Companies Struggling With Business Planning

 

A recent survey from the Commonwealth Bank has uncovered a worrying trend among Australian companies – many are not creating business plans that can guide their future growth.

In fact, among SMEs with a turnover of less than $1 million, a large number (44 per cent) have no business plans in place. The statistics get slightly better with larger firms, although 22 per cent of those in the $1 million – $10 million bracket still have no business plans in place.

When the survey was taken, just before the end of the financial year, 51 per cent of companies surveyed had yet to start their business planning for the following 12 months. Only 16 per cent of those surveyed had actually begun the process of revising their business plans.

The Commonwealth Bank’s Executive General Manager Local Business Banking Adam Bennett suggested that businesses need to undertake robust planning in order to get the most from their operations.

“A large number of businesses expect short term profit growth and a robust business plan can assist with mapping out a path to realizing this uplift,” said Mr Bennett.

“A business plan provides SMEs with a framework to define and achieve these goals, while also outlining a clear vision and strategy to enhance business performance.”

Companies looking to get the right business planning processes in place should consider strategy planning software like StrategyBlocks. This software makes it easy to set organization-wide goals and KPIs which can then be used to gain a deeper insight into a company’s operations.

Getting these processes right will ensure that your business has the right procedures in place to promote future growth across the organization. With companies ranking cost reductions and new technology as two of their leading concerns for the next year, having a strategy plan can make business operations run smoothly.