Can an SME use Revenue Intelligence?

Yes, an SME can use Revenue Intelligence, and it is often in smaller companies that revenue leakage goes unnoticed longest, because there is no controller or RevOps team putting systems side by side. The conditions are that your revenue passes through at least two systems (for example a CRM and an accounting package) and that you have enough revenue to make one percent of leakage worth chasing, in practice often from a few million euros a year. The difference from large companies is not whether it works, but how you start.

Why SMEs suffer from it more than you might think

There is a perception that revenue leakage is a problem for large companies with complicated systems. The opposite is often true. In a large company there is a controller who reconciles every month, an internal auditor who runs samples and a RevOps team that watches the processes. In an SME with EUR 4M in revenue, one person does the bookkeeping, another invoices based on emails from sales, and the managing director looks at the bank balance.

That works while the company is small enough to see the whole picture. The tipping point arrives gradually: a second salesperson, a subscription offer alongside project work, a CRM that is not connected to the accounting package. From that moment gaps appear, and nobody has the job of looking for them.

The commonly cited estimate for revenue leakage is 1 to 5 percent of revenue, with smaller companies more likely towards the top of that range. That makes sense: less control, more manual work, more dependence on individual people. Where that estimate comes from and how to test it for your own company is covered in how much revenue a B2B company leaks on average.

What is different in an SME

Fewer systems, but less connected

A typical SME has a CRM (Pipedrive, HubSpot or a spreadsheet), an accounting package (Xero, QuickBooks, Exact or Moneybird) and perhaps a planning or time tracking tool. Those systems are often not connected, or only partly. The handover happens by email, through a shared spreadsheet or from memory.

Fewer systems make things easier to oversee. Fewer connections make them more error-prone.

Dependence on individuals

In an SME, a lot of knowledge lives in people's heads. The salesperson knows which discount they promised. The project manager knows which additional work was agreed. The bookkeeper knows which customer always pays late. When one of those people goes on holiday, falls ill or leaves, that knowledge disappears. The leaks that follow cannot be traced anywhere.

No time for checks

The bookkeeper in an SME has a full week of raising invoices, posting payments and filing the VAT return. Putting the CRM next to the accounts every month, checking contracts for indexation and reviewing projects for additional work: it could be done, but it is not, because it is never the most urgent thing.

EUR 50,000 of leakage is a lot of money

At a EUR 50M company, EUR 50,000 of leakage is an annoyance. At a EUR 3M company, it may be a large share of net profit. The proportional impact is greater in an SME.

From what size does it pay off?

There is no hard threshold, but there is a calculation. The return has to cover the cost, and the cost has a floor. Which returns you may count and which you may not is covered in what Revenue Intelligence delivers.

These are worked examples, not measurements of your company. The point is that the range is wide. At EUR 3M it may just pay off or just not, depending on how much actually leaks. More on the moment a company needs it is in when a business needs Revenue Intelligence.

One thing differs between vendors and matters for SMEs: the pricing model. Software priced per user gets expensive as soon as more people need to look at it. A single price per company fits better in an organisation where the managing director, the bookkeeper and two salespeople all need something from it.

What you need at minimum

Revenue Intelligence works by putting systems side by side. So at minimum you need:

1. A source for what was sold. A CRM, a quoting system or, failing that, a well maintained order list.
2. A source for what was invoiced. Your accounting package or billing system.
3. A way to link the two. A customer number that is the same in both systems, or at least a consistent customer name.

Contracts, time tracking, usage data and support tickets add a lot, but they are not a precondition for starting.

If you have no CRM and do everything in Excel, that is no reason not to do it. It just makes the first step manual work.

How to start in an SME

Start small and practical. The aim of the first round is not a perfect system, but an answer to the question of whether anything is leaking and how much.

1. Pick three leaks that fit your business. For a service provider: unbilled hours, additional work and indexation. For a wholesaler: wrong prices, discounts and forgotten orders. For a software company: seats above contract, discounts and failed payments.
2. Pick a period. Last quarter is enough.
3. Check by hand. Export from your CRM and your accounting system and put them side by side in a spreadsheet.
4. Count what you find. In euros, per type of leak.
5. Decide based on the amount. A few hundred euros: your process works, check it every quarter. Tens of thousands of euros: you have a structural problem that deserves more attention.

Worked example: an installation company with EUR 4M revenue

Suppose an installation company with EUR 4M in revenue checks one quarter. It finds six maintenance contracts that were not indexed (EUR 2,400 a year combined), four projects with additional work that was not invoiced (EUR 11,000 combined), and two customers with invoices more than 90 days overdue who are still receiving new orders (EUR 8,500 combined). These are example amounts.

EUR 21,900 found in one quarter. Part of it is one-off (additional work and overdue invoices), part is recurring (indexation). If this quarter is representative, the annual figure is well above 1 percent of revenue. That is enough to look seriously at a structural solution.

Three routes after the first check

Keep doing it yourself. Make the check a fixed part of the monthly or quarterly close, with an owner and a set day. Good for companies with few contracts and straightforward processes.

A one-off review. Have someone who does this every day go through every area where revenue can leak. You get a list of findings in euros and an order in which to tackle them. The Revenue Audit is such a review: one-off, carried out personally, across eight areas, without you having to connect any systems.

Ongoing software. Connect the systems so the comparison happens every day. Pays off when you have enough moving parts to produce new discrepancies every month.

If your main struggle is an unreliable revenue forecast, there is more in revenue forecasting for SMEs.

What SMEs should watch out for

Do not choose a tool that needs a data team. If the software only works after someone has built a data model, you have a problem in an SME. Ask how much of the work the vendor does.

Look at the pricing model. Per user, per company, per connected system or per revenue band. Work out what it costs if everyone who benefits from it gets access.

Ask which systems are supported. A solution that only works with Salesforce and NetSuite is of little value if you use Pipedrive and Xero.

Agree who follows up. An SME has no RevOps team. Agree in advance who picks up the findings, otherwise it becomes yet another list in the managing director's inbox.

Frequently asked questions

Isn't Revenue Intelligence too expensive for an SME?

That depends on what is leaking and what the solution costs. At a EUR 5M company, one percent of leakage is EUR 50,000 a year. If the cost is well below that and you actually act on the findings, it is a sound investment. Run your own check first to find out whether there is anything to find.

Do we need a CRM?

It helps, but it is not a precondition. You need a source for what was sold or agreed. That can also be a quoting system or an order list.

Who should take this on in an SME?

Usually the managing director together with the bookkeeper or the person responsible for finance. It is important that someone with authority is involved, because some findings call for commercial choices, such as raising a missed indexation with a customer.

Can't we just arrange this with our accountant?

An external accountant checks whether your books match what happened. They usually do not check whether everything that should have been invoiced was invoiced. That is a different question, and it falls outside the usual annual audit.