www.businessbynumbers.co.uk, the first and only ‘cloud based’ business planning and management tool has significantly exceeded the challenging targets set by its directors prior to launch just 6 months ago.
The website was designed to help small to medium sized business enterprises (SME’s) and new start ventures get off the ground through the provision of the professional documentation demanded by banks and other lenders to raise capital. Director Jim Rogerson said ‘I thought the targets that we set ourselves would be difficult to achieve given the economic situation but I’m delighted to say that we have more than fulfilled what we initially set out to do’.
Rogerson, previously a business advisor with HIE for over 10 years, put his success down to four main factors:
1 Simplicity. It does what it says on the tin – produces professionally produced and presented business plans that are bank and accountant formatted. Rogerson said ‘Anyone starting a business or raising capital in today’s climate needs to produce a bullet proof business plan or they will fail – I’m afraid it’s as simple as that. We know that banks, despite their claims, are still reluctant to lend money, so business planning is more important today than it’s ever been’.
2 Uniqueness. Being the world’s first virtual business planning tool means that anyone who has access to the internet can use it with no downloads. It will instantly update any fiscal changes such as VAT and Tax. It’s also the greenest package available as there’s no need to travel to meetings – you can discuss your business requirements over the phone with your bank or accountant while you both look at the same figures being updated over the net. Rogerson suggests ‘The result of www.businessbynumbers.co.uk is that users spend less time talking about their business and more time getting it done!’
3 Philosophy. This newest planning tool has a unique philosophy in that it not only prepares a professional business plan in bank and accountant approved format, but also gives a genuine grounding in the way in which the numbers have been arrived at. This ensures that entrepreneurs have a rock-solid understanding of the financial base of their venture and also know, on a monthly basis, what they need to achieve to make their business a success. As historical accounting information can be added, it’s designed not only for new starts, but also as a tool to be used in day to day business management. It’s also ideal for SME’s who need to secure funding, especially in today’s climate when only professionally produced and justifiable projections will suffice.
4 Market conditions. Rogerson suggests that the timing for the launch of www.businessbynumbers.co.uk couldn’t have been better. He says ‘There can be little doubt that we are in the midst of the most severe recession in memory. However, there is evidence from across Scotland that more ‘white collar’ middle and upper management are facing redundancy as opposed to the ‘blue collar’ manual sector that bore the brunt of previous economic downturns. This has resulted in many very experienced managers investing their sometimes substantial redundancy settlement realising their dreams by starting their own business venture.
Rogerson concluded ‘we are currently talking to all of the regional enterprise agencies around the UK and have considerable hope that this will bear fruit in the months ahead. In addition, we are currently in discussion with a number of High St banks about the possibility of using www.businessbynumbers.co.uk under license. Both the enterprise agencies and banks can see the benefits to both themselves and their clients’. He suggests that the future looks rosy ‘Although it’s difficult to be 100% accurate, as clearly we have limited knowledge of our competitors current sales, I estimate that www.businessbynumbers.co.uk is currently in the top 3 best selling packages from the hundreds available – all from a standing start just 6 months ago’ .
As Start Your Own Business magazine recently said ‘Easy to use, stunningly professional documents, all the advantages of being online, free tutorials with full online support available, it’s little wonder that www.businessbynumbers.co.uk is a hit, especially as it’s completely free for the first 24 hours’. High praise indeed.
-ends-
Press enquiries to:
McKay Media - Peter McKay
01463 250127
peter@mckaymedia.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
Jim Rogerson is available for comment/interview.
Business By Numbers is a collaboration between professional business advisers and software engineers working together to produce cutting edge BUSINESS PLANNING software for those seeking to produce their own professional business plans. Although the business planning ethos was directed and supervised by experienced and accredited advisers, it required the ingenuity and skill of IT professionals to convert this logic into simple software (Sigma) for use on the Internet.
