Cash is King, But Data is the King Maker

We all know the phrase cash is king and it's true. Without it, the business doesn't run. But after years working across finance, ops, and data, I've come to believe something else: data is the kingmaker.

It doesn't matter what industry you're in — education, retail, manufacturing, services. Clean data looks the same everywhere: structured, consistent, reliable. And dirty data? That looks the same too: inconsistent, incomplete, and just plain awkward.

The difference isn't whether your data's perfect — it won't be — it's whether you're using it to actually run the business.

Data doesn't have to be flashy

It doesn't need to be a slick dashboard with animations. It needs to be clear, trusted, and built around how your business really works — not how someone thought it worked when they set the system up.

Start with what you have got

Most of the organisations I support don't start with clean data. That's fine. What matters is that they start using it, to track margin, spot risks, manage performance, or just see what's actually going on.

Cash tells you where you are.

Data tells you where to go.

And in a tight market, that difference really matters.