Many companies are sitting on a goldmine: their data. But they may have no idea of its value.Companies that are not already thinking about analytics as the next logical step to harvest value and insights from their data need to rethink their strategy. They are in a way, very similar to my friend’s five-year-old son.
When I was visiting my friend, his son came in and asked for change to buy candy. My friend rummaged around and produced one large denomination coin. Further rummaging produced three smaller-denomination coins, adding up to slightly less. To our amusement, the child immediately demanded an exchange: He wanted to give back the first coin, and get the three smaller ones. He was adamant that three coins were better than one. His father clearly has some work to do to teach him about the value of money!
Why am I telling this story?
I see a parallel between my friend’s child, who didn’t realize the value of what he already possessed and companies who don’t realize the value in their piles of data.
They’re using only a fraction of their data and missing out on possible value from the majority. They’re counting lots of things, but are they counting the right ones? They’re missing out on insights that require advanced analytics to harness data and make vital information available for decision makers to take the right action at the right time.
So much data, so much potential
Organizations need to think about their data strategy and explore how they can derive the most value from their data. This probably comes as no surprise -- companies are constantly seeking competitive advantage, and that requires them to exploit big data and analytics to speed up decision-making processes, eliminate inefficiencies, expand market share and optimize/reduce costs.
Analytics is expanding into many more business processes, and changing the nature of almost every job. According to Gartner, analytics has become increasingly strategic to most businesses and central to most business roles. Every business is now an analytics business, every process involves analytics and everyone uses analytics in some way.
“It is no longer possible for chief marketing officers (CMOs) to be experts only in branding and ad placement,” says Ian Bertram, managing vice president at Gartner. “They must also be customer analytics experts. The same is true for the chief HR, supply chain and financial roles in most industries.”
Putting this into context: Marketing analytics as an example
Customers are more empowered and connected than ever before, with access to information anywhere, any time – peer reviews on where to shop, what to buy and how much to pay. Brands realize, therefore, that it’s increasingly important to predict how customers will behave, so that they can respond appropriately.
Put simply, if you have a deeper understanding of customer buying habits and lifestyle preferences, you’ll be able to predict future buying behaviors more accurately.
Marketers need to benefit from approachable and actionable advanced analytics to make more powerful decisions within today’s complex and interconnected business environments.
Coming back to my friend’s son, I believe marketers need to be smarter. Like that little boy, they need to realize the full value and potential of what they already have: Their data. They need support to improve their customer experience across all channels, by using the valuable insights emerging from analytics.
I recommend reading this Harvard Business Review Insight Center report, From Data to Action, which examines what your data may or may not be telling you. Featuring 30 articles from researchers and practitioners in data science, marketing, and other fields, the report offer guidelines on making good use of information and turning it into profitable behaviors.
