World Cup Analytics...? Hopefully you are enjoying summer as much as I am. This summer has been particularly interesting, with half the world following the largest sporting event, juggling schedules to watch the games of the World Cup. The tournament was highlighted by an unprecedented semifinal performance by the eventual champions (Germany) and a gutsy run to the final by an admirable side that displayed the epitome of effort and integrity (Argentina).  Hidden behind Germany's success was their use of a software application that helped the team customize their trainings and prepare for upcoming matches. The application enables coaches and scouts to process vast amounts of data to find and assess key situations in each match to improve player and team performance. According to the team's manager, "In just 10 minutes, 10 players with three balls can produce over 7 million data points." Put into perspective, this is an incredible resource for coaches and players to contextualize information and draw well-informed conclusions to optimize training and tactics. Little did we know that we help companies like this everyday: you need tools like this to interpret information -- be it financial, sales, inventory, job-costing, and more -- and make informed conclusions to optimize results and improve future performance. The information inside QuickBooks has all the potential in terms of analytics, you just need to make smart use of it. As summer begins to draw to an end -- and we are in football soccer withdrawal (!!) -- it makes sense to pause and analyze past performance and present plans to improve your chances of future success. Happy Summer of Analytics! ...MARIO ________________________________________________________ | 
