Succeeding in a competitive market isn’t easy, particularly for small startups that have to go against larger and more established organizations. However, that didn’t stop Golden Road Brewing. The Los Angeles-based craft brewery has thrived because of its custom database software system.

Co-founder Meg Gill spoke with Inc. Magazine about her vision, her challenges and what helped her succeed in a tough industry. While hard work and resolve played a substantial role in her success, it was her understanding of how to manage information that really fueled her ability to compete in her market. She soon realized that data could improve virtually every aspect of her business, including the freshness of her beer, something she explained was crucial to her company.

“You can’t get to volume, and then to profitability, without fresh beer,” she said. “That’s something we live by. Even though our first year was incredibly successful, we learned that without comprehensive tracking and reporting systems for distribution and retail, we couldn’t control whether our beer was fresh.”

An article featured in Forbes picked up Gill’s story and suggested many small organizations don’t understand the power of quality data, which is why success in this space is never easy.

“Small and medium businesses (SMBs) face many challenges when it comes to basic infrastructure. Many times, spreadsheets are the only answer for running the business (inventory management, production schedules or sales process). As a result, manual reports proliferate and they are tough to manage and consolidate,” the article said.

Understanding the importance of not only digital information, but the ability to process it efficiently will go a long way toward helping any small company compete in its industry, regardless of what it is. Gill figured out early on that her database system, which she manages in the cloud, will help ensure the freshness of her beer, which keeps her product at the level of quality it needs to help her business grow. If her information was inaccurate and the freshness of her beer was compromised, it could have damaged her entire operation.

FileMaker development can allow companies to build a system that tracks data that’s important to them and store it in a similar cloud environment. This will allow businesses to grow as their solution scales up with their success.