In 2020, each and every person generates 1.7 megabytes of data per second, and each internet user generates 2.5 quintillion bytes per day. That’s mountains of data, and many companies worry about their ability to keep up. The growing data analytics industry is poised to help businesses optimize analytics to reduce costs without jeopardizing growth. And that’s just as well, because the post-COVID economic recovery is expected to be a digital one. People will probably keep shopping online more and working from home more after the pandemic, which has accelerated a trend towards remote working that was already in motion. Businesses need to increase their business analytics capabilities now more than ever, to protect against fraud, reduce costs, boost productivity, and more.
1) Protect Your Company from Losses Due to Cyber Fraud
Security breaches have become almost commonplace as cyber criminals discover that exploiting vulnerabilities in business computer systems gives them access to lots of valuable customer information. Breaches are costly to clean up and can do lasting damage to your company’s reputation.
How can business analytics help? It can help identify dark data, which is that data that companies collect about consumers but don’t use, and don’t have any plans to use, but will never get rid of. It often consists of stuff like past email correspondence, visitor tracking data, web logs, surveillance footage, chat logs, and so forth. While not dangerous in and of itself, it can open up your system to backdoor threats, so you need a business analytics strategy to identify, manage, and perhaps benefit from it.
2) Improve Logistics
Data analytics can do so much to improve shipping and logistics. You can use it to look for patterns in the way customers order your products, so you can prepare your inventory for consumer demand. You can even track impact and vibrational stress during shipping and use that data to improve packaging and optimize shipping routes to reduce shipping damage. You can even use data analytics to find ways to reduce your carbon footprint and spend less on energy.
3) Lower Marketing Costs
Your marketing has to do two things: it has to retain your current customers, and draw in new ones. Advanced business analytics can help you understand your competition and what appeals to their customers, so you can stay competitive in the business world. You’ll be able to isolate your target market and tailor your marketing accordingly. The more effective you can make your marketing strategy through business analytics, the less money you’ll have to spend on marketing.
4) Reduce Turnover
Voluntary turnover costs an average of $15,000 per employee, so keeping the employees you’ve got around longer is an effective means of cost reduction. The process starts before you even bring a new hire on. Use business analytics to sort through facts about candidates and identify those who are most likely to fit into the company’s culture. Use anonymous annual employee surveys to track trends in employee dissatisfaction and make changes that are likely to increase loyalty and satisfaction.
5) Boost Productivity
It can be tricky to use technology to boost worker productivity, as it’s all too easy to make workers feel micromanaged if you track their tasks too closely. If you’re going to use tracking software to find productivity patterns in your team, make working to boost productivity a team effort rather than something one employee is going to have the chance to feel raked over the coals about.
Of course, you can also use big data to take mundane tasks off an employee’s plate so he or she can focus on more complex tasks. For example, in a warehouse, you can use a tracking system to log arrivals and departures, trigger paperwork, and even automate reorders. In an office setting, you can digitize paper reports and provide employees with the software they need to sort through that information and produce digestible reports.
If you’re looking to cut costs and make the most of the data you collect about your customers, you need to invest in business analytics. You can streamline operations, increase productivity, improve employee retention, and boost customer loyalty, all for less money than ever before.
