As a business owner or operator, you have access to an incredible amount of data that can aid in growing your business. The two most frequent big data questions I am often asked is; How do I capture data about my business? and How do I use data to grow my business?

‘Big Data’ has become a common word in the business technology landscape over the past few years, often used by business people, technology specialists and marketers in ways that make it sound like a monster lurking in a cupboard that you dare not open. Such fear is not warranted as Big Data should be embraced by business, both large and small. The BIG in ‘big data’ is nothing more than technology’s recent advances that have allowed businesses to more readily capture greater volumes of data about their customers and business. This is achieved generally through online channels, but a business should not ignore offline ones. Once captured, this data can be put to good use and provide insights that can be exploited to take actions that improve your business.  

Here are a few tips to put your small business on the path to a thriving future using data science:

1.   The myth that BIG Data is only for BIG business

Your business most likely competes with small, medium and large businesses in a market that sells a product or service to a customer. To compete successfully in today’s technology driven marketplace, small and medium businesses must embrace the same tools available to large businesses to compete effectively. Collecting data, making sense of the data and using it to improve your business helps level the playing field and maintain or improve your position in the market.     

The cost barriers for smaller businesses of capturing and analysing data has been reduced, if not eliminated, through subscription-based cloud technology available today. The result, big data is no longer for the exclusive advantage of big business, but a strategic tool for all business to leverage and help grow.

2.   Upskill Yourself or a staff member

A consultant can help lead you in the right direction, but you don’t need to hire a data scientist. Upskilling to gain a better understanding of the basics of data capture and how to use is valuable for all role, not just data scientists. Learn the basics of the methods, technologies and tools used by the data industry to harness the value of big data. This can be accomplished by simply reading online of doing a short course.  We are seeing continual changes in business and continuous learning is required by all and on-off learning is now a relic of the past.

3.   How can you make the leap into big data on a small business budget?

The answer to entering into the big data landscape on a small business budget is to locate and use the right software.

Start with the basics and the free – Google Analytics offers a significant amount of data gathering and data analysis software that can get you well on your way. That’s why 50 million websites use it. If you have not set up Google Analytics, this is the first step.

Once you understand the basics of data capture and analytics, the online subscription software marketplace offers more advanced tools such as Sisense, Looker or Zoho Analytics.

These tools allow you to gather data under one roof without the need to export and import data between systems and use the metrics within the tools  to obtain a genuine picture of business indicators.

4.   Understand your data to make better decisions

Date and analytics tools can help any business track, analyse and improve the quality of decisions. By understanding your data, you can make better decisions about your products, customers, marketing and see trends as they are developing that can be make use of to grow your business.

5.   Identify and cultivating your target customers

Understanding your customers, who and where they are as well as what products or services they want is key to growth. The better your understanding of target customers, the further you can tailor your marketing, call to actions and demand for your business products or services. More customers and a better return on each one can lead to significant growth.

6.   Improve your business

Analysing existing data can also highlight improvement opportunities within the business. Processes and workflows can be improved by these insights making your business more efficient, customer focused and profitable.   

Conclusion

Big data has become an important tactical and strategic tool for businesses of all sizes. Every business needs to understand and use big data. The online software tools available in the marketplace can collect data from traditional and digital sources, not only from your business but from your competitors. Don’t wait, your competitors are already using big data to improve their business and so should you.  

For further information on how your business can use big data, contact Peter Mavridis at hello@permavridiscom.au