Crunching the numbers: Perks of data analytics for businesses

Crunching the numbers: Perks of data analytics for businesses

Good business decisions aren’t baseless. The most successful enterprises understand that making changes without data insights is a shot in the dark.

No wonder 97.2% of organizations are investing in big data and AI. Still, 95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business, according to TechJury.

If you’re one of them, follow along as we review this data analytics primer.

What is data analytics?

Extracting useful insights from your data is the main goal of performing data analysis. CIO specifies that analytics involves components like, “the analysis, collection, organization and storage of data, as well as the tools and techniques used to do so.”

Different types of data analytics can help your company achieve different goals, including identifying trends and patterns (descriptive analytics), assessing past performance (diagnostic analytics), making predictions about future performance (predictive analytics) and deciding on which solutions to implement (prescriptive analytics).

How can data analytics help your business?

There’s virtually no aspect of your business operations that can’t benefit from employing data analytics. Whether you want to increase your sales, improve your product appeal or better understand and serve your customers, data can help you do it.

Some SMBs use machine learning applications to provide valuable insights around customers in their sales funnel. Doing so can help them better tailor their pitches and identify market segments who are ready to buy in real-time.


There’s virtually no aspect of your business operations that can’t benefit from employing data analytics.


Others are using data analytics to drive better customer service practices by assessing interactions over email, chat or their social profiles. Doing so helps them catalog and correct any recurring issues.

Data analytics can also help organizations gain a bird’s eye view of emerging patterns and trends. Say your customers are consistently stopping short of making a purchase or signing up for a free trial. Upon review of the data, it shows that users are continually leaving the site after visiting a particular page. You might then choose to reorganize your site to make your unique selling proposition more clear, add an FAQ section or cut back on the number of steps it takes to make contact or purchases.

Point is, the better you can understand and respond to your customer’s behaviors, the more effective you’ll be at meeting their needs. Once you know their motivations and sticking points, you can address them accordingly. Even if you only hone your marketing and improve your operations, these types of data-driven decisions can quickly pay off in a big way.

What tech will help with data analytics?

Companies who are interested in taking their businesses to the next level have plenty of cutting-edge technologies to choose from.

A few of the most common include:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI). This interdisciplinary branch of computer science encompasses many of the smart machines we now rely on, as well as subsets like machine learning and deep learning. By either using tech to mimic certain human intelligences or fielding data to make continuous, automatic process and algorithmic updates, it can help companies with everything from hyper-personalizing marketing messages to seamlessly interacting with customers using chatbots.
  • Data lakes: These data repositories consolidate and house both structured and unstructured data. As they accumulate new data, it is automatically analyzed point-for-point and converted into a visualized dashboard without changing its structure. Analytics are also performed in real-time, giving organizations who use them a clear competitive edge.
  • Predictive analytics: Businesses that can better intuit where they’re headed can preempt disruptions and capitalize on what’s working well. Using prior data to make those inferences is the goal of predictive analytics. These statistical models help forecast useful events around everything from customer behaviors to risk reduction.
  • Blockchain technology: This assigned database technology promises secured data, since it can never be deleted or changed once it’s written. Its most popular applications are in the realms of banking, finance and healthcare.

Decision time. Will your company go into the next year blind, or will it embrace the benefits of data analytics? If you want to get ahead of the curve, the time to start is now.

 

Content created and provided by ONEAFFINITI.