How Data Can Help Organizations Accelerate Their Business Planning Process And Achieve Goals

In 2017, an Economist article claimed that the world’s most valuable resource was no longer oil, but data.

Today, it’s not disputed that data is the treasure trove that can open new possibilities for innovation and business improvement. A data-driven organization is 19 times more likely to achieve profitability than a non-data-driven organization.

However, it’s also true that organizations are not utilizing data optimally. Forrester reports that 73% of the data within an organization goes unutilized. This may be due to a lack of awareness.

In this blog, we will share few ways in which organizations can use data to achieve their goals.

How Data Can Help Organizations To Achieve Goals

1. Goal setting

Goal setting is the first step towards making any decision or building any strategic plans. We know that organizational goals cannot be vague; they cannot be set using guesswork or gut instinct. The current mantra is that goals need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound). That suggests that data must define the goals to be set. That’s where data analytics can come into play.

Organizations can collect historical data and past activities to set goals. For example, let’s assume that the organization’s goal is to improve its sales numbers by focusing on some specific verticals in the next quarter. In that case, it can use the previous quarter’s historical data to find out insights such as which products sold the most or which region, or which target group purchased the most, etc. These insights will help the sales and marketing teams to understand what assets, channels, and strategies would work best to attain the goal. Such data can help organizations develop plans, create budgets, and set up forecasts accurately. Tools like IBM’s Planning Analytics help organizations plan for anything and be ready for everything.

2. Market research to improve customer experience

Data is the foundation of market understanding. It allows organizations to understand what customers want and when, and then use those insights to improve their offerings or create new opportunities. Without data, organizations won’t be able to improve customer experience.

For example, an organization may not focus on improving its checkout process if they are unaware of abandoned cart rate trends. A designer will not enhance an app’s UI if they miss the data that shows people exiting the app after staying on it for few seconds. Sometimes these nuggets are hidden and can be missed or overlooked easily. Tools like IBM Cognos Analytics uncover these hidden patterns and help organizations predict future demands or seasonal trends.

3.Fosters innovations

In today’s hyper-competitive environment, innovation is crucial to progress. Companies have to build a culture and a mindset of innovation to grow continuously. Innovation happens at various levels within an organization and data drives this innovation.

Innovation is possible on an operational level, i.e. find innovative ways to manage day-to-day operations or at a level where a completely new product or solution can be developed. In both cases, organizations need data to define the need for innovation. Data can kickstart innovation by offering valuable insights on underlying issues or challenges that often go unnoticed. Recently, IBM’s Watson culled through a lot of literature and digital records to find out six new cancer suppressors in just two months. Without data or data analytic tools, organizations face the risk of being caught unprepared and falling behind in the race.

4. Re-engineering or improving existing processes

We live in a dynamic world where technologies and skills change at a rapid pace. If an organization wants to achieve profitability and improve productivity, it has to re-engineer its processes to align with the changing times. Data shows where these efforts must be put.

A complete overhaul of legacy systems and processes is time-consuming and expensive. It could impact the organization’s bottom line if not done right. Sometimes existing processes don’t need dramatic overhauls. They just require minor fixes. Data helps organizations to understand their existing processes and find issues or gaps in the process and to understand the impact of those gaps. These insights will help organizations find ways to make their processes more efficient, productive, and less expensive.

5. Boosts revenue

In today’s unpredictable times, boosting revenues and cutting unnecessary expenses has become a priority. Data can play a significant role in both – driving profitability and curbing expenses.

Whether it’s increasing sales or converting leads into customers, or saving the bottom line from losses, data can boost organizations’ revenue. A BARC study revealed that organizations that use data saw an 8% increase in profitability and a 10% decrease in overall costs. Here’s what the study had to report about its overall impact:

• 69% of respondents benefitted from better strategic decisions
• 54% found improvement in controlling operational processes
• 52% were able to understand their customers better
• 47% reported a decrease in cost reduction

Conclusion

Although organizations are aware of the significance of using data, several roadblocks exist on the road to becoming fully data-driven. These range from the difficulty of establishing a data-driven culture to aligning business processes to even short-term financial constraints. Some organizations also cite examples of failed attempts at digital transformation as the reason for hesitating to become data-driven. That’s where a partner like Veracitiz can help.

We offer comprehensive analytics and business intelligence solutions to organizations to make the right business decisions at the right time with a data foundation. We are an authorized IBM reseller and service partner for business analytics. IBM offers end-to-end solutions to help organizations unlock the potential of data at every stage of their journey – from modernizing and collecting to organizing, analyzing, and infusing phase. Hence, as an authorized reseller and service partner of IBM, we are equipped to help organizations transform into data-driven organizations and reap the benefits hidden in the data in their command.

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