You will often hear us say in our introductions to courses that data analysis skill are the “key to unlocking business potential”. It isn’t just a throw-away comment. This post looks at just some of the reasons why knowing how to analyse and interpret data can really help you to understand your business and lead to growth. Of course, every industry is different and priorities will change depending on the type of business. However, here are a few thoughts to highlight why data analysis is important to businesses of all sizes.
Understanding your customer:
Building a profile of your customers will allow you to gain insights into their behaviour. This will, in turn, give you the tools needed to focus product priorities and target advertising campaigns where they will most likely bear fruit. Perhaps the business is inadvertently excluding a particular demographic? Maybe there is a market for an item beyond the scope originally considered? Eventually, patterns over time will help you predict future behaviour so that you can personalise the experience appropriately.
Making informed decisions:
Using historic data can clearly highlight trends and movements which allow you to track profit and loss against various factors. This knowledge can feed into decisions to mitigate or minimise future loss. By evaluating how the business responded to previous changes, you can develop a predictive avenue to consider in advance how to be proactive ahead of future changes. For example, analysing customer behaviour following a change to pricing structure could inform the way in which products and services are packaged and marketed.
Streamlining:
The last thing that businesses need is wastage. Data analysis can help you improve efficiency and save money. Particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors, bottlenecks and delays in the supply chain can result in insufficient stock levels. By identifying potential setbacks and seasonal variations in demand, procurement can be optimised and planned for in advance.
Risk management:
Analysing security and fraud data can help a company protect its assets from identified threats. This is another area where propensity models can lead to effective solutions, timely responses and anticipatory actions. Early identification of vulnerabilities can be used to create automated alert systems and feed into preventative decisions. Further, a robust understanding of risk in the business’s specific context will support transparency should investigation be needed.
Improving standards:
Where a business is involved in education or training, assessment is an essential element of quality assurance. By analysing outcomes, gaps can be identified and focused plans developed to support improvements to delivery. In other sectors, analysis of feedback data and reviews can highlight recurring issues and identify common shortcomings. These can then be targeted to build relationships and improve service.
This is clearly not meant to be an exhaustive list of benefits of data analysis in a business context; merely a few thoughts on how patterns can be identified and effective decisions can be made.
At I Do Data, we provide the tools to help you use software confidently to build your dataset and interpret the results. Whether you are a sole trader or employ a team of specialist analysts for large multinational corporation, our courses will support you in your data analysis journey, from beginner to expert level.
