The company overtook Sainsbury largely because it appreciated the value of the data it could collect from its customers. It quickly introduced the changes needed to its own systems to capture this pool of information and turn it into a competitive advantage.

Their major innovation was to introduce the loyalty card scheme - the Clubcard. This was very effectively sold to customers as a cost saving measure for them, while its real purpose was always to collect information about the shopping habits of individual customers.

The lessons learned from the information that scheme provided have been invaluable in keeping Tesco ahead in the extremely competitive sector they inhabit.

Although no small business could hope to emulate the level of investment needed to make that sort of scheme work, there are major benefits to be earned from using the everyday database systems now available for standard office computers.

A database is simply a system that turns data into useful information. And managing and manipulating information is a key area for any business.

You probably already rely on database systems - all accounts systems are built on a database; from the individual transaction records they can generate management accounts or produce reports on what you owe and are owed.

But have you thought about how the power of a database could boost the information you need to achieve your business goals?

Database technology can enhance the performance of your business in many areas - for example:

- Sales & marketing

- Personnel

- Stock control

- Project management

- Time & billing

At Riley we can help you make the most of your data. We offer a database design service to cover almost any scenario. And that's not all - the information can be used to link to your existing reporting routines, for example by adding graphs to your management accounts to show the growth (or decline) of new business.

To find out more, see our PowerPoint presentation (it's a 1.5MB download). If you don't have PowerPoint on your PC you can download the viewer from Microsoft.

How about an example?

It can be difficult to envisage just what a well designed database can do for you. So let's imagine...

You work for a company that sells off the shelf software training packages and goes by the imaginary (we hope!) name of it4u.

In the past, when a customer has called with an order, you have jotted down the details in their file, selected the CD & sent it in the post.

But when it came to analysing who is buying what, which programs sell and which don't or even pulling together the sales figures, a lot of manual effort was needed.

And so you have decided to do something about this.

Enter it4u's newly created database. It covers all these areas (and could easily encompass much, much more such as invoicing, pick lists, stock control etc - but we want to charge for this stuff; we can't give everything away, can we?).

If you don't believe that Access can achieve this in a user friendly way then download the database and see for yourself.

Note: You will require Microsoft Access 2000 to run this database. The file has been checked for viruses using Sophos Anti-Virus version 3.40.

If you would like to know more about how we can design a tailored made application for your business, please contact Karen Field.

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