A few weeks ago we spoke about the benefits of using big data in medium to larger businesses and how using it could drive greater profitability, but today we’re focusing on a slightly different topic, business intelligence.
If you are an entrepreneur, you know by now how significant it is to have all the important information your business needs in order for you to make the right decisions and grow your revenue. In fact, BI has become so crucial these days that any small, mid-size or larger companies willing to succeed, needs to include it into their business plan strategy.
It can be monetized
Effective business intelligence not only empowers leaders to ask crucial questions but gives them the answers that will help them make better decisions. They can identify opportunities for local and international growth while limiting the potential risks of failure.
Unfortunately, not all companies have access to BI experts or even have the budget to hire someone with the skills. Thus, what some researchers won’t tell you is that, despite the budget that you manage, the information coming from BI can be monetized.
“Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.” — Peter Sondergaar
Recent reports have predicted that by 2020, 10 percent of companies will have profits by “commercializing” the data they’ve collected. How and why you might ask? This new trend comes from the fact that 40 percent of enterprise data is hardly ever used to enhance operations.
We know for sure that organizations that have included BI in their strategy and used that information to improve their processes have seen significant improvements, on the other hand, some companies have managed to achieve higher revenues by monetizing and sell that data.
There are cheaper yet powerful self-service BI
Until a few months ago, big data was almost inaccessible for smaller businesses and only bigger enterprises with larger budgets had the experts in the field at their fingertips. Today, things have drastically changed and you are able to find platforms and tools that provide self-service BI solutions.
“The idea is to go from numbers to information to understanding.” — Hans Rosling
Usually, organizations collect internal data from several processes and departments which makes it difficult to understand and organize the information in a way that makes sense for everyone. Thus, companies such as SWAPPT, are allowing access to any entrepreneur, startup or small business who wants to use BI to their advantages to a fully comprehensive tool that will evaluate the data that drives their business.
User-friendly applications and Etools that help companies leverage data and analytics into a single tab so they are able to create dashboards easier to read and share it with the rest of the team in an effective way. As a result, companies are able to save part of their budget and still have access to the information they need to evolve.
You need to secure your data
Every business by now is probably dreaming about collect the maximum information that they need in order to grow and optimize their brand, but as much as they want this data, executives, marketers, and every other department in the organization are probably desiring to get their hands on it too.
That’s why, as self-service tool begin to be a must-have for many businesses, and more members of the organization are able to access and comprehend the information being collected, the need for securing that information increases. In fact, the more people access the data, the more opportunities there will be for property data to be leaked and possible external attacks.
So, how can companies plan and develop a secure environment to prevent data breaches? Actually, they are some basic rules and security measures you’ll need to implement but PC Mag has perfectly explained in a recent post the 10 best practices for your business to follow in order to secure big data.
In conclusion, there’s no doubt big data have enormous potential for improving your strategy and business performance, but by integrating it into your business, it will also help you make the right decision and help you take the next step towards success. If you’re ready to do so, make sure to choose the right solution for your company or receive additional information about it before choosing one.
