The impact of data analytics on the SME sector

The impact of data analytics on the SME sector 

Thought Leadership

With the help of data analytics, small businesses can reduce operational costs, improve their business model, increase revenue, and stand out from the competition.

Author: Jadd Elliot Dib, Founder and CEO of Pangaea X

Businesses, both big and small, operate and generate large volumes of information. Data that is analyzed wisely can be the key to business success.  Many businesses spend millions of dollars on marketing, advertising, business-to-business relationships, and other costs that are often not relevant. However, analytics allows companies to monitor the most cost-effective resources that are essential to success.  

By leveraging data analytics, businesses can increase efficiency and productivity. Data analytics can also pave the path to a competitive advantage that increases revenue. While it is true that data analysis calls for additional resources, the results it delivers for businesses are worth the investment.

How data can make a difference to small businesses? 

With the help of the right technology, data analytics can do its magic. Small businesses can reduce operational costs, improve their business model, increase revenue, and stand out from the competition. Moreover, you can replace many of the manual data analysis processes with automated business solutions. 

Substantial improvement in the management of business risks-  this is of utmost importance in SMEs, since a large company in most cases has the financial capacity to quickly recover from its mistakes, but for smaller companies the story is very different. One of the best ways to handle your business uncertainties is by implementing specific techniques based on Data Analytics. 

Internalization of complex functions such as market research and technology innovation drains resources for small businesses. This is where SaaS-based analytics products come into the picture and democratize access for smaller businesses.

A successful business is all about gaining steady profits. If an SME is caught off guard while a large partner company is about to come under colossal distress, the result would be catastrophic. However, with the advent of advanced digital technologies like predictive analytics, such dangers can be significantly mitigated or avoided completely. 

Even small businesses can spend a fortune on advertising, but all of it may be in vain. This can happen due to limited knowledge about your target market and methods for using digital marketing tools.  Digital marketing can be a tricky thing, you have the potential to attract a lot of new customers, yet you need to know how much you are spending on advertising and what your return on investment is in the end.

With the help of data analytics and management, you can track how much money you give away to onboard new consumers and how much profit you receive from them. It is important to bear in mind that the revenue clients deliver to your small business should cover all the advertising expenses. 

Security and privacy is one area that benefits from the use of data, Additionally, hackers have been increasingly infiltrating as consumers share their data online to make purchases. Such an attack threatens both financial and reputation damage to SMEs. Big data can be leveraged to increase the protection and secure sharing of sensitive information. 

How data is used varies by company size, as well. Larger companies with 5,000 or more employees use analytics to improve business efficiency and reduce expenses. Small businesses are focusing on efficiency and customer support. Regardless of company size, improving efficiency, supporting customers, and predicting changes and outcomes are the three fastest-growing use cases for data and analytics.

Data-driven decision making has been a business goal for many years but there is nothing like a global financial crisis to spur decisive, agile, and insightful insights to keep your business afloat. History has shown that in times of crisis, whether financial, geo-political, or weather-related it is best to advance the use of and reliance upon data and analytics.

Pangaea X founder Jad Dib

Jadd Elliot Dib, Founder and CEO, Pangaea X

 

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