Is there such a thing as too much information?
Well, yeah.
In social circles, we call it TMI because we are too lazy to text "Too Much Information." In business circles, TMI is an obstacle to making a decision.
The goal of every business is not to gather facts. It is not to fight the good fight. It is not to lobby Congress. The ultimate goal is to earn a profit* by providing a valuable product or service to customers. Information is merely a tool used to achieve that goal. As such, decision-makers want only as much as is necessary to execute the strategies that advance the organization's profitability goal.
"What is enough information?" you ask.
Serial entrepreneur Norm Brodsky wrote that every business has magic numbers, a few metrics that predict all others. By tracking these magic numbers closely, entrepreneurs can adapt and respond quickly to opportunities and risks facing their business.
In DME, collection percentage is the magic number for healthy revenue. Understanding the portion of reported sales that convert to cash each month by payer, product, and referral source will signal process problems and payer errors long before your AR department or industry trade groups could ever hope to detect.
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*Or at least avoid a loss. Can I get an "Amen?"
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