How businesses can make sense of abundant data to improve productivity, efficiency, and profitability
All businesses naturally generate lots of data every day.
This is true regardless of the industry and the size of the business, or whether they collect it or not.
Data can inform and influence a wide array of factors, such as:
customer behaviour
pricing guides
employee productivity levels
client retention
operational outcomes
cost changes
website design
channel attribution
conversion rates
market share
With so much data readily available, businesses no longer have to rely solely on instinct and assumptions to make decisions. Instead, smart businesses collect, observe, analyse and make use of all of this data to empower their decision-making.
So, while it can feel overwhelming, there’s clear benefit in harnessing the true potential of all of this business data.
Why should you collect and analyse business data?
In the data-driven world of today, equipping your business with data and knowing exactly how to use it all is critical. After all, there’s so much power and insight in the numbers behind your organisation.
For instance, with the use of data, your business can improve the value of your offerings based on your customers’ behaviour. You can also assess strategies that work, those that don’t and make changes where necessary, all based on measuring outcomes.
Aside from improving customer interactions, data can help with internal operations too. Equipped with the right information, you can delegate tasks and budgets to the right staff and departments, making sure that everything is well accounted for in the process. Furthermore, you can specifically design recruitment processes based on the exact needs of your business.
This and more is all possible when you’re able to see what is happening behind every business decision using data, so you can then make better ones using the results.
Ultimately, the data that you have is the key to increased productivity, efficiency and profitability.
How can you make the best use of your business data?
Often, businesses have valuable data at their disposal, but are not sure what to do next, so it remains unused, underappreciated, or underutilised.
Data naturally comes from all of your daily processes, but you need a secure and reliable system to gather and compile your data for your business.
As part of this, it’s also important to consider an effective approach to consolidating all of your data together. For instance, data from Finance platforms, CRMs, web traffic, timesheets and so on, will all have their own format, storage and complexities which prevent them from “talking to each other” and allowing your business to obtain business-wide insights.
Most businesses are also keen to jump to the final stage of data analysis and visualisation, and although these tools are very beneficial and sophisticated, the same problem always arises: the lack of consideration for the “data model”.
Your own data model is how your business can make best use of your data.
How do you build an effective data model?
As accurate as all of your data software may be, the true power of data still lies in interpretation, representation and personalisation once combined together. Your data is as unique as your business is. So, the insights you can pull from it should also come from a customised system tailored to the individual needs of your business.
This is your data model.
To make sense of the information that you already have, you can develop a data model that consolidates raw data into useful and curated data tables for your team to use. It’s all about developing a system to produce the right outcomes. For example, there’s no point in pushing thousands or even millions of rows of transactional data into a visualisation software if you actually only need a summary metric in a table.
With the right analysis, insights will emerge from your bespoke business data model that can improve your business operations and boost productivity, efficiency and profitability.
This is where experts like White Box, who have experience with hundreds of clients from many industries, can help companies just like yours create true value using data that you already own.
We:
look at the different data platforms that you are currently using
consolidate and make sense of your data
align your expectations of data with reality
support you in making smart business decisions based on real data insights
What do you do once the data model is ready?
Once you have a data model system that collates it all effectively around your objectives, data visualisation is a great way of then seeing your data and gaining fast insights at a glance.
You can see some examples of data visualisation here.
However, caution is advised because, just like with any data product, it can be very easy to jump to the wrong insight if the data is not fully understood.
Here are some of the most popular data visualisation software that you can use for your business:
Tableau is a secure and flexible end-to-end, user-friendly analytics platform designed to help businesses explore and manage data. It equips you with business intelligence for the entire organisation to help with decision-making.
Power BI is designed to collect data and transform them into coherent, visual and interactive insights. With its collection of software, apps and connectors, it allows you to conveniently connect data sources, analyse them and share them with anyone.
Data Studio is a tool that converts your data into easy to read, customisable dashboards and reports. It allows you to visualise data through charts and tables that you can share with your team for collaboration.
How does White Box help you improve productivity, efficiency and profitability?
At White Box, our expert team ensure that all findings are easily explained and effectively communicated across key business channels to make sure that data becomes your company’s most powerful asset.
We help you maximise the potential of the data you have to improve multiple aspects of your business. To do this, we take a approach of data science, data strategy and data visualisation to come up with beautiful truths that will provide the optimal solutions for your unique business needs.
We pride ourselves on incorporating a human touch into our work, taking the time to understand and assess the data that our clients have. From there, we propose an effective data model solution that will allow you to take full control and ownership of your data.
After this, we train your team to use the data model and provide ongoing support, so you can make empowered, smart decisions – making sure that no data remains untapped.
At White Box, our commitment is to make your data as valuable as possible for your business.
We can help you make data-driven decisions.
White Box is highly experienced in providing data strategy, data science and data visualisation solutions.
As your data consultant partner, we’ll help you realise the full potential of your data and maximise your business success through advanced and innovative solutions that make all the difference.
Get in touch today for your free data strategy consultation.
