Dealing with volumes of company and customer information can be very intimidating. But analyzing company data is also important, as it will help your business forecast performance, optimize your operations, and identify important trends. Analyzing customer data is crucial for understanding customer behavior and preferences. This way, you can make informed decisions about tweaking your products and services to improve customer satisfaction and drive sales. If you’re new to business data analysis, here are some tips to get you started.
Ensure that everyone understands the data goals
Data analysis or gathering does not happen out of the blue. Even with the best analytic tools, you must set clear and specific goals to get the best out of your analysis. Afterward, ensure that everyone in your company understands them, especially those expected to work with the results of your analysis. So, how do you set those goals? Start by asking specific questions you want your analytics to answer. For example, what customers buy what products and why? Which products or services are more profitable, and why?
Digitize all your documents
Physical data printed on paper can still be analyzed, significantly slowing the entire process. This is where digitization comes in. But what is one benefit to digitizing documents? Converting your manual documents and paper records into digital formats will eliminate time-wasting and streamline accessibility. Beyond that, you can easily apply the right data analysis tools or software to get faster and more accurate results. Admittedly, physical documents will require manual analysis with greater human involvement. Unfortunately, that also means a higher risk of making mistakes during the analysis, compromising the credibility of the results.
Intensely double-check all data
You’ve probably already piled up a substantial amount of data if your business has operated for a while. Before you dive into analyzing them, take the time to check and double-check them to verify the information you have. People are fallible, which means they’re prone to making errors at some point in collecting or piling up the data. Unfortunately, the tiniest error can significantly change the results of your data analysis. Of course, you can still exercise some discretion about the need to correct some mistakes when double-checking. But do this only if the correction process takes too much of your time and won’t affect the final product.
Leverage your existing team
Many businesses find data analysis intimidating because they think it requires only expert data scientists, engineers, and analytics. Sure, that option is available if you can afford it, but there’s no need to complicate the process from the onset. Since this is you're just getting started, leverage your existing team. Find out if any team member has analytical skills and desires to learn rudimentary techniques. For example, anyone with basic knowledge of Excel data entry and storage can help. Those with advanced Excel skills can create interactive dashboards breaking down things like customer demographics and sales performance, so keep this in mind.
