Data processing is omnipresent in many different ways within companies, inrespective of industry, company size or product range. Most probably you already store data from customers, employees or suppliers into a CRM, ERP, spreadsheet or database. Meaning you're already processing data, so why not use it to it’s full potential and benefit from new opportunities.
What opportunities are you talking about?
To throw some examples, you could:
- integrate all information of online clicks and sales, mobile applications, social media , ERP, CRM, sensors, contact centers, third party data, … all in real-time!
- get a clear overview of your market, customer trends, customers' behaviour to do predicitive analyses and use it as a powerful competitive advantage by acting on upcoming them before your competitors even know it’s there.
- be able to answer the needs of your customers in the best way.
- be able to understand the reasons why promotion A failed and promotion B was a great succes.
You don’t need to be a data expert to benefit from data-driven processes.
Of course, it’s not self-evident to approach your data processing in an effective manner for most companies, especialy for SME’s, who often have no specialized IT or data team. However, this should not hold you back from making the best out of it! A common misunderstanding is that data operations is only a tool for large companies and multinationals with a high-skilled data team integrated in their business structure… The truth is that it is much more difficult for the larger companies to make a switch to a data-driven culture, so SME's seize this opportunity!
But… Where do I start to change my data processes and culture to be data-driven for my company if I don’t know anything about the matter? Simpel, start the same way as you do for every other activity that doesn’t lie within your own expertise. Do some research, and analyse the potential outcome of data processing for your business. If the result ought to be positive, partner up with a professional third party! Data Operations is a technological complex business, but there are plenty of specialized companies focused on data processing, visualization and analysis out there ready to help you out.
“Work smarter with your data instead of harder for your data.”
Nevertheless, developing your own platform or interface for data-driven processes may:
- take years, time you probably don’t have, also new data flows through your processes faster, more proportious and complex than ever before.
- take experts in the data field. It's hard to find the right well-educated people, because of the war for talent in the IT industry.
- be very costly…
Outsourcing seems to be the best solution; data experts will connect your business data in no time with top notch software and Dataops Platforms or Interfaces. They will use your data in a safe environment, set up data-driven process that will offer you new insights, visual presentations, and creates business value (revenue and profit growth) like never before.
In short ...
To conclude, regardless of what your company looks like… you're already processing data, you just need to make your processes smarter (data-driven) to become smarter yourself.
