Turn Data into Direction: Insight that fuels smart growth

Why recurring revenue businesses need a single source of truth and how to actually use it.

Most businesses are swimming in data. Dashboards. CRM exports. Finance reports. NPS scores. Google Analytics. Attribution models. Product usage charts.

And yet, the same theme comes up time and again:

"We have loads of data, but we're not making better decisions."

That's not a data problem, it's a clarity problem.Because without a single source of truth, data doesn't unite your teams - it divides them.

Data chaos = Slow, risky growth

I've worked with businesses where commercial teams and finance teams reported different revenue numbers in the same meeting.

Where marketing shouted about rising conversions while customer success flagged growing churn.

Where sales dashboards showed growth but the P&L told a different story.

If your recurring revenue model relies on predictable, scalable growth, you can't afford that kind of noise. You need joined-up data that drives joined-up decisions.

Step One: Consolidate your data

Before we talk about insights, we need to talk about infrastructure.

To make meaningful decisions, your business needs:

• One version of the truth

• Shared access across teams

• Reliable, connected sources

  
  

Whether that's a basic central dashboard or a more advanced data lake or customer data platform (CDP), the goal is the same: get everyone looking at the same picture.

Options you can scale with:

• Shared dashboards (e.g. Looker, Power BI, Tableau)

  → Pull key data into one view for finance, sales, ops and marketing.

  
  

• Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) (e.g. Segment, mParticle)

  → Merge behavioural, transactional and CRM data into one customer view.

  
  

• Data lakes with augmented AI tools

  → More advanced, but ideal for PE-backed scale-ups with siloed data across systems. Use AI to identify patterns, correlations and triggers across huge datasets.

I’ve partnered with a brilliant technology team called Think Blue Hat, experts in data consolidation who help scale-ups cut through the noise. If you're struggling to make sense of scattered datasets, they’re great at helping businesses launch simple, effective dashboards quickly and affordably.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be consistent, reliable, and shared.

Because if sales, commercial and finance are using different datasets, they'll make different decisions. And that breaks alignment, fast.

Step Two: Move from reporting to insight

Once your data is connected, then you can start driving smarter growth.

Too often, businesses get stuck in "reporting" - weekly packs, monthly decks, KPIs... but no action.

Here's how to flip it:

6 Steps to turn shared data into commercial insight

1. Ask the right commercial questions

"What do we need to know and what decision will it influence?"

Examples:

• Which customer segments give us the strongest CAC:CLV ratio?

• What do our most profitable customers do differently in their first 30 days?

• Are our most expensive acquisition channels producing sticky customers?

  
  

2. Pull qual & quant together

• Quantitative = metrics (usage, spend, churn)

• Qualitative = survey comments, complaints, NPS feedback

When used together, they provide context and emotion - logic + loyalty.

3. Use insight to predict, not just explain

It's not enough to know what happened last quarter. You need to spot early indicators of change.

Leading indicators in recurring revenue might include:

• Onboarding drop-off rates

• Days since last login

• Changes in product usage patterns

• Support requests around specific features

These often show you where churn will happen before it does.

4. Visualise the whole journey

Most scale-ups track the funnel. But what about beyond the conversion?

Create journey maps that tie together:

• Acquisition channel

• Onboarding speed

• Activation success

• Engagement

• Retention

• Upsell / downgrade

• Churn reason

This gives you true lifetime value insight not just front-end marketing data.

5. Democratise data access

Insight shouldn't live in silos.

Make sure all teams - sales, commercial, marketing, product, finance, customer success - can access and understand the same key metrics. Build shared KPIs and review them together.

Tip: Create monthly "Insight Reviews" where teams bring interpretation and recommended actions, not just stats.

6. Build a culture of test & learn

Data should drive decisions. That means turning insight into action.

• Spot a drop in onboarding completion?

  → Test a new welcome flow.

• See increased churn in a specific segment?

  → Run interviews and segment messaging tests.

Then measure, adapt and optimise. No more "we've always done it this way."

Real-world example

At one business I supported, their finance team tracked gross revenue. Sales tracked sign-ups. Marketing tracked cost per lead. No one tracked retention by channel.

After consolidating their data, they realised their lowest-cost channel delivered their highest churn. Meanwhile, a slower, more expensive channel gave customers with 2x lifetime value.

They didn't need more volume. They needed better insight. Revenue became more predictable within 2 quarters and CAC efficiency improved without cutting spend.

Centralise first. Then optimise.

Recurring revenue thrives on clarity.That starts with shared data, accessible insight, and aligned action.

• Consolidate your data

• Align your teams

• Ask the right questions

• Act on what you find

  
  

How connected is your data right now?

Are your teams looking at the same picture or different slices?