By Saran Wilson
It’s almost 2020, and for many, analytics is the sexy new field that makes everything possible; to others it is some foreign and confusing technology. For others still, its proponents are the strict workplace police always ready to prioritize tangible ‘value’ over customer feedback. In reality, all these descriptions are far from the truth.
It’s almost 2020, and for many, analytics is the sexy new field that makes everything possible; to others it is some foreign and confusing technology. For others still, its proponents are the strict workplace police always ready to prioritize tangible ‘value’ over customer feedback. In reality, all these descriptions are far from the truth.
Analytics does not stand alone nor is it the cure for all things. Rather, it supports existing areas of a business and acts as a tool through which companies can realize what is possible.
So let us explore the power of analytics:
1. Decide to go or not to go
Quite often, business decisions to go ahead with a new product or service are based on intuition. Maybe it seems like a good idea, there is fear of being outdone by the competition or it is what the business believes their customers want. In many of these cases, the business later realizes that they may have overestimated the size of the market, the product was misaligned with customer needs or they failed to consider the social context of customers, resulting in low buy-in.
In today’s space, there is no need to guess. Analytics provides pivotal insights prior to decision making, which helps businesses understand the size of the market they will be able to reach, the competition’s reach, opportunities for market growth over time, and what an initial investment looks like.
Insights into customers’ behavior also plays a role in this. Let us say, though the size of the car buyer market is five hundred thousand persons, on average, people change cars every ten years. In that case, in a year, only a tenth of the car buyer market or fifty thousand people will have an interest in a new vehicle. This significantly reduces the intended profitability of car sales.
Coupling a market analysis with a customer insight study, input, feedback from customers and employees themselves, makes a powerful tool for weighing the pros and cons of any decision; therefore, telling whether to go or not to go.
2. Keeping a scoreboard
What gets measured gets done. – W. Edwards Deming
It was May 31, 2018 and fans in the Oracle Arena watched in anticipation, the tied basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. There were four seconds left on the clock, JR Smith misread the game and chose to dribble, leading to his team’s loss in overtime and, ultimately, the series.
In a game of basketball, there are some areas that teams constantly monitor as they make plays, termed key performance indicators. The team’s goal will determine what it measures, which makes it crucial to measure the right things to successfully achieve the goal.
So let us explore the power of analytics:
1. Decide to go or not to go
Quite often, business decisions to go ahead with a new product or service are based on intuition. Maybe it seems like a good idea, there is fear of being outdone by the competition or it is what the business believes their customers want. In many of these cases, the business later realizes that they may have overestimated the size of the market, the product was misaligned with customer needs or they failed to consider the social context of customers, resulting in low buy-in.
In today’s space, there is no need to guess. Analytics provides pivotal insights prior to decision making, which helps businesses understand the size of the market they will be able to reach, the competition’s reach, opportunities for market growth over time, and what an initial investment looks like.
Insights into customers’ behavior also plays a role in this. Let us say, though the size of the car buyer market is five hundred thousand persons, on average, people change cars every ten years. In that case, in a year, only a tenth of the car buyer market or fifty thousand people will have an interest in a new vehicle. This significantly reduces the intended profitability of car sales.
Coupling a market analysis with a customer insight study, input, feedback from customers and employees themselves, makes a powerful tool for weighing the pros and cons of any decision; therefore, telling whether to go or not to go.
2. Keeping a scoreboard
What gets measured gets done. – W. Edwards Deming
It was May 31, 2018 and fans in the Oracle Arena watched in anticipation, the tied basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. There were four seconds left on the clock, JR Smith misread the game and chose to dribble, leading to his team’s loss in overtime and, ultimately, the series.
In a game of basketball, there are some areas that teams constantly monitor as they make plays, termed key performance indicators. The team’s goal will determine what it measures, which makes it crucial to measure the right things to successfully achieve the goal.
Whereas numerous measures, including field goal percentage and turnovers, are important in a basketball match, in a moment such as the last four seconds of a tied game, remaining game time and the score are most important. This would guide the player to attempt scoring, as opposed to dribbling, which is often done when the team is leading.
Analytics, through the use of items such as dashboards, act as this scoreboard for organizations. It provides visibility around whether targets – financial or customer satisfaction based – are being met, and if not, provides the opportunity to recalibrate so that these can be achieved within specified timelines.
Analytics, through the use of items such as dashboards, act as this scoreboard for organizations. It provides visibility around whether targets – financial or customer satisfaction based – are being met, and if not, provides the opportunity to recalibrate so that these can be achieved within specified timelines.
As in basketball, for this to be successful, the business must be measuring the right metrics and these must be visible to everyone. Yet, this is not enough; all team members should be aware of what actions to take based on the metrics.
How do you measure success? Do you know the right ‘plays’?
Photo 1 by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash
About Saran
Saran is a senior data analyst at the National Commercial Bank, Jamaica’s largest financial group. She works primarily with data to generate insights for decision making and creates data visualizations to promote tracking of key metrics. She is a graduate of the BSc Computer Science program at the University of the West Indies and is currently pursuing her MSc in Management Information Systems from the same institution. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and getting lost in the pages of a good book.
To connect with Saran, follow her on LinkedIn.
How do you measure success? Do you know the right ‘plays’?
Photo 1 by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash
About Saran
Saran is a senior data analyst at the National Commercial Bank, Jamaica’s largest financial group. She works primarily with data to generate insights for decision making and creates data visualizations to promote tracking of key metrics. She is a graduate of the BSc Computer Science program at the University of the West Indies and is currently pursuing her MSc in Management Information Systems from the same institution. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and getting lost in the pages of a good book.
To connect with Saran, follow her on LinkedIn.
Great article Saran. I am in total agreement that we must ensure that we are measuring right metrics. Your last paragraph is spot as we must recalibrate quickly if the desired results are not being met.
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