Data technology is clearly a gamechanger for most businesses. Around a third of businesses have a clearly articulated data strategy in place. These companies are usually much more successful than their less data savvy counterparts.
If your company is not currently relying on big data, then it is time to make a change. A great data strategy can help your company identify cost-saving opportunities, streamline mundane processes, identify ideal investing opportunities and solve complex challenges.
According to a survey conducted by Oracle, businesses that utilize big data and other emerging technologies have increased their annual revenue by 58%. Keep reading to learn more about the merits of utilizing big data in your business.
Big Data Helps Businesses Improve Their Competitive Edge
Business efficiency used to primarily revolve at the rate at which an employee could work. However, in recent years this has since changed. Instead, business efficiency is judged on its structure – which includes what technology practices and systems it uses.
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Companies need to tap the benefits of big data to improve efficiency. There are a lot of platforms that leverage data analytics and AI to help them reach these goals.
Alex Chilsholm, Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service told the Future of Work Summit this week that new data technology is allowing workers to “spend less time on routine manual tasks and more time to work on what people do best – working together to tackle complex issues and deliver great services of public value.”
As such, for a business to be successful, it should incorporate a host of technologies and systems into its business model. They can use big data for improving their supply chains, learning more about their customers, managing their finances more efficiently, finding the best employees, improving their social media marketing strategies and tackling other challenges.
This article will outline some of the significant ways in which tech can be used within a business to improve its efficiency.
Data technology improves payment solutions
Financial management tends to be one of the slowest and most troublesome areas of a company. Many businesses often overlook adopting financial management systems, resorting to Google Sheets, Excel spreadsheets and physical documentations – all of which when mixed together can cause lots of confusion. This can thus leave finance teams often overwhelmed and overworked, the opposite of efficient.
However, most of these tools don’t even begin to scratch the surface when it comes to the benefits that big data brings to the table in the financial sector. One of the biggest advantages of big data in finance is that it can significantly improve payment solutions.
Several online payment platform systems can be adopted by a business to allow their internal finance team to access all payments, invoices, spending and budgets with sophisticated data technology. These systems can additionally produce automatic payroll payments too.
The digitization of financial services for businesses will allow them to reduce costs in the long run. According to Statista, FinTech’s largest segment, digital payment solutions, reached approximately $6,685,102 million in 2021.
Centralize materials using cloud software
Cloud software allows for employees to digitally access every crucial file and document online, from anywhere in the world. This can prove useful for a host of reasons, for instance, for employees who are travelling a lot, working from home and so on. As such, this makes cloud software far superior in terms of efficiency in contrast to physical documents and paper trails, which may only have one copy and be stored in a specific physical space.
Flexera found in 2020 that 56% of small and medium businesses spent $120k to $600k on cloud software in order to simplify the distribution, delivery and maintenance of their business systems.
Automated checks
The use of automated checks can add huge efficiency to increase response and result times for products. The likes of Deliveroo and Uber use automated checks for customer security and locations and to verify orders and identities.
“Automated checks are huge for the consumer finance and mortgage industry,” explains Justine Gray, co-founder of fintech startup, Dollar Hand.
“Automated checks are often used to validate the initial details of a customer and their eligibility for a loan or mortgage, looking up their name against the electoral register, location, income, email address and more.”
“Certainly, for products that are time-sensitive such as payday loans or getting car insurance quotes – automation allows offers to be made faster and this often secures the deal a lot quicker than if they had to go and come back to you with fees.”
Employee training
Big data can also help with human resources. One of the biggest benefits is with employee training. Training can often consume not only time, but also monetary resources. Businesses may even shy away from externally resourcing candidates in fear of the lengthy and sometimes tedious process.
There are a number of business systems with staff training at the core of their focus. For instance, health and safety and data privacy protection training can be conducted remotely via a digital plan or subscription service. This allows new employees to train at their own pace, without taking up the time of their peers. It also buys back time for the experienced employees who would have to take time out of their day to train new peers.
With remote working deemed to be an inherent aspect of working life now, it is important to ensure that employees are additionally trained to communicate both internally and externally via digital communication channels, such as Zoom or Google Meets.