Many company leaders aren’t sure how to use data but know they need to. In a survey by Tech Pro Research, the majority of respondents said their companies are collecting data, but 61% said they aren’t using a big data solution. In other words, data is often being gathered, but oftentimes through disparate sources that don’t exchange information or make meaningful use of it.
This is a big problem. In fact, we’d go so far as to suggest that collecting data is all but pointless unless you know how to compile it, organize it, and derive meaning from it. As a recent Harvard Business Review article put it: “Raw data, such as customer retention rates, sales figures, and supply costs, is of limited value until it has been integrated with other data and transformed into information that can guide decision making.”
But in a world bursting at the seams with data, data, data… how do you even begin to integrate it and sort it, much less analyze it effectively? We have some answers for you.
How to deal with data overload?
Revisit your Goal
Before you get into the weeds of your data, pause a moment and think about why you’re mining it. Did your CEO ask you to? Are your competitors “using data,” causing you to worry you’re not tapping into this tactic enough? There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong reason to start diving into your data, but there should absolutely be some sort of goal or outcome tied to it.
For example, maybe you’ve noticed your revenue has dipped considerably in the last year. This could spur you to dig into the numbers and find out if there’s a pattern among the customers who have fallen off your radar. Or maybe you’ve seen a spike in average handling time (AHT) for your customer service calls. This may raise a red flag and encourage you to see if your data can uncover the reasons behind the trend.
Proper data mining and analysis can give you a wealth of important insight into your company, but only if you have an ultimate goal connected to it.
Unite your Source
Once you know what you’re driving at, you’ve got to be able to pull together information from disparate sources. Many business leaders end up staring at all their numbers and becoming immobilized to do anything further because it’s so overwhelming. If this sounds like you, integration might be just what you need to move forward. For instance, you might use Salesforce.com, ZenDesk, and Excel spreadsheets internally to manage everything you have going on. But if they’re not integrated, you’re only going to get partial insights from your data at best, uninformed assumptions at worst – and always ‘analysis paralysis.’
Software integration can be complex, which is why we recommend considering working with a business process outsourcing (BPO) partner like Conectys in order to see you through the process. We can integrate all your systems, mine your data, perform root cause analyses and then give you actionable insight based on what we find. This means you’ll get the benefit of all that data and what it actually means, without the headaches that can accompany managing it.
The summary
Real-Time Means More Effective Action
Instead of getting mired in the data, a partner like Conectys can distill all that information floating around into steps you can take immediately. We use our own proprietary cloud-based software, ConectysOS, to reduce reaction speed to consumer feedback from months to hours and to give our customers real-time visibility into outsourced operations performance. So in addition to helping you use the data you already have, we’ll give you even more meaningful data, in real-time, that you can use to improve.
It can be hard to keep up with how fast technology is moving these days and how much data is often at your fingertips. But, if used properly, data can give you the insights you need to grow and succeed. We’d love to show you how.
On our blog, you will find more information about big data insights.
