The merging of technology and business for the sake of greater revenue and more effective sales has become a mainstream business technique. In the past, incorporating technology with business was considered a cutting-edge move, with only a few having the means to pursue it. Today, it is a requirement if you wish for your business to succeed.
Terms like “Big Data” and “Analytics” have become a household name for goal-oriented businessmen in the corporate world. A good number of enterprises have invested in the digitisation and management of data as it may yield great returns. The four Vs of analytics (Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity of data) has enabled this digital revolution in modern businesses.
While knowing that business analytics is a must, there are a lot things to consider when moving forward with your solution. Here we’ve put together five considerations to help with either a new or existing business analytics initiative you may have.
- Begin with the end in mind
A good plan always starts with a goal which is clearly defined. Understand the value that the process will deliver in the end. Good value usually means yielding a higher revenue with decreased operational costs, improved profit margins, and a satisfactory cash flow.
- Keep track of your KPIs
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is one of the necessary things to look after when managing an analytics-driven business. This serves as a guide in aligning your business intelligence strategies to your analytics techniques. Data gathering by the Chief Data Officer should be done at the right time so as not to delay the decision-making process. You also need to point out which factors in your KPIs inform you that your business is growing or achieving its goals in a specific time.
- Efficient Human Resource
You need to gather the right people in your team so that your BI technique will work optimally. There are three basic skills that you should look for in each of your team members: technological capability, adequate domain capability, and data science capability. Their tasks include managing the data received and recreating a comprehensive line of data using the business analytics infrastructure. They also need to sort out the most useful data that the business can use, and perform predictive analytics-using models.
Working with the right kind of people will help you reach the goal of business growth. The people that you choose to hire should effectively manage the data, present it appropriately (with the right visualization techniques) and be able pick out errors for a flawless presentation.
- Combined Efforts of the Analytics and Business Operations Team
The data provided will not be meaningful unless they are interpreted in a useful way. The most important task of the analytics and business operations team is to consistently work together in sticking to the data-based decisions that they have created. Both have the responsibility to look after one another while ensuring that the results from the analytics are relevant to the data and would mean growth for the company.
- Adapt a Sense of Ownership
An analytic-driven system requires efficient governance which plays an important role in achieving business success. An authoritative and credible level of ownership is vital in building a successful analytics-driven business.
Knowing the processes of analytics and how you can use it to your business’ advantage promises satisfying results in the end. It is important to be able to identify what your business needs and then use the gathered data to make objective decisions along with calculated risks through the analysis. Moreover, effective management of the team and clearly mapped out responsibilities will contribute in making a business analytics model work better.
Here are just a few considerations we think are important when implementing a business analytics solution. If you have any input or other considerations you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments section.
