Why Companies Really Need Big Data

Think of every click, every movement, and every behaviour that a user performs online. Then, think about how each of these actions can be captured for every single user. That amounts to a large volume of structured and unstructured data, also known as big data, and is what every company should be capturing.

While big data in such raw form may not be useful, it can be processed to obtain information that gives meaningful insights to companies, in particular consumer behaviour. The ability to quantify the online habits of consumers helps companies understand how to engage their consumers better, which will only lead to greater customer loyalty and from there, greater revenues. Here are four reasons why any company that aims to stay relevant will need to use big data:

1. Making better, strategic decisions

With big data’s ability to reveal real-time behavioural trends, this means companies can now see what consumer’s buying patterns are like, which in turn gives them an edge in knowing how to approach their consumers effectively. You may have seen this yourself in some ways when advertisements and pop-ups appear as you browse the web, reflecting items associated with what you may have searched for previously.

With such data, top management can now be one step ahead of the consumer and thus be able to make decisive, strategic decisions as a whole for a company’s product and services so as to capture audience attention and convert them into customers.

2. Optimising operations

The internal data generated by an organisation can also reveal a number of areas where companies can cut costs or improve processes. By determining the efficacy of its various operational processes, companies can apply reforms or design processes that lead to higher efficiency, improved collaboration and higher productivity. Not only can big data be used to make improvements to current processes, it can also help determine future procedures for implementation. Such scenario analysis is becoming much more prevalent as companies look to leverage their big data.

3. Improving products and services

Big data allows you to know what your customers say and possibly feel about your product and what they expect from your products and services. This allows companies to identify what exactly customers look for and their purchasing needs. With this information, products can be better designed to address customer’s needs, making the products and purchase processes even more appealing. Delivering of intuitive customer service under that paradigm also leads to higher customer satisfaction and greater customer retention.

4. More targeted approach to marketing

At every customer interaction point, sales and marketing professionals can make use of customer preferences obtained from big data to deliver unique offers that each customer is more likely to be interested in. Companies can also understand customer’s behaviours, expectations, and current market trends, which make for better design of marketing campaigns knowing where they should market, to whom, and how they ought to be marketing so as to yield the best results. Capturing the data can then be an ongoing process for companies that go toward re-assessment or changing the campaign to ensure optimal results.

Potentially, interpreted big data can also help answer questions such as “how do customers perceive my product against that of my competitor?” and “how will the market respond to a soon-to-be-launched product?”

Big data – Not just benefitting companies

In interpreting big data, the insights gained also serve to help customers enjoy the benefits that come from it. When companies effectively find and address customer service issues, they essentially extend the benefits of big data to consumers too. The ability for both company and consumer to participate in meaningful interactions will certainly result in higher satisfaction and retention rates and ultimately, increased revenue for any company.

Of course, the beneficial use of big data for consumers doesn’t just stop at improved customer service. With companies harnessing big data from their customers to enhance process improvements, there will be a prevalence of product launches that are more in line with customer expectations. Through big data inputs, customers get to enjoy newer, better and innovative products and services. Think about how Google can predict what you are searching for even before you have finished typing.

At Apple, big data is used to recognise patterns in voice when users use the voice assistant ‘Siri’ for queries. Such data helps better develop seamless experiences such as Google predicting what you’re searching for and ‘Siri’ responding in a more human like manner. And since big data is continuously collected, this means users will enjoy experiences that continuously improve over time.

By identifying patterns in the data, your organisation can reap the many benefits it brings in terms of better products, optimised operational efficiency and improved customer service. Understanding the data collected can also result in targeted efforts for reaching out to consumers, driving greater revenues for the company. Companies such as Latize offer clients an innovative platform to understand and recognize the many underlying relationships that exist and in doing so help businesses make better decisions using their data.