Today, we are no longer at a point where we discuss the benefits of big data – those have been stated and written about and regurgitated over ad nauseam. What however remains a challenge is how to utilize big data to derive business advantage. You need to take a call on:
• What data you want to record
• How you want to record different types of data (what format, etc.)
• What kind of analysis do you want to perform on the data you have recorded
• What decisions to take based on insights you gained through analyzing data
The following are tips by which you would be able to maximize the potential benefits out of using big data:
► Build a Well-Functioning Analytics Team
You need people with special skills to be able to perform the complex task of analytics. Typically, when you want to build an analytics team, you would need to hire:
• Data Entry Operators: You need to not just recruit them but train them adequately to record the data in the format you want but also prepare it for analytics purposes
• Data Analysts: They would be able to decide upon the apt analytics techniques to use to analyze your processed data
• Business Analysts: Once your data analysts generate insights from our data, business analysts would help you make decisions on their basis.
► Determine Your Business Goals
Having the right goals in mind to be realized through the use of big data will enable you to determine how you go ahead with your analytics strategy. You may want to use analytics-based insights for:
• Making improvements in your process set-up to increase operational efficiency
• Improving your procurement schedule and inventory size to make your supply chains leaner
• Planning how to promote your brand to the right market segments with customized marketing communications
• Identifying the right candidates to recruit for specific roles
• Deciding upon what new products to create/what new features to add to the existing products
Knowing such business goals will help you to identify what data you want to record and how you should be analyzing it. And there are again a few things to keep in mind while going ahead with the two tasks mentioned.
► Recording and Tracking the Right Data
• Here, you need to take a call on aspects such as:
• What different fields of data do you want to store
• How to build different databases with the data you have
• How to link different fields in the databases with each other
Along with the above aspects, there are also technological considerations that you would have to make in terms of how your databases have to be designed, what technologies to use, and so on.
► Using the Correct Analytics Methods
For each of the business goals that you have determined, there are techniques that you might want to use to perform an analysis of your recorded data. Some such methods are:
• Sentiment analysis to understand online brand perception
• Customer journey analytics to determine what exactly are customers looking for on your website/app/e-store
• Demand analytics to decide upon production schedule
• Propensity analysis to understand which customers are most likely to purchase soon
• Attribution analysis to determine which digital media channels are most cost-effective
• Marketing mix modeling to optimize the spend on various channels to maximize ROI on marketing expenditure
By following a structured approach as mentioned above, you would be able to make the perfect utilization of the data that your business generates. And if you feel the need to avail of expert help in the same, we would be very happy to assist you. Over the years, we have carved a name for ourselves in providing solutions about big data strategy and analytics consulting. Our clients have been able to achieve considerable business process improvements through the automated analytics systems that we helped them set up. Feel free to reach out to us for any big data services you require, we are confident that you will be delighted by the outcomes we deliver.
