The digital landscape is forever expanding and estimated to grow by 40% a year through the next decade. By 2020, data transmitted in the digital universe will reach up to 44 trillion gigabytes. Emerging markets particularly will become more digitised, contributing to this rise and increasing the number of profitable opportunities for businesses. According to research, businesses using big data analytics can increase their operating margins by 60%.
With this boom in digitisation, use of social media platforms will increase and data growth will be exponential. If you want your organisation to survive and thrive in this digital revolution, it’s imperative to use big data to transform how you lead the market. By using social analytics you will be able to explore the social landscape and highlight customer discussion about your company. You’ll also be able to gain insight into where it takes place, when it takes place and even the tone of the discussions.
With the help of specialist social performance software you’ll be able to direct your strategy by posting relevant content on different social media channels at optimal times. This can result in your content reaching your intended audience, providing higher resonation.
Companies are also able to monitor what their competitors are doing in the market, which can provide insights into how they engage with their customers. If you are willing to adapt to changes in the digital landscape, through learning how to filter and exploit data, it can potentially lead to the optimisation of your services. This optimisation and better understanding of your market will allow you to keep up and even advance beyond competitors.
One potential method for companies to utilise big data is by providing tailored experiences for online customers. Through monitoring and analysing past online behaviours, companies are able to personalise an online shopping experience. This ultimately fosters a feeling of appreciation towards the customer and in their eyes customer service is improved.
This can be achieved through gathering data on anything from purchase history to previous web browsing and past interactions with your company through social media. The quality of customer service will always be improved if you are able to manage your customers’ expectations and respond via appropriate channels. Big data provides you with these opportunities and therefore owning and being able to use software analytics proactively is very important.
In addition to customer service, big data analytics can help inform pricing. Setting the correct price is imperative as research unveils that on average a 1% price increase can mean an 8.7% increase in operating profit.
Finding the optimal price for your products and services is perhaps the core aim of any pricing strategy. Key pricing decisions can be driven through data discovery tools, which can identify pricing variables that are often overlooked. These variables and trends may include shifts in consumer behaviour, changes in economic conditions and differences in consumer taste.
Moreover big data can be used by companies to gain a better understanding of the cost of goods and services and this factor should be fully incorporated in the pricing decision. A potential method for companies to utilise big data in their pricing strategy would be through Price Optimisation Software (PROS). PROS helps companies achieve price optimisation through a powerful configuration network that uses diverse datasets.
To really succeed in this digital age, companies must embrace social media and gather data from these platforms. Social media has and continues to impact all business departments. For example, more HR teams are hiring through the professional social network of LinkedIn, product design teams have a discerning knowledge of what customers want and big data analytics can provide sales teams with real time information on clients who are seeking specific products at any given time.
The point of big data isn’t necessarily about marketing or PR. It’s about understanding how to quickly analyse the abundance of data available to you to make smart predictions that ultimately your company can anticipate and accommodate.
By Katie King, Managing Director of Zoodikers Consulting Ltd.
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