A new report, based on a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) conducted by the Singapore Institute of Technology and the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, has come as an eye-opener.
The report stated that approximately 70% of the 575 SMEs surveyed had not yet adopted data analytics solutions and services, with many being familiar only with spreadsheets and databases, indicating a lack of awareness and understanding of advanced data analytics.
But the positive news was that these SMEs were open to learning about how data analytics solutions and services could benefit them.
While earlier global studies showed that more and more enterprises, including SMBs, were turning to data analytics services, this new research has put a different spin.
While there can be no doubt that a percentage of organizations around the world today, as compared to say about five years ago, have moved on from conventional methods of analytics to algorithm-based ones, what’s equally true is that many of them have also moved on from the simple collection of (big) data to the analysis of this data.
A few others have even started using commercial machine learning (ML) in data analytics for small businesses.
Yet, the new report by the Singapore-based agencies indicates that there are small businesses that continue to operate traditionally, without any data to support their decisions. Some were even intimidated by the very idea.
We at Express Analytics have often said this — data and its analysis are the modern, scientific way of doing business and staying ahead of the game.
Data alone does not drive your business. Decisions do. Speak to Our Experts to get a lowdown on how data analytics can help your small business.
In fact, some small businesses that had previously adopted data analytics solutions were now in the next phase of the process — they were well on the way to transforming their organization into a data-centric one.
What does Data Analytics for Small Businesses Mean?
What do data analytics consulting services and solutions for small businesses mean? Here’s a simple explanation of data-centricity: In the way of doing business in the modern world, data is considered an asset as tangible as a company’s hardware or its headquarters building.
It is at the heart of the enterprise’s operations; in fact, the entire IT and business architecture is built with the understanding that data is a prime and permanent asset.
Data-centricity can be explained as an enterprise moving away from an application-centric to a data-centric approach to doing business. In such a data-driven organization, data analysis flows from the top down.
In a data-centric design, however, data analysis flows in the exact opposite direction, feeding into operations.
Business teams should be able to go beyond merely collecting information and monitoring; they need to analyze data in real-time to extract value from it and pass down the analyses to key decision-makers as quickly as possible.
Here are some of the key metrics that can be monitored for analysis:
- Multi-channel traffic, such as website visits and social media interactions.
- Transactions record
- Cart abandonment
- Marketing metrics
- Inventory management
- Customer service
But what is the great advantage to be derived from becoming data-centric?
- First and foremost, a data-centric model gives a massive financial lead to enterprises adopting this approach, starting with savings on infrastructure and a reduction in other recurring costs
- Makes the entire enterprise “data-smart”, and not just a few team leaders
- Can be used to digitally disrupt the market a business is in
- No more data silos within the organization
However, this is only true for companies that strive to be data-centric. What about those, for example, the SMEs, who have not even begun their data analytics journey?
To this lot, we say, you need to embrace change. Businesses today need not only to work smarter but also faster in order to gain from the valuable insights derived from their data. To reiterate, all businesses collect data, and to not analyze this treasure-trove for better business decisioning and to keep your company ahead of the competition means wasting precious resource.
Time is of the essence today for many businesses to translate data-related value into results.
Whether in logistics or retail, by having access to analytics, your company can leverage advanced end-to-end delivery, which helps both the front and back ends of the process.
The First Time
If your enterprise has eventually come around to the view that it does want to be a data-centric one, here are some decisions you need to take first:
Ensure that your business goals are aligned with the goals of your service, solution, or product.
For example, if your business goal is to increase revenue, consider how data will help you achieve it. You probably will have to ask these questions:
- Which of my services, solutions, or products are revenue drivers?
- What data are they collecting or not collecting?
- Who will have access to this data and the analytics?
Understand your data’s baseline metrics and how to measure them
Data quality means different things to different people. All your teams and their members must be aligned to “the single source of truth”.
For teams to leverage operational data effectively, they must rely on a single source of truth, i.e., a consistent data set to inform their decisions.
For this, they need to establish a baseline metric of data accuracy that everyone in the company must follow. It has often been found that enterprises face data-related hurdles, such as multiple sources of data, a lack of collaboration between teams, and low data accuracy.
There are many other questions that you need to answer before embarking on the data analytics journey; we’ve barely listed the two most important ones.