There can be no denying that data is the new oil, but it is only useful if you have the resources to mine it. Businesses that have the resources are seeing actionable business intelligence that is helping to develop new markets and get real insights into customer behaviour. So with this in mind what are the factors that are needed to get business intelligence?
Data Storage
A key factor to making the most of your data is how you store it. For an enterprise-level business, this will require a robust data warehouse design that centralizes your data storage making it easier to sort, mine, and report.
A good design will greatly speed up analytics and providing your data warehouse design is scalable to a large extent how you store data will be futureproofed.
Data Acquisition
A key factor in how you mine your data is to consider how you acquire it. Most businesses obtain data through leads, sales, and enquiries but you may find other online sources that may be providing a flow of useful data. Social media post comments and interactions together with what aspects of your blog are viewed and read the most could be valuable sources of data acquisition.
Goal Setting (KPIs)
It is important to identify what business intelligence you want to acquire when formatting reports. It is a mistake to say you want to see ‘everything’ as this is too general and too easy to miss important information that can influence business strategy.
As such, start out by identifying your key performance indicators (KPIs). KPI tracking software makes it easy to set goals for your key performance indicators and then track them over time. From here you’ll be in a good position to see what data you want to mine to help you uncover insightful business intelligence. You may, for example, notice a trend in who buys a particular product or service. This information can be passed to relevant teams to help cultivate leads.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
It is no secret that AI can help considerably with the data mining process. Once you have identified KPIs a good AI should be able to do the hard work for you and start bringing relevant data together. It is especially useful if you have large volumes of data to mine. Providing the AI is configured correctly, it will save on costs and time, and not make a mistake.
Using Your New Business Intelligence
Once you have mined your data and feel you have gained real insights, don’t leave it in a file but start using the insights to shape strategy. This is often a company-wide endeavour with marketing and sales teams taking insights and devising new ways to market and sell products and services.
It is not all about sales, however, as you may identify improvements to other areas of the business such as customer service or servicing. Strengthening these areas strengthens your brand and a strong brand is a successful brand.
There is immense potential in using data to help develop your business. A little thought, good implementation, and identifying what you want to discover is the way forward.
