How Big Data Can Benefit Small Businesses
We all know how the amount of data is exponentially growing worldwide. By the time you finish reading this blog, 90 million texts would be delivered and received; 350,000 Instagram posts would be uploaded; 1.2 million Skype calls would be made. The stats reveal that Big data is everywhere.
Many small businesses are still in a dilemma- whether they should consider Big data or not. Capgemini has stated that 61% of companies have admitted that big data drives revenues to deliver deep insight into customer behavior. With big data, businesses can develop a better understanding of the collective psyche of their customers. Also, they can find out what customers are thinking.
If you could imagine what, when, and how the customers purchase, customer analysis could be easier for you. With Big Data, you can derive this information. It is not a crystal ball, but it can help you make smarter decisions to predict your business’s future.
What is Big Data?
Big data refers to a vast amount of data. You can structure the data. Even you can collect, share, and analyze it in your own way. It is a series of large and diverse sets of information that may grow at an ever-increasing rate. It covers a volume of data, the velocity or speed at which it is built and collected. Sometimes, big data comes out of multiple sources and arrives in diverse formats.
Simply, it is information that you can create, send as emails, texts, or tweets. It passes from digital devices to routers, servers, clouds, and back again.
Though it is not perfect, big data is one of the most effective weapons in any marketer’s arsenal. By using big data in your small business setup, you can drive more customers via sales channels and marketing funnels.
How Big Data Benefits Small Businesses?
If you employ the right technologies to extract large data sets from multiple sources, you can easily find out the patterns, trends, and correlations in this data. You can utilize the best analytic tools to provide you with a better understanding of business operations. Also, you can replace several manual methods involved in data analysis.
Listed below are the vital benefits a small business can leverage from big data:
Cost reduction
Big data may have a significant impact on the cost reduction of your organization. You need to identify the expensive processes and workflows. Using the latest data, you can quickly identify your business areas where you should scale up or down your business. It can have long-lasting financial benefits.
How much cost your business can reduce from big data depends on your small business’s size and scope. However, real-world examples can prove the cost-saving abilities of big data analytics.
Better customer service
Big data improves customer services. Big data provides real-time insights to help you explore how consumers may think and behave. Big data enables businesses to provide personalized customer service. Big data aims at assisting marketers to reach new prospects and retain existing potential customers.
These days, customer service is more important than ever. Many small businesses have started using big data to retain customers as only a 5 percent increase in customer retention can drive more than 25 percent of profit increase.
Identification and resolving the problems
Using big data, you can address these questions:
· Why do customers give up their carts?
· When is a customer likely to purchase a product?
Data analytics tools offer essential insight into customer behaviour as they pass through your channels. Indeed, data analysis cannot be termed as an exact science. It arms you with the tools you need to resolve a wide range of complex issues inside your small business structure. Along with tracking the customers, you can fix the problems associated with suppliers, investors, and clients.
Forrester’s research has shown that most companies analyze a small amount of 12 percent of the data they have. However, small businesses are able to leverage the benefits of big data by concentrating on the information they already have, streamlining and integrating, and implementing new analytics processes.
Increased revenues
Big data escalates revenues in multiple ways. Analytics offers in-depth intelligence into the customer lifecycle. You can explore new ways to boost your sales. Good data might give you the courage you to develop a software or diversify your business.
According to a survey, companies that implement big data into their business witness a profit increase of 8 percent.
Bottom Line
Gone are the days when big data was thought to be meant only for big businesses. But time has changed. Now small businesses are also leveraging benefits from big data.
