Recently, I found myself standing in the turret of a Challenger 1 battle tank.
I was visiting The Tank Museum in Dorset, home to the world’s largest collection of tanks. A friend of mine is the CEO, and he kindly invited me to experience one of the museum’s live tank demonstrations.
As the tank set off across the arena, I braced myself for a noisy, bone-shaking ride.
Instead, it was surprisingly smooth.
Even as we powered over steep banks and rough ground, the tank seemed to glide across the landscape. The commander stood beside us in the turret while the driver, tucked away at the front of the vehicle, steered us around the assault course.
It was incredibly fast, remarkably controlled and, thanks to weeks of dry weather, absolutely covered in dust.
It was an unforgettable experience.
But the most interesting thing wasn’t the ride.
It was discovering that, although the Challenger 1 was once one of the most advanced tanks in the world, the British Army is now replacing it with the Challenger 3.
This wasn’t because Challenger 1 had suddenly become a bad tank. Far from it. The Army simply needs something different today than it did when the Challenger entered service in 1983.
Warfare has evolved, technology has advanced. The demands placed on the Army have changed.
The Challenger 1 is still an impressive machine. But the Army has outgrown it.
Businesses are no different.
Many of the companies we work with have built successful
businesses using systems, reporting processes and financial routines that served them brilliantly for years.
Those systems aren’t wrong. In many cases, they’re one of the reasons the business became successful in the first place.
But as a business grows, its needs change.
There are more transactions to process, more people to manage, new products, new customers and new markets.
As the decisions become more complex and the risks become greater, the need for accurate, timely financial information becomes much more important.
Eventually, the business outgrows the systems that got it there.
That’s where we come in.
At Insight Associates, we help businesses develop a finance function that can keep pace with their growth.
That may mean improving reporting, strengthening forecasting, introducing more robust processes or giving business owners better visibility over cash flow and profitability.
It’s never change for the sake of change. We change things because your business now needs something more.
If you’d like to explore whether your finance function is ready for the next stage of growth, we’d love to have a conversation.
At Insight Associates, we work with ambitious businesses turning over £1m+ to improve financial visibility, strengthen profitability and build finance functions that support sustainable growth.
Simply email garry@insightassociates.co.uk or call us on 01279 647 447 for a no-obligation conversation with myself or one of our specialists.
Warmly,
Garry
You might also like: Got spare cash in the business? Ask this before you spend a penny – Insight Associates Limited
