https://chivvy.co.uk/Practical writing on business data, reporting, automation and AI.en-GBhttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/five-numbers-monday-morning/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/five-numbers-monday-morning/ReportingMost business reporting fails not because the data is wrong, but because nobody decided what the report is for. Here is how to pick the handful of numbers that actually change what you do this week.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/customers-go-quiet-before-they-go/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/customers-go-quiet-before-they-go/RetentionAlmost nobody fires you. They just order less, then later, then not at all. The signal is sitting in your order history, and it is boringly easy to detect once you decide to look.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/join-the-data-before-buying-ai/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/join-the-data-before-buying-ai/FoundationsMost disappointing AI projects in small businesses fail for an unglamorous reason: the model was asked a question the data could never answer. Here is the order of operations that works.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/what-ai-is-good-at-in-a-small-business/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/what-ai-is-good-at-in-a-small-business/StrategyA straight capability map, with the failure modes named. Useful if you are trying to work out which of the things you have been promised are real.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/getting-paid-faster/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/getting-paid-faster/CashflowLate payment is mostly an admin failure, not a relationship problem. A dull, consistent, automated chase sequence collects more than an awkward phone call three months late.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/can-your-software-talk/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/can-your-software-talk/PracticalBefore you plan any automation or reporting project, it is worth knowing what your systems will and will not give you. Here is how to check in an afternoon, without being technical.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/what-to-automate-first/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/what-to-automate-first/PrioritisingA ranking method that takes an afternoon and stops you automating the wrong thing. Most businesses pick by irritation, which is a poor guide to value.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/briefing-a-software-project/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/briefing-a-software-project/PracticalYou don't need to know how it gets built. You do need to be precise about six things — and being vague about them is what makes projects overrun.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/forecasting-demand-physical-product/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/forecasting-demand-physical-product/ForecastingYou do not need a data scientist to stop running out of your bestseller. You need cover, cadence and a small amount of honesty about seasonality.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/guides/stop-typing-things-twice/https://chivvy.co.uk/guides/stop-typing-things-twice/IntegrationDouble entry between systems is the most common hidden cost in a small business, and the easiest to remove. It's also where the errors come from.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/spreadsheet-that-runs-your-business/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/spreadsheet-that-runs-your-business/OpinionEvery established business has one. It works, everyone relies on it, and exactly one person understands it. That is not a tool — it is an unfunded risk sitting in the middle of your operation.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/why-your-dashboard-went-unused/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/why-your-dashboard-went-unused/ReportingIt wasn't the tool, and it wasn't the team being lazy. Dashboards fail for structural reasons that are entirely predictable — and knowing what they are tells you exactly what to build instead.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/ai-wont-fix-a-broken-process/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/ai-wont-fix-a-broken-process/OpinionAutomating something badly designed gets you more of the bad design, sooner, and at scale. The unglamorous work has to come first — and there's less of it than people fear.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/cost-of-doing-it-manually-for-now/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/cost-of-doing-it-manually-for-now/OpinionManual is the right answer more often than software people admit. It is also one of the largest costs in the business, and nobody has ever put it on a spreadsheet.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/not-a-data-problem/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/not-a-data-problem/AnalysisYou already collect far more than enough. The reason it doesn't tell you anything is that no single system can see across all of it — and that is a much cheaper problem to fix than the one you think you have.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/what-we-integrate-with/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/what-we-integrate-with/GuideMost growing businesses don't have a software problem. They have a joining-up problem. Here's what we connect, what we automate around, and the fragile bits we tend to retire on the way through.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/is-custom-software-worth-it-for-your-size/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/is-custom-software-worth-it-for-your-size/GuideBespoke software is the right answer far less often than the people selling it pretend. Here's an honest way to tell whether your business has actually earned it yet.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/why-integrations-break/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/why-integrations-break/TechnicalConnecting two systems is easy. Keeping them connected for three years without anyone thinking about it is a different discipline — and the difference is mostly design decisions made in the first week.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/accounts-arent-management-information/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/accounts-arent-management-information/ReportingManagement accounts are built for a different purpose than running a business next week. Understanding what they're for explains why they never quite answer your question.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/buying-software-is-a-five-year-decision/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/buying-software-is-a-five-year-decision/OpinionThe monthly price is the least important number in the contract. What matters is what you can get out, what it locks you into, and who owns the thing your business runs on.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://chivvy.co.uk/articles/what-owning-your-data-means/https://chivvy.co.uk/articles/what-owning-your-data-means/AnalysisEverybody says it and almost nobody has tested it. Ownership is not a contract clause — it is a set of things you can do without asking anyone's permission.Fri, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT