management and investors (especially with limited resources) is one of the common challenges we have seen tech businesses face. With Naviloq, financial reporting is easy and e.g. SaaS P&Ls and cash flow reports, as well as cohort analysis are created effortlessly.
4. Professional Services Management:
Get clear picture on resource utilization, billing, project timelines and profitability.
Upgrade planning in tech business
With Naviloq you get agile planning with customizable forecasts. You can comment, and get comments, on plans and budgets straight through the platform – collaboration is easy and straightforward.
1. SaaS & Financial planning:
Plan e.g. cash flow, ARR, churn and landing revenue.
2. Sales pipeline planning:
Forecast expected sales automatically based on your existing funnel.
3. Scenario creation:
Model future business performance by changing key assumptions on the fly.
4. Capacity Planning:
Test, anticipate and manage capacity constraints.
Do you want to know more? Watch the explainer video below or visit our Naviloq page!