Using Big Data Gives You a Big Competitive Advantage

Today’s technology has accomplished a ton of fascinating things, but none are more important for the average business than big data analytics. When considering the incredibly competitive nature of the business environment, anything that gives your company an edge is a welcome addition to your strategy, and it’s more important than ever before to heed this call to action.

What is Big Data?
Big data is the act of analyzing chunks of raw data for trends and other important information. This helps businesses make informed decisions concerning new policies, their target audience, and much, much more. With the knowledge of these trends, your team can apply them to your business model and potentially surpass your competitors.

One example of big data would be a consumer-based company monitoring their social media pages for trends in their followers. They look for patterns in the interests of their followers, including age, gender, liked pages, and more. These trends allow the company to tailor their marketing campaigns to meet the interests of their primary consumer base.

As explained by Bill Detwiler of ZDNet:

According to a 2014 study by Accenture and General Electric, 84% of the companies surveyed believe that big data analytics could "shift the competitive landscape" for their industry within the next year and 89% believe companies that fail to adopt a big data analytics strategy could lose both market share and momentum.

If what this survey says is correct, businesses who have taken the initiative that big data has to offer will have an incredible advantage over those that don’t. Additionally, big data analytic tools are growing more popular and more affordable, making them more readily available to the average small or medium-sized business.

How to Get Started
Unless you have a solid plan for gathering all of the data required for these kinds of analytics, you’ll probably run into some trouble at first. Instead of jumping the gun and getting ahead of yourself, consider what kind of data needs to be acquired. According to Max Shron, a data scientist at Polynumeral, it’s important to find out what kind of data you need before collecting it. Otherwise, you might collect data that isn’t of any use, and you’ll have wasted time.

Instead, ask yourself what kind of data your business already possesses. From there, consider what kind of data you need. Once you understand your target, you can go about collecting this data in an organized manner. It’s important to put aside any predispositions you might have concerning your data or product. After all, numbers don’t lie, and it’s much easier to put together a solid plan based on facts rather than remain biased toward your services.

Preferred can help equip your company with the big data analytic tools your business needs to get ahead in the industry. For more information about what we can do for your business, give us a call at 708-781-7110.