While it’s very impressive that today’s technology allows us to gather incredible amounts of data, the reality is much of the data is currently collected before anyone answers: “What do we want to do with this data?” The result: Your organization has a lot of data that isn’t very useful for business.
Before rushing to start collecting data, every business should begin by developing a data strategy. If you already have a ton of data, but no data strategy, it’s time to pause and develop one. Your team needs to determine what you want to achieve and then collect the data that will help you answer business questions, improve operations, and create new streams of revenue.
There are numerous ways data can influence your business success, but for the most part businesses use data in these three ways:
Most companies start by using data to improve decision-making, because it’s quite challenging and resource intense to simultaneously juggle all three categories at the same time.
According to a study by Bain & Company that looked at more than 400 organizations, companies with advanced data analytics capabilities were five times as likely to make decisions faster than market peers.
Making better business decisions is the first way all organizations should leverage their data intelligence. Data can help your team make better decisions in all areas of your business from warehousing to distribution, marketing to customer service, and more. Identify and prioritize your unanswered business questions and then determine what data you can analyze to get an answer for that unsolved business problem.
Certainly, one of the most prolific ways that companies gain insights from data is to get a better understanding of their customers—data-driven insights rather than assumptions—about who they are, their preferences, behaviors, and more.
There’s abundant opportunity for organizations to use data to optimize operations and everyday business processes. Virtually any business process that generates data whether that’s through customer ordering systems or machines on a production line can be refined based on the insight the data provides.
A top priority for many companies is to use data to gain operational efficiencies. For example, service-based businesses with fleets of vehicles equipped with GPS devices can all be connected to give extraordinary insight via real-time monitoring.
