Securing Private Equity Investment for Mid-Sized Companies

Do you have a Business Intelligence strategy?  This could be the key to attracting private equity to your mid-sized company.

As Deloitte has pointed out <http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Ireland/Local%20Assets/Documents/IE-CF-PEinvestments06.pdf>:  growth prospects, operational improvement and hitting targets are among the top attributes when a PE firm is considering an investment.  All of these can be addressed with a robust BI strategy. Let’s unpack each of these:

Growth Prospects:

Techrepublic shares <http://www.techrepublic.com/resource-library/whitepapers/the-preferred-business-intelligence-choice-designed-for-growing-companies-sap-white-paper/> that Business Intelligence is an ideal way to establish a corporate growth plan: BI will generate the proof to support the growth strategy.   What will really  “wow” the PE firm is how your analysis uncovers insights no one else has.   But how do you get to these insights?  The good news is that a robust insights and analysis are affordable and attainable.  Gartner research<http://www-304.ibm.com/businesscenter/cpe/download0/211180/practicalframework.pdf> shows there is “an increasing need to focus on analysis to discover new insights”.   Move than ever before in history, companies have access to information faster that will successfully gain confidence with PE firms that expect to be shown insights and opportunities that the company can leverage for growth.

Operational improvements:

“Pump and dump”:  It’s not a pretty phrase, but the street’s direction is clear – reduce costs and increase efficiency so we can raise the valuation to meet investor expectations.  The exciting part is that High tech and top management consulting  firms have diligently collected statistics on every company that invested in  analytics and have compiled a benchmarking libraries.  Specifically, BI can be mapped to affect a business process, value drivers and key performance indicators.   For example, reducing the Cost Of Delay by implementing real time tracking will result in a typical improvement range of 10%-25%*, or by reducing Days Sales Outstanding  will show a typical improvement range of 10%-20%*.  These are just two of the many quantifiable areas that a BI strategy has been validated to impact.  PE firms want to know which specific KPIs and value drivers your company can improve on and what they are worth.

Hitting Targets:

The tenure of a senior manager will be limited if targets are not met.  Having up to date, reliable information on the pipeline is key.  With the ability to see how much of the pipeline is real versus at risk, energy can be put toward the right actions to meet targets.  Moreover, the ability to explore all the operations and sales attributes to ensure everything is on track is a must have for high functioning executives.  Taking it further, companies can now leverage their BI to get predictive about their business. The ability to look at the past, present and future will give you the best shot at hitting targets.  These three views are now requirements from savvy PE firms looking to invest.

Extensive research has been done on what private equity firms are looking for, and a good BI Strategy will go a long way.  The good news is that you can get your BI Strategy assessed for free at www.sap.com/BIStrategy> and determine where you are in the maturity curve.  Once you have your position determined you will have a place to start and you will be on your way to attracting new investment in your company.  The how to part come’s with solutions like SAP’s Business Objects Edge software designed for midsized companies.  With SAP Edge, Midsized companies can get Large enterprise capability so they can  ask deep questions about customers, see heat maps and explore trends.  Today the solutions and capabilities are within reach of midsized companies to outperform their peers and successful attract PE firms.

 

Day 6 mercy ship.

We went to the island today for a day if rest. We hired a fishing boat to get there and when u say fishing boat I mean hand crafted large canoe. On the island we walked to a private beach and some of the locals brought out tables and chairs and cooked us fresh fish from the ocean. It was a nice day full of adventure and colors. The fishing port is very busy and a real rush of smells and shouting. It really keeps you alive and awake. Even with all the activity the locals are so sweet and curios wanting to shake hands and visit. The highlight of the day was coming home in a leaky boat and an engine that failed. There we all were in the middle of the ocean when a torrential downpour started. The kind that soaks one in a second. It was just so raw And real and fantastic to be out there on the edge if it all It's where you find your true self and realize that there really is a better view from the edge. I never imagined myself so calm so close to god and so welcomed in an otherwise Wiley and rough place. I've changed. Africa has changed me. So many fears and cares washed away. While I've only been here a week I feel I've lived a lifetime and while I've only mentioned a few things here in this blog I know now I've got a ton of great stories

Day 5 mercy ships

Easy start to the day. We set out to tour around and really immerse into the local culture. It was good to get a little further afield. The highlight today was getting trapped in an epic traffic jam so we pulled off the road and had some local snack. Ugali. Or called fufu. After that we did a bit of shopping and then grabbed an ice cold coca cola on a deck and watched the chaos drift by

Day four Mercy Ship. Priceless

A very early 4am start to travel to the most remote eye assessment place. A bit of a rocky start but things went very well. There were only about 1000 there to get assessed. The team is flat out amazing and I witnessed a level of patience and peace the passes all understanding. Yet again. The high today was seeing a man in the line and very clearly hearing the call to talk to him. He very humbly whispered to me that he had no eye problems but had a very bad hernia and gave me a quick peak. I knew I had to find a way to get him help but not draw attention or the masses around would surge to get help for ailments that were not eye related. I put my hands on his shoulders and whispered back to him. Brother today we are going to check your eyes. He understood what I meant and waited hours in Line out of pure faith I would get him past the yes or no treatment check point before the gate. When he got to that point the assessor flashes his light into his eyes and I leaned in to say please let this one pass for me. He was admitted. thank you for this grace this moment this amazing place. Thank you for the opportunity to help to heal to love a stranger now a friend. Thank you for the wind that guided us past the guards and gates and checks. Thank you for undeniable courage to fit just one more and to the trust on a frail wire of soo many needs. Against this high was the darkest sorrow of a youth maybe 14 years abandoned in the line only to be rejected because we just can't fix blindness and there I took his hand to lead him away looking frantically for his caregiver to pop out and then realizing there was no one. As I weeped I lead him to a bench where he sat knowing I too would leave him. Nothing but a prayer in a language he couldn't understand that I said in earnest Clutching his hands slowly backed away in the rain and chaos.

Day three Mercy Ships

A very early start today but everyone here gets up early with the call to prayer. It's a great wake up call and prompt to spend some time in silent reflection. We got on the road and went straight to the site for an eye screening. That's when the good people show up to get their eyes checked. It was a real surprise to see the need with some 4000 people there to get assessed. The high point for me was when I got part of the line singing to relive the anxiety and frustration of a long wait. I had to fight back the tears of joy at just how fast they jumped in to Sing and it all just started with me humming Amen amen amen. The low point for me was watching a very well put together women quietly leave the back of the line after hours of waiting in the rain and heat. So proud and wonderful yet so quietly and deeply disappointed clutching her elbows she walked away as if to say no one found me. I paused and wondered how many times she's tried and given up and wished I could do more but knowing I can't. So I just started humming amen amen amen

Day two mercy ship

We worked in the eye clinic today and checked in 100 or so people. The security and translates were phenomenal. The highlight of the day was being mid stride inside a crowded clinic with no windows and all sorts of cool equipment when a staff comes in to tell us all the power will go out in a few minutes leaving us all in pitch black. I stood there waiting for the moment and then it happened and it was as if the pause button was pressed on an elaborate ball room dance. We all just froze and waited ironically we were all blind together. Once they filled up the generator it all came back to life again as if to exhale and then pick up the serenade to the next step. This melted my heart because off all those wonderful people so patient but still they would have to wait longer to see clear or at all than just I had to for those few minutes. Thank you Africa for showing me that graceful patience and wonderful dance.

Day one the Mercy Ship

I put my camera away to start as this place just  cant be described with a picture.   We attended church this morning in a ward and sat on a hospital bed to sing and hear a good word.  This place is a riot of chaos and an assault to calm senses yet after moments in the street u feel like you'll never get enough of  this place.   The love in every power failure or closed road tackles fear head on and grabs your hand as if to say hang on it will b ok and hand me another brick and also pray I will know where to put this one in my hand