Digital activities generate 2.5 million terabytes of data every day, hence the ubiquity of the term ‘big data’. In fact, it’s safe to say that data is now the driving force behind the global economy. From a marketer’s perspective, data is the most valuable asset of all. However, if data isn’t leading to technological transformation in your organization, it’s time to implement a data analytics and business intelligence (BI) roadmap that will set your business up for future success. Here are 5 reasons why companies fail to experience digital transformation:
You Don’t Know Where to Look for Data
Whether it involves signing up to an email newsletter, sharing the latest meme on social media or even ordering a meal at a retail kiosk in McDonalds, every digital process generates data. Factor in the ubiquity of technology, which now includes a plethora of mobile and IoT devices, and you find yourself facing a dizzying array of potential data sources. The challenge lies in identifying the sources that matter most. It might be an over-hyped term, but big data is where a modern business intelligence strategy starts. That’s why you need a way to gather data from a disparate range of sources so that your BI solution can determine what’s important and deliver more valuable insights. Your BI process should be able to draw data from every system you use, including CRM, ERP, relational databases, website analytics and more.You’re Not Translating Data into Insights
It’s all very well to talk about the role of big data in BI but, by itself, raw data is of little use. After all, data sets are now so large that they’re impossible to make sense of. Furthermore, it’s easy to get seduced by vanity metrics, such as social media shares and likes. Such statistics might give you some bragging rights, but they’re not likely to translate into actionable insights. The real value of data lies not in all the ones and zeros, but in how they drive decision-making. Rather than using data to support business decision-making, more innovative companies are now shifting their focus towards insights. With the right system at your disposal, you’ll have access to insights in real time, which you can use to automate decision-making processes to answer questions like the following:- Which products and services are most popular?
- Which paid advertising campaigns or platforms have the highest ROI?
- What’s causing people to abandon their shopping carts?
- How do people feel about your brand?
- Which marketing channels are driving the most conversions?