Business Management

Information is power. In most cases, information is made up of building blocks of numbers. These numbers, when arranged in a meaningful way, tell a story and that is the information that is useful to businesses as well as individuals. The numbers and the ratios that are used to construct meaningful information is commonly referred to as Metrics. This note is a brief introduction to the role numbers and metrics have come to play in every day life.
Metrics for a web-based business
Being involved with a web-based business myself, I can vouch for the importance of web-statistics for a web based business. However, the whole process of collecting and processing information regarding the traffic to a web-site has been made fairly simple by tools like those offered by Google Analytics. Having used it, I am now a big fan and would recommend web-based businesses to seriously consider using this tool.
A few basic information that I find greatly useful in Google Analytics and check everyday is the overall views that the site attracts on a daily basis, the source of this traffic and the key words that drive this traffic to the site. There are of course other great reports as well that I check once in a while, like where the exits are happening from, the kind of browsers that are used to access the site etc. Each business is unique and they will have to determine those statistics that are most important for them and track them everyday. Google Analytics is a good place to start this tracking process for free.
Metrics for a traditional business
A traditional business usually relies on its Accountants for its information. The metrics that are usually considered important are of course the sales numbers and the money that is collected. But things have moved far beyond these basic numbers and there are many companies that now offer specialized services to build a story from all the numbers that a business throws up. One such interesting company is Metrixline, with the promise of converting all the numbers into useful real time information.
Metrics for an individual
Do individuals really need metrics? If one has the inclination, then why not? Most individuals that have some kind of equity holding usually have a real-time portfolio. That is a great example of a useful metric that determines many decisions that an individual takes. Some others maintain a simple excel sheet of their monthly expenditure and that is again a great example of using simple metrics to be better informed about the state of one's personal affairs. But not everyone is inclined to maintaining records and using metrics to make decisions in personal life and there is no strong evidence to suggest that this is a bad way to live, so whatever one is comfortable with, that’s the way to be!