Every day, a business generates, receives, and handles raw data such as customer information, inventory accounting reports, and downtime statistics. In themselves, these data don’t have much value, but by using powerful tools to analyze them, a business leader may find patterns and answers in the numbers, which can help their organization be more efficient, agile, and competitive.
Data analytics is the science of analyzing raw data to gain insights that can be used for decision-making. It involves gathering, inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling information so that businesses can have a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to make accurate forecasts and the right decisions.
You may think data analytics is just for big businesses that generate and handle tons of gigabytes of information, but that’s merely a misconception. Businesses of all sizes — and across any industry — can benefit from data analytics in the following ways:
Improved business efficiency
Data analytics gives business leaders information, such as where bottlenecks occur in the supply chain, that can help them streamline processes. Without this and other workflow knowledge, organizations may find it difficult to improve upon processes that are expensive, redundant, and time-consuming. On the other hand, being able to analyze which processes work and which ones don’t enables leaders to improve on workflows to save on costs, time, and effort.
The hiring process is just one area where data analytics can be applied. By using advanced data analytics tools, companies can spend considerably less work and research to find job candidates with the right experience at the right salary level.
Deeper consumer understanding
By analyzing and paying attention to variables like demographics, feedback, and packaging preferences, a business can have a better feel of what their consumers want. These and similar information are crucial in creating a marketing strategy or launching a new product, as they point campaigns in the right direction and increase their chances of success.
Moreover, having a deeper understanding of consumer behavior allows businesses to serve them better. For instance, if data reveals that your consumers primarily use Facebook to engage with your brand, then you can concentrate marketing efforts on that platform. This will not only satisfy your audience, but will also allow you to allocate resources on projects that are sure to create a positive impact.
Faster and better decision-making
High-speed in-memory analytics gives businesses the ability to analyze information almost instantly. By speeding up data retrieval, it allows business leaders to make accurate assessments and crucial decisions in less time.
Big organizations like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) utilize this technology to analyze vast quantities of data for patterns, mistakes, or problems within a reasonable timeframe. Meanwhile, small- and medium-sized businesses can benefit from this technology in cases where real-time results are necessary, such as in improving customer experience or in mitigating cybersecurity attacks.
Better sight of opportunities
Data analytics can help organizations find profit-making opportunities by giving them a better understanding of their business and their industry. These information are critical in deciding the future of the business, such as in making decisions regarding expansion and in choosing which partnerships to seal to strengthen the company’s brand.
Properly analyzed, consumer data can also increase sales by predicting which products and marketing efforts will most likely to succeed. What’s more, a thorough analysis of operational data which includes data on the company’s workflows and workforce, direct competitors, creditors, and suppliers will reveal areas where costs can be cut and quality can be improved.
Did you know that data analytics tools are just one of the many technologies that you can use to make your business operations more efficient and profitable? Discover IT that will give you a competitive edge with Midwest Data Iowa. Contact us today to schedule a FREE consultation.