Are You Using Your Data Right? Here’s 3 Ways You Can Use Your Data to Improve Your Business

According to a study conducted by Digital Universe, less than 1 percent of the world’s data is analyzed and over 80% is unprotected. The global data supply has reached 2.8 zettabytes (ZB) in 2012 – or 2.8 trillion GB. And it is projected that the volume of data will reach 40 zettabytes by 2020, which is 5,247 GB per person with emerging economies accounting for an increasingly large proportion of the world’s total.

What do these large numbers mean, exactly? It means an insurmountable amount of resources is being wasted. To effectively utilize this sensitive and large amount of data, businesses can adapt their operations to big data analytics and tools. Big data plays an important role because with the help of this technology a business can examine trends and patterns that are related to human behavior and interactions. Data visualization takes a step further by breaking down large amounts of data into user-friendly chunks of graphic information. These trends can then be applied to increase the business’s bottom line. With these emerging technologies at your disposal, here are three ways you can use data to improve your business.

Discover Trends in Your Target Market

Big data and analytics have brought a new revolution in the field of marketing and sales. Algorithms and analytical techniques are making it possible to achieve price optimizations for a given product or service. It can also help incorporate routine pricing decisions in commodity-driven industries, provide in-depth data as to which content is the most efficient at each stage of the sales cycle, and improve the system of investments in customer relationship management (CRM).

Bernard Marr, a writer at Forbes, states that to understand dynamic trends in business data, we need to focus on market trend analytics, which should be done every six months or once each year. Today, big data tools and analytics can be used by businesses of all sizes to recognize trends through a system called market trend analytics. This process goes beyond just market research and does not stop with the size of the market alone. It goes one step further and determines whether that market is trending up or down. And this is important in today’s ever changing market dynamics.

Big data is helping companies to achieve greater customer receptivity, yield greater customer insights, install intelligence into contextual marketing and improve customer relationships. In addition to that, social monitoring tools are making it easy for the companies to assemble and evaluate data about competitors and their marketing efforts.

Market Effectively and Know your Customers Better

These days, the expectations of customers are at an all-time high. It’s one thing to see marketing trends, but entirely another to take action on those trends. Many big businesses like Amazon, American Express, and Capital One are using big data to analyze and reveal patterns, trends and associations relating to human behavior and interactions. According to ICAS, American Express has been able to predict 24% of their accounts that are likely to close within a four month period within the Australian market. This is possible because of big data, which helps them analyze and predict consumer behavior and consequently take steps to improve customer loyalty.

According to another report in Forbes, 58% of CMOs say email marketing and mobile, SEO, and marketing is where big data is making the maximum impact in their marketing programs today. Armed with that data, you know which customers to focus on and how to interact with them that in a way that leverages their interests. Perhaps you’d find that a percentage of your customer base has stopped used a particular feature of your product. Why? This is precisely where you can make big changes to your business and truly appeal to current and future customers.

Improving Employee Performance

Most of the companies using Big Data and Analytics to monitor their employees will experience a higher level of productivity in their staff. Advancement in the field of big data analytics has enhanced employee’s’ performance and work experience.

Think about it: when you track employee metrics, you help both the employee and the business. Thorough and improved analysis enables the employers to find errors in employee productivity fix it to prevent losses. It empowers the employee by catching early mistakes and helping them learn quickly, and also creates accountability among the team.