Business

Five Ways Data Can Help Your Business

How many times have you now heard the mantra that “data is the new oil”? It’s a phrase that has been doing the rounds for years, but despite its overuse, it’s certainly speaking to an important truth. Data, or information, is the key resource driving today’s industrial revolution in computing, AI, machine learning and analytics. And for businesses, that’s great news – being able to harvest, process and understand data has many benefits. In this article, we’ll look at five of those benefits, and how you should engage with data in order to grow your business.

Optimising Your Website

Your website has a front end, where consumers interact with buttons, menus and pages, and a back end, where you can tinker with the source code. Many website hosting platforms gather data, presenting it in the back end so that you can understand the origins of your traffic, and how consumers tend to act on your website. This is crucial for optimising your website and understanding where you should direct your marketing spend in order to generate more traffic. Other ways businesses use data is to analyze their IT structures using tools like a Datadog alternative to understand their server performances.

Quantifying Risk

All businesses are exposed to risk, but few know exactly which risks to be most concerned about. By processing data on different types of risks, the risk management software available helps firms understand how they ought to respond to common hazards like cyberattacks, injuries at work, and equipment failures. That, in turn, means your business is always prepared for any eventuality fate might throw at it.

Forecasting

Real-time data is a huge asset for businesses. It means that you’re able to track, incredibly accurately, just how many sales you’ve made at any given moment. Processed through forecasting software, you’ll be able to use this data to project your earnings for the year, your expected demand, and the profits that you might hope to generate. Forecasting helps you plan growth in the good times, and to scale back in the hard times – with minimal disruption to your business.

Finances

Financial data has existed for decades. But modern financial technology products are breaking new ground in financial data analysis, offering real-time payments, with accompanying data, when you sell online. Furthermore, they’ll run that data through your accounts, providing detailed analyses of your financial position, which loans you might need to repay, and so much more. Because financial data is now so rich and the software to analyse it is so good, this is a key emerging asset for any businessperson.

Productivity

Different business use different processes and systems to operate effectively. But all are interested in driving productivity – getting the most out of their staff, whether they’re working from home or commuting to the office. By tracking worker hours, output and other measurables, productivity software offers managers a clear-eyed look at where they might be able to optimise processes, reduce overheads, and drive efficiency. And it’s all based on granular productivity data, which hundreds of firms now produce, gather, and act upon.

There you have it: five ways in which data can help your business in the modern world.

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