Why data analytics is business-imperative
Imagine a world in which there were no business reception desks or enquiry counter: when you arrive for your business meeting, the directional signage welcomes you and guides you to your conference room, and when you go for your doctors’ appointment, the room, lab and healthcare professionals are ready for you, and equipped with all your case files.
Data analytics enables a world as intuitive as this. It has moved data from a burden to an asset. The advantages in creating the framework in which data is appreciated and very much becomes the life blood of an organisation’s operation are many, but the fact remains that the single biggest benefit is providing a new lease of life to swathes of data that were otherwise stored for regulatory or compliance reasons.
And this is not restricted to a purely commercial plane alone: possibly the biggest benefit strategic data analytics can bring is the ability to impact the experience of the end-user. This is today a priority not just for an aggressive and competitive consumer goods company, but also for governments and departments that seek to provide the best possible citizen experience.
Analysing government data on their interaction with citizenry can be a very illuminating exercise, as the simple act of connecting the dots from seemingly unrelated patterns or instances can provide the authorities with a key to unlock success. In one of our major regional cities, for instance, the authorities could uncover that traffic snarls can be avoided if the traffic authorities have access to data and plans of the municipality, the utilities provider, or even from the planning department.
According to the Worldwide Semiannual Big Data and Analytics Spending Guide from the International Data Corporation, worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics will grow more than $203 billion in 2020.
Shedding light on the regional perspective, according to Frost & Sullivan the GCC’s big data and analytics market is likely to outpace the global market and reach $635.5 million in 2020.
The retail sector is possibly one of the early adopters of various new technologies that promise a transformed and memorable customer experience. With success based on footfall and walk-ins at high-street or mall outlets, what’s to stop digital displays featuring a different range of products based on who is most likely to visit at the time? Tapping in to the larger demographic turn-out at the location, the retailers can easily alter their offering for the late-morning house-wife visiting, the early-evening college student group passing by, and the families that come by over the weekend.
