Why data is important

Transactional data is incredibly important for businesses because it helps them to expose variability and optimize their operations for the highest quality results. By examining large amounts of data, it is possible to uncover hidden patterns and correlations.

These patterns can create competitive advantages, and result in business benefits like more effective marketing and increased revenue. Web data is a collective term which refers to any type of data you might pull from the internet, whether to study for research purposes or otherwise. That might be data on what your competitors are selling, published government data, football scores, etc. Studying this data can be very informative, especially when communicated well to management.

When creating quality business models and making important BI decisions, businesses need information on what is happening internally and externally within their organization and what is happening in the wider market.

Web data can be used to monitor competitors, track potential customers , keep track of channel partners, generate leads, build apps, and much more. Web data can be collected by writing web scrapers to collect it, using a scraping tool , or by paying a third party to do the scraping for you.

Sensor data is produced by objects and is often referred to as the Internet of Things. It covers everything from your smartwatch measuring your heart rate to a building with external sensors that measure the weather.

So far, sensor data has mostly been used to help optimize processes. By measuring what is happening around them, machines can make smart changes to increase productivity and alert people when they are in need of maintenance.

Technically all of the types of data above contribute to Big Data. The term simply represents the increasing amount and the varied types of data that is now being gathered as part of data collection. Things like social media, online books, music, videos and the increased amount of sensors have all added to the astounding increase in the amount of data that has become available for analysis.

With the latest tools on the market, we no longer have to rely on sampling. Instead, we can process datasets in their entirety and gain a far more complete picture of the world around us. Data collection differs from data mining in that it is a process by which data is gathered and measured. All this must be done before high quality research can begin and answers to lingering questions can be found.

Data collection is usually done with software, and there are many different data collection procedures, strategies, and techniques. Most data collection is centered on electronic data, and since this type of data collection encompasses so much information, it usually crosses into the realm of big data. So why is data collection important? It is through data collection that a business or management has the quality information they need to make informed decisions from further analysis, study, and research.

Whether you are advocating for increased funding from public or private sources, or making the case for changes in regulation, illustrating your argument through the use of data will allow you to demonstrate why changes are needed. Data will help you explain both good and bad decisions to your stakeholders. Whether or not your strategies and decisions have the outcome you anticipated, you can be confident that you developed your approach based not upon guesses, but good solid data.

Data increases efficiency. Effective data collection and analysis will allow you to direct scarce resources where they are most needed. If an increase in significant incidents is noted in a particular service area, this data can be dissected further to determine whether the increase is widespread or isolated to a particular site. If the issue is isolated, training, staffing, or other resources can be deployed precisely where they are needed, as opposed to system-wide.

Data will also support organizations to determine which areas should take priority over others. Data allows you to replicate areas of strength across your organization. Data analysis will support you to identify high-performing programs, service areas, and people. Once you identify your high-performers, you can study them in order to develop strategies to assist programs, service areas and people that are low-performing.

Good data allows organizations to establish baselines, benchmarks, and goals to keep moving forward. Because data allows you to measure, you will be able to establish baselines, find benchmarks and set performance goals. A baseline is what a certain area looks like before a particular solution is implemented.

Collecting data will allow your organization to set goals for performance and celebrate your successes when they are achieved. Funding is increasingly outcome and data-driven. This way, you can make the necessary improvements to improve the user experience and convince them to convert.

Collecting data allows you to meet consumer expectations in regards to personalized communications and suggestions. You can segment your marketing strategies according to consumers who have similar interests, allow for the autocompletion of payment methods and other forms on your website, and even get a better understanding of the devices that customers prefer to use when accessing your website.

This goes a long way towards improving your ROI, shortening your sales cycle, and making the kind of expansion you've always dreamed of a reality. As you can see, there are countless benefits of collecting consumer data -- but those advantages also come with specific responsibilities.

For example, guidelines include not keeping data for longer than needed, ensuring that the data is kept secure, and, above all, responding to Subject Access Requests SARs.

Under SAR regulations, you are required to provide a copy of the personal data that your organization has collected about individuals whether they're consumers, employers, or simply individuals who have visited your website. Most companies need help with automation, tracking, task management, and other issues regarding individual rights and privacy management.

Request your free demo from us today, and get ready to future-proof the way your company approaches privacy management! All Posts. Keep on reading this post to find out. Data Provides a Deeper Understanding of Your Market Perhaps the biggest reason why so many companies collect consumer data is that it helps them to get a much better understanding of the way their consumers behave online, define their overall demographics, and identify the ways in which they can improve the overall customer experience.