90% of all data in the world has been generated in the last two years.
With that in mind, it’s not surprising that a lot of companies are struggling with structuring and making sense of the data that they have, which causes various organizational issues, as well as limits the potential growth.
That’s why big data companies that can help use that data are in such high demand. Taking control of the data that you have can not only improve information accessibility within your company but provide a range of benefits that can be the driving force behind gaining a competitive advantage in your market.
But how exactly can big data help?
Well, let’s explore some of the biggest advantages that it can offer your business below.
Hyper-Targeted Customer Segmentation
Most industries are now more competitive than ever before, so consumers have a wide range of choices when deciding what company they want to work with.
That’s why, if you want to stand a chance, you must find ways to provide more relevant, personalized, and engaging solutions that your audience is likely to respond to best.
And that’s where data-driven segmentation can be so powerful.
If you can leverage the data that you collect and use it to gain insights about your audience, there are virtually limitless possibilities to how you can segment your audience, offering personalized experiences catered to specific pockets of people.
For instance, you can learn what types of products different groups of customers like best, adjusting your selection accordingly, and making timely and accurate recommendations based on what people like the most.
As a result of a more personalized approach to marketing, you will be able to create a more loyal following for your brand, which will help make more sales in the long run and help you discover what most of your branding efforts should focus on.
Cut Costs & Improve Efficiency
Increasing profits and finding new opportunities to market to your audience are important, but revenue growth is not the only way to improve your bottom line.
One of the biggest advantages big data can offer to businesses is the ability to identify areas where it’s possible to cut costs without it harming the company.
For one thing, by having a more effective way to store your data, you will likely be able to reduce how much you spend on data storage and protection.
When you work with an experienced big data services company, they can help you store and process information more effectively, implementing the best practices that are used by some of the most innovative companies today.
By digitizing old documents and going paperless in your day to day operations, you will not only see direct savings but will also help your employees become more productive in the process.
Your team won’t have to waste time sorting through databases and can quickly find relevant information with the help of an effective data management solution.
And having a way to analyze the data that your company collects every day also means that you will likely find various opportunities to improve your operations, optimizing your supply chains based on purchase history and demand, and maximizing efficiency while also enhancing the experience of your customers.
You can even develop predictive models for identifying how many returns are likely to occur in different areas, optimizing logistics and reducing shipping costs that would otherwise be impossible to determine in advance.
Helps You Hire the Best Candidates
A company is only as strong as the people that work there.
While it may not seem like that in the short term, the hiring decisions that you make today will have a massive impact on where your company will be a year, five years, or even a decade from now.
And even though factors like your company’s reputation, your ability to retain current top talent, and the advantages that you can offer prospective candidates all play a vital role, in the end, a lot of the decision-making process behind choosing one candidate instead of another come down to chance.
But that’s where big data can be a real game-changer.
Industry leaders are already recognizing that since today’s talent market provides a lot of leverage to the people seeking job opportunities. Hence, companies need to be proactive and be able to identify the best candidates quickly if they want to have a chance to hire them before the competition.
Big data can be the key to finding and hiring the most elusive top talent – you can use the data that your company has collected to identify the candidates who are the most likely to fit in with your company, looking at a wide range of metrics that have proven to be important in the past.
Basically, you can look at your current best employees and identify their prior experiences, traits, and qualifications that you could use as criteria when looking at potential candidates today.
You can even use big data to automatically screen thousands of resumes and applications, identifying candidates that are the most likely to be a good fit with your company and to stay at your company for longer.
This same process can also be used to automatically detect situations when an employee is more likely to decide to leave. Metrics such as how long a person has been with the company or how long they have remained in the same role can become triggers that inform managers to check-in with the employee and explore opportunities for them to progress their career at your company.
The potential for using big data for strengthening your team by retaining top talent and attracting new start candidates is enormous, which is why large companies are investing a lot of time and resources into implementing the technology.
But the good news is that big data can be used by small to mid-sized businesses as well, which means a more even playing field when competing for the brightest minds of the new generation.
Make More Informed Decisions
Making the right decisions every day is the primary goal of any business.
Unfortunately, a lot of the time, it may seem like predicting outcomes is virtually impossible, as there are simply too many variables and potential outcomes to consider in different situations.
However, when you use AI-powered big data solutions, you can not only enhance your customer experience but make sure that the decisions you make are in the best interest of your company.
When you have large amounts of data from thousands of customers, you can identify patterns that would otherwise be impossible to detect, and that can translate into all parts of your operations.
For instance, if you’re developing a new product or upgrading an older model, you can know exactly which features are the most important or the most used, as well as identify the biggest design flaws that need to be corrected.
You can also identify trends and even shifts in the market, which will help you focus on areas that show the most promise and move away from projects that might not yield the results you expect.