Why Business Analytics Is A Good Idea

Every business should strive to provide valuable products and services to its customers. To attain this goal, businesses need to stay innovative and remain one step ahead of their competition at all times.

Traditional models that help businesses reach this goal are no longer effective since massive amounts of data are available to us today via the Internet. This is the main reason analytics has become an important part of every business and has seen tremendous growth over the years.

According to Gartner, 54% of business professionals say their companies need to be more analytic to be competitive. With the worldwide business intelligence revenue totaling $13.1 billion in 2012, a 6.8% increase from 2011, Gartner predicts that business analytics will further reach almost all potential users after 2020 as we enter the digital age, otherwise known as the Internet of Everything.

Data scientists are one of the most in-demand careers right now, and many professionals undertake business analysis courses or data analysis courses to get ahead.

Why do people think business analytics is a good idea?

Business intelligence plays a huge part in achieving competitive advantage in the industry, and one way to develop this is by harnessing the information and insights gained through business analytics. Here are six factors that prove the effectiveness of business analytics:

1. Analytics quantify company values. 

Most businesses have established goals to define the key points of what success looks like for their company. This may come in the form a mission and vision statement, retaining employees for the long-term, increasing profits over a defined timeframe, etc.

What businesses fail to realize, however, is that they can quantify these values into numbers so that they can be measurable through analytics. By using numbers, large values and goals can be quantified too, instead of simply being left to interpretation.

2. Analytics provide clarity on insights through data visualization. 

Once data and values are quantified, you can arrange and present information in a visual way through comprehensive charts and graphs. This increases understanding and presents information that is clear and organized.

3. Analytics eliminate guesswork and can provide faster answers to business questions. 

In a world full of data, analytics can help in filtering the information you need to eliminate guesswork and get answers to business questions faster, rather than spending hours reading through volumes of printed reports.

Being able to make decisions faster than competitors offers competitive advantage. This article in particular, discusses how businesses can gain superior insights from ecommerce analytics.

4. Analytics deliver insight

One of the greatest benefits of business analytics is that it gives companies consumer insight – what customers are buying, what they are looking for, trends, forecasts, etc.

Predictive analysis can give a competitive edge by going beyond plain and simple analysis.

5. Analytics encourages smart decision-making

With analytics, you can make fact-based decisions instead of just relying on gut feelings. Companies can make accurate decisions faster and more efficiently.

6. Analytics accounts for transparency

Since business analytics quantify values, making it visible and measurable, transparency is seen in every operation or process. Communication is open, clarity is achieved, and accountability is defined.

Adopting business analytics in business operations is truly important to companies especially if they want to stay competitive and ahead of the game.  

Picture Attribution: “Analytics Word Representing Optimize Text And Collecting” by Stuart Miles/Freedigitalphotos.net