How Data Analytics Informs Business Strategy

Using data analytics to inform business strategies is not only an excellent idea, it’s also become the norm among businesses, from huge corporations to small startups.

Data is valuable

Data isn’t merely a mystery that only holds value to a select few; it’s a full-blown commodity that can sway markets. To illustrate just how valuable data really is, you only need to look at companies like Twitter and Facebook, who pretty much exclusively deal in data as their product. In 2015, Facebook was valued at an astounding $200 billion, worth more than many other giant corporations that actually have real, physical products to sell.

The real value in data is monetary, though data is in truth only useful to those willing and capable of doing the analytics required to turn it into something that can be used. Banks, retail outlets, app developers, and advertising agencies all rely on these huge pools of data in order to develop business strategies that target either existing or potential customers with a high degree of precision. Data is in high supply and high demand, and for those who use analytics to inform their business strategy, this is good news.

Everything from how you approach cybersecurity to asset management and business growth can benefit from a business strategy driven by analytics. Data can often provide unique insights that would otherwise have never been made without the power of analytics, and capitalizing on those insights can help your business grow reliably. Eventually, practically every business in the world across every sector will be relying on data analytics to boost efficiency and profitability.

Analytics provides valuable insights

Data analytics have the potential to revolutionize any company’s business strategy through identifying data patterns, trends, and relationships. Good analytics also makes these valuable insights actionable, essentially laying out a roadmap of how to make your business successful in both the short and long term. Data analytics can improve internal efficiency and enable companies to collect better market and customer intelligence.

These various benefits allow for a business to make more informed decisions by taking into account customer, business, and market data. This analysis helps to guide business strategy by providing actionable intelligence from what was once raw data. Company leaders that rely on data analytics to assist in developing business strategy gain a significant edge on their competition, an edge which only becomes more prominent the earlier in the strategy process you begin to include data analytics.

Marketing strategy is an integral part of any business strategy, and data analytics make a radical difference here as well. Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can completely reshape any marketing strategy to be more efficient and effective. It helps businesses to further understand just who their customers are, where they’re coming from, and how they behave once they interact with marketing efforts.

Data analytics can affect every aspect of a business

Utilizing data analytics can certainly help with business and marketing strategy, but it also has the potential to drastically improve nearly every aspect of a business from the ground up. Pricing optimization, forecasting, inventory cost reduction, order fulfillment optimization, and delivery can be accomplished with the use of data analytics. The potential for data analytics starts from the bottom of an industry and goes all the way to the top.

Analytics can streamline inventory management, reducing overall dependence on storage space by predicting what individual items will be needed and when, eliminating the need to keep them on site. They can also save a business money by reducing the overall losses it experiences due to expired goods by accurately predicting how much product will actually be needed, allowing a business to produce only what is necessary. Analytics can even show a business where the best possible locations for warehouses should be located to reduce transport time and costs.

Data analytics has proven itself time and time again to be a reliable and effective tool when developing business strategies. As artificial intelligence and other technological trends begin to permeate the world of business, we will see data analytics become even more important in the day-to-day operations of businesses across the globe. Those who choose to ignore what data analytics can do for their business are doomed to be left in the past, while those that capitalize on opportunities to improve their business through analytics will gain an undeniable edge going forward.

Raw data isn’t particularly useful, but analytics can transform it into an invaluable asset to those that choose to use it. Data analytics can help develop business strategy, improve upon existing marketing strategies, and potentially transform every level of a business to be more efficient and effective. Data analytics will lead the way to the future, and those who want to thrive should explore what it can do for their business.