Why small businesses and startups should always use Analytics and AI
“There is no finish line. There are only mile markers.”-Michael Ventura
A business can be simply understood as organized efforts put by a team to reach some preset targets, one of the most common one is getting profits. People do a lot of things to make their business grow and try new things just to ensure if any of this could click and make their entity a hit. There are multiple challenges when you start your business like financial crunch, inefficient team and blurred vision. Not all get out of the blues and many land up in shutting down their beloved ventures. Most of them don’t give a second try and get back to their old jobs and monotonous routines. Getting a right track, finding a good team, getting funding for their projects are some of the unfulfilled wishes which most of these business/startup owners will acknowledge.
There are some who will retry, this time equipped with past experience and still could face the same fate. Sustainable growth is the most sought attribute of any business irrespective of its size. No business is small or big at inception and almost all businesses start as a small venture. The only thing these small entities have in common is scarcity of resources but quite a few get on these challenges and rest stay where they were in their starting days.
“A small business is an amazing way to serve and leave an impact on the world you live in.” -Nicole Snow
Technology has most of the answers which these businesses were always searching for. Data Analytics can be a great boon to these companies and can help in taking data-driven decisions. Decisions based on data can be very effective and can even help in getting the right strategic track. A business should always utilize its resources for sustainable growth. Data is the most precious and prime resource for any business but sometimes ignored. Ignoring business data and its vast potential can land you into a puzzle which is not easy to solve.
It is found that most of the small business don’t care much about their business data. They actually don’t know what all information should be stored and so they miss out most of their operational information. This accounts to grey or black data. These businesses rely on their owners and workers experience, if anyone leave the job, the whole system gets hit. It is a very dangerous situation, when a person is more important than rest of the system. Such situations lead to unwanted bargains or huge losses.
It is time to realign !!!
Business is done by a team so each one should get his/her due share and respect. It is the people who make a business and are one of the most valuable resources but even then a business should not be too reliant on anyone and it should be able to sustain with ease, incase somebody leaves the team. The effort should be done to make a business data dependent instead of being person dependent.
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Data analytics is sometimes used in conjunction with AI because these two terms collectively boost a business. AI boosts the capabilities of analytics to give better and deeper insights and thus should be used together for getting better outcomes.
“The price of light is less than the cost of darkness.” — Arthur C. Nielsen
The amount spent on analytics and AI is overshadowed by the amount of benefits received by any business. The spent amount can be easily returned to the business by using data driven decisions and proper strategy planning. Here again the business should use this boon with its full potential otherwise they could miss a lot of hidden benefits. Organize and store your maximum business information.
Most of the small business focus on their business and leave their data collection process in lurch. some business don’t even start collecting their business data and max they save is customer contact details. This is sheer under-utilization of a business. Storing data could be a great advantage and could be the biggest help in increasing the business or to start a new business. Thus it should never be ignored.
Some of the tips and benefits of using data analytics and AI in a business are:
It saves huge amount of time and money
Using the saved information, a business can refer to it in future and infer to the process done. It helps in improving the work quality and maintain the work standards. The data can give answers to some of the big issues at current times like selecting the best vendor or finding the potential customer. It save a decent amount of time and thus saves the manhours spent.
It helps in better understanding your customers
Analytics can help in knowing the customers and their purchase behavior. It helps a business to understand the customer pattern and doing the right product positioning. Business can identify its top customers and can put extra efforts to serve them better. It even helps in saving time spent on irrelevant customers and thus save your resources.
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” — Bill Gates
It helps in product enrichment and improvement
Data Analytics and AI can help in getting product reviews, the issues faced by customers and thus they can be removed or taken care of. It helps in making the product better and improve the services. A small entity don’t have huge customer base so every customer has great importance. Missing out a couple of them could be a big thing.
It help in taking big business decisions
Properly done analysis of business data give a better insight about its current position, opportunities and issues. It help the stake holders to take the necessary steps like merger, launch or say quit before its too late. Data insight solidify the business decision taken and help in getting sure about it. Proper knowledge of business status helps in saving the money and time which could be utilized for some other projects and jobs.
It helps in retargeting and customer retention
Knowing where the product lag (by assessing the feedback), allow a company to improve it in due time and represent to its potential customers. It helps in customer retention as an entity could reach out to its customer before the issue arise. Like you can pitch your customer about car service which might be due next month or servicing an air conditioner before summers.
It gives answers to many questions
Data analytics when used with AI provide deep insights and help the stakeholders to understand what actually is going on in the company. What should be done, how we should move further. These kind of decision give strategic direction to a startup or business. All these decision become easy after having a deep analyzed report of the company.
“A ‘startup’ is a company that is confused about: 1. What it’s product is; 2. Who it’s customers are. 3. How to make money”. — Dave McClure
It helps in sustaining in the market
Overall the information collected help a startup or an entity to survive in the market and to deal with its scarce resources. The organization after seeing the insight can even work to improve its resources and services like infrastructure or after sale support service. Surviving is the key for any startup and it leads to sustainability.
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