What is the purpose of a business assessment?What is the purpose of a business assessment?

by David Cooksey

So why should you do a business assessment? It is a great way to articulate the direction your business is going and the steps you are taking to get there. The questions are designed to help us both understand what your plans, priorities, and challenges are today. In general, here are some of the basic topics we cover:

  • Business Demographics: This includes how many employees you have, your locations, and your market.
  • Your Vision and Strategies: Where do you see your business going? What are your plans and strategies for getting there?
  • Primary Pain Points: Does your company suffer from too much spam or spyware on your PCS? Does your network run too slowly or do you need to be able to work even when you are not in the office?
  • Regulatory or Compliance Issues: Federal, state, and local governments pass on requirements to us, most times without warning or clear direction. A business assessment will help you find out if any regulatory or compliance acts affect your business.
  • Budgeting and Project Management
  • Business Functions and Applications: What accounting or line of business applications do you use to operate?
  • Business Intelligence, Process and Workflow: This is the metrics you use to measure your success, policies, and procedures throughout your business.
  • Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: How will your business operate during and after a disaster? What have you done to prepare?

Technology is a tool you should be using to become more efficient, effective and economical! With this information we can develop a plan or solution that truly fits your business needs and helps you achieve the goals you have set.

A good example of this is if you want to grow 20% this year: will your current IT infrastructure be sufficient? What changes or upgrades will you need to implement and how much should you budget?

A business assessment really is the difference between a planned and thoughtful response to a business need and a rushed and reactive one. The hour or so it takes for the assessment is truly time well spent!