Business Intelligence: Information Versus Insights
Everyone talks about big data, but volumes of data that do not provide insights do not help your business. You need to blend your source data creating meaningful, usable information, which can be visualized into actionable insights that provide value to your business.
When executives need to improve business decisions, information from multiple data sources often needs to be blended. Blending data is accomplished by utilizing integration tools. These tools are used to gather, dump, and stream your data from multiple sources (ERP systems, CRM, cash registers, social media scraping, focus groups, etc.) into a central repository. As a result, information is transformed into a readable, statistical, and digestible format ready to be consumed by users.
Moving from scattered disparate information to organized data sets is an essential step to building a foundation that provides actionable insight but does not elevate business decisions by itself.
Finding the Right Analyst
Finding a data scientist capable of applying scientific methods, statistical analysis, algorithms, and mathematics knowledge to provide needed insights requires finding an educated individual with conversant knowledge of data analytics and business analytics. The two differ.
Data analytics refers to building databases such as the catchall data lake, data marts, and data warehouses, making sense of raw data by transforming it. This process helps spot trends and provides the data needed for business reports. This puts the “what” in the proper format for further analysis.
Business analytics leverage the data through data mining, predictive modeling, and statistical analysis to create reports to help make better-informed decisions. This puts the “why” in the proper format for making informed business decisions.
Merging Report Information with Current Events
All the data and analysis do little good at making better business decisions unless your analyst also knows current world events. All industries interconnect on some level. Your analyst needs to understand what the information in the reports tells you set against world events. For example, Data Analysts at Tesla must know that the electric vehicle (EV) industry is changing rapidly. For example, Lucid Motors’ new electric cars and GM plans to be 100% electric by 2035 add unforeseen disruptions in the EV industry. Knowing what is going on in the EV industry helps the Tesla analyst provide reliable insights when producing statistical models and forecasting supply chain needs via predictive models that understand future demand for electric cars.
Finding these analysts can take time and effort. You need immediate insights so you can quickly move on to business data trends. Hiring proves costly. When there is a need for additional data analytic resources, partnering with Starr & Associates allows you to leverage our analytic skills and knowledge across industries. We can help you better understand the raw data, the business information reports and glean the relevant business insights.
Big data flows into data lakes in real-time. That means with the right business procedures. You can continually update your reports and draw on up-to-the-moment insights that help your business pivot effectively. You can spot trends before your competition, and we can help.