If there’s one tool you cannot afford to miss in your marketing toolkit, it is Data Analytics.
With new technologies and platform entering the market every day, it is increasingly becoming a challenge to justify the ROI for the expenditure on each platform.
While some debate that it might create the best opportunity to employ skilled people others state that it might be the worst state of glaring inequality plagued by rising unemployment.
On the surface, it might appear right, but the actual potential of data analytics for industries can be judged by looking at actual data analytical examples.
Let’s explore some of them.
Case Studies
1. Netflix banking on Data Analytics
Did you know that the success of the popular show House of Cards was not a coincidence? It was a planned strategy backed by the use of data analytics.
Netflix has invested $100million in understanding what people want to watch online. It is leading the way in using data analytics to judge which show will perform beyond expectations, show the exact content the viewer wants to see based on past data and deliver a high customer experience.
In fact, with 33 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix is on a hiring spree to get data analysts that can accurately replicate the success of House of Cards across many shows worldwide.
With global expansions, Netflix is now looking to hire even more data analyst professionals on their team.
2. Target using Data Analytics
If you’re having customers spanning different countries, then you need to streamline your systems to get as accurate and detailed data on all geographies.
Target is one such organization that operates with the efficient use of data analytics to get actionable insights to deliver high customer value.
Their hiring queue is filled with the skill requirements of SAS, SQL, VBA, OLAP to forecast trends and strategically plan revenues. With 1800 stores and expansion plans Target is one among the many global companies on the lookout for sharp talent who can join their Business Intelligence and Analytics Team.
3. Small Businesses Using Data Analytics
Now, the use of data analytics is not restricted to large organisations, but it can open up a number of opportunities for small businesses too.
Some of them are CommonBond, Basis that are riding on the wave of increased awareness to reduce the gap in the unmet market needs.
CommonBond has recognized the growing borrowing culture in the US and created a platform that connects students with investors and alumni to avail of lower fixed rate financing and hence reduce the culture of borrowing.
Basis is a wrist-based service that provides health tracker information and personal dashboard to make small health changes that develop and make drastic changes in health over a period.
Each of these companies uses a mix of business intelligence tools, CRM, Google Analytics to assess the data. With an average salary of $118,709, data scientists are sought after by small businesses to provide valuable insights.
Experts Speak on whether data analytics will lead to unemployment
1. Brooke Satti Charles gives insights into how frauds leading to unemployment can be effectively reduced using data analytics.
They key to use data analytics is to connect siloed platforms to connect large government databases and intermediaries like agencies to track different patterns in usage and employment across multiple data sets.
2. Research suggests that using data analysis yields exponential results. However, it need not reduce the staff strength.
An apt example is a cargo company that used data analytics to study the changing industry trends and also aligns their negotiating strategies to meet supply and demand. It used this complex model and converted it into simple and easy to execute deliverables for its frontline staff thereby resulting in 20% increase in the share of wallet.
These examples are indications that the data analysis need not reduce your staff strength but can, in fact, strengthen the front line staff to serve your customers better.
Conclusion
Every case study seen here hints at increasing need to hire more skilled data analytical professionals who can provide valuable insights into a vast amount of information for your business. While there might be some layoffs to balance the increasing focus on data-centric systems, it will not replace people in the long term.
The next 10 years are only going to see an increasing need to employ more data analyst professionals who can provide valuable insights into data.
Over to you
Did you use data analytics for your business? What was the outcome?
