If the pandemic taught businesses one thing, it’s that survival comes through adaptation. Those who came out the other side and not only survived, but thrived, were organisations that quickly adapted to, and adopted, the latest digital tools.
The advancements of the digital age are simply staggering. We have artificial intelligence automating intensive tasks in the blink of an eye and software that is completely tailored to your business that runs from the cloud. The days of massive server rooms and specialised IT departments are long over.
It seems that our thinking has yet to catch up to our technical achievements. After all, in the majority of countries’ businesses over half don’t even use data-driven decision-making. How can this be? Data is the most accurate indicator of your knowledge and information about your own company.
The benefits of data analytics can’t be overstated, with improved efficiency and productivity, faster and more effective decision making, and better financial performance being ranked as the top benefits. 32% of companies have altered longer-term strategies in response to changes brought about by data and analytics.
Where to find this data? Thanks to advances in SaaS, there’s a whole host of fantastic platforms out there that will analyse all of your customer and sales data, pointing out your successes and failures with pretty charts. Web scraping is an automated process of extracting data from websites using bots, that helps you conduct a thorough market analysis. Advances in AI and machine learning allow you to crunch numbers from huge resources like public open-source libraries. And of course there’s the old-fashioned way: feedback forms and email.
The point is that data is everywhere. You don’t have to spend vast sums or energy looking for it. And it’s this data that will help guide your digital strategy.
Data will help you test advertising campaigns or the demand for a product before it ships by analysing clicks and engagement on social media. Going further, you can use this data to research competitors, and see how traffic, ratings, and reviews are doing.
Analyse trends to see what has caught people’s attention and predict where the market is going. Trend analysis can help you improve your business by identifying successful areas, fine-tuning the development of lagging areas, and providing evidence for decision-making.
Data should be the focal point of any digital strategy. It’s the absolute best way to quantify where your business and the market is and where it’s headed. Businesses should be planning their strategy based on notable trends within their own data, not with guts or opinions.
It’s important for businesses to stay aligned to technologies as they develop and be able to take advantage of the latest innovations that could make it more efficient and even continue to operate in an increasingly competitive marketplace. We believe that using data, external or internally sourced, is crucial to finding an edge in your industry.
Do you feel like using analytics and business intelligence may benefit your own business? Why not contact us today to discuss some potential features which might work for you and contribute to your company’s development.