Finding Value In Big Data For SME's
What you'll discover:
·
The importance of big data and its global growth
·
Why SME's must utilise the vast quantities of data
they possess
·
The growing role of Data-Driven Decision Making
·
How to monetise data by embracing Personalisation
Introduction
Harnessing, analysing and ultimately monetising data is now essential for businesses large and small across the globe. Big data now means big money with the global market expected to be worth $229.4 billion by 2025. For small businesses, embracing the importance of data can improve the business's operational efficiency and provide valuable insights to improve sales and marketing. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced all businesses to adapt and rethink the way they run their businesses. SME's in 2021 are under immense stress to survive financially. The businesses that understand the actual value that embracing data can bring to their companies will likely be still standing when the pandemic ends.
Valuable Data Is Quality Purposeful Data
When utilised correctly, big data allows a business to see larger volumes of data, see better quality data and provide unforeseen insights. To fully capitalise on the advantages of big data, SME's must understand the purpose of the data they create and ensure that data is of the highest quality. In 2013, 4.4 zettabytes (ZB) of data were created globally. In 2020, the figure will jump to 44 zettabytes. Businesses of all sizes across the globe are creating vast quantities of data every day. Cultivating the data for purposeful decision making from reliable data is a competitive advantage that many SME's are not capitalising on.
Understanding how to utilise data to derive better short and
long term planning is crucial for a modern business management team. Data-driven
decision making is the process of using data to inform the decision making
process and validate a course of action. The days of senior management teams following
their gut instincts are over. Analysing and reacting on data they process will provide
valuable insights and aid their decision making.
To fully understand the best way to use data, managers must ensure
that the data is of the highest quality. We have previously detailed the 3 V's
of Data Management: Volume, Velocity and
Variety. It is imperative that SME's embrace and understand the importance of
the 3 V's. For data to be purposeful and valuable, it must be of the highest
quality and integrity. This form of data is referred to as target-rich data.
Target rich data is legitimate, easy to access, provides real-time information,
is reliable, and has an integral impact on its decision-making process.
Monetising The Customer Journey Through Personalisation
Amazon is the world leader in utilising big data to provide its customers with an enhanced personal customer journey each time they log-in to their account. Personalisation can target new and existing customers with the information they want and when they want it. Businesses have a massive amount of data which can allow for a more personalised customer experience. SME's can utilise personalised data to run targeted email campaigns to reactive dormant customers or build a custom audience Facebook marketing campaign to attract new customers by using current customer data to build a customer profile.
Conclusion
For SME'S to survive the post-pandemic competitive landscape, they must correctly interpret and monetise the data they collect. When the pandemic eases, SME's will be operating with an increasingly competitive landscape where every Euro matters. Data from Infosys states that personalised experience has influenced the purchasing decisions of 59% of consumers. SME's must offer increased personalised experiences by understanding their data's actual value to thrive and survive.
Written by:
Reference
Meron, D., 2021. IDC Report: Less Than 5% of All Data
Analyzed - Anodot. [online] Anodot. Available at:
<https://www.anodot.com/blog/idc-digital-universe-report/> [Accessed 9
February 2021].
Despite more than 100,000 small businesses in the US have closed forever as the nation goes through this global pandemic, many small businesses are embracing analytics for business insights and efficiencies more than they did pre- COVID-19. I think this will be a trend for small business that survives this pandemic. And more and more are adopt data-driven decisions to help keep their business afloat. Many small business are using data and analytics to improve business efficiency, reduce expenses and focus on customer support. Thankfully there’s a lot of tools and technology available for business of all sizes to help them make the right decision.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful Rejane
DeleteIt is vital that SME's utilize this time to prepare for the post pandemic marketplace. Finding value in big data is the future and if not careful, these SME's will not have a place there. The customer is so important to any business and they want the best experience available and personalisation is definitely the right way to go forward for a SME. As technology improves, so does a customers expectations and finding value in their data and using it is the right way to meet these expectations.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting topic. In particular I was surprised at the high percentage, over two thirds in fact, of small businesses in the United States spending over $10K a year on analytics. I wonder what the percantage of Irish small businesses spending an equivalent amount is? This may be an opportunity for growth within the Irish market. This article from Silicone Republic has a list of six Irish startups breaking into the data analytics sector: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/irish-startups-data-science-analytics-2020 Of particular interest was MedModus, a business intelligence platform aimed at the healthcare industry. I feel there is a great growth opportunity to combine healthcare and data analytics in Ireland.
ReplyDelete