The potential of solutions associated with gathering, deploying and analysing data on a large scale is steadily becoming clear to more and more companies across a broad range of industry sectors and right around the world. But while the use of big data is particularly big news for large companies, there are also lots of useful ways in which it can be deployed by smaller scale operators as well. Here’s a look at just a few.
Support for strategic decision-making
Having good judgement of where market opportunities are or where they might emerge has always been a key asset for small business leaders and the companies they run. With the help of big data though, that judgement can be backed up by much more in-depth analysis than ever before thanks to the ease of access to very precise, actionable information. The result of which is that small companies can sharpen up their strategic thinking and deploy resources on the basis of them with greater confidence in the forecasted outcomes.
Identifying new opportunities
One of the great benefits of big data in general is that it can highlight issues, whether that means problems to be solved or opportunities to pursue from an enterprise perspective. The key to this is looking in the right places and asking the right questions but small companies are increasingly becoming able to understand more about what their customers want from them and how their services might be adjusted to cater to target audiences more reliably and profitably.
Efficiency gains
Most small or medium-sized businesses are not nearly as efficient as they might be but with the right analytic efforts, big data can be used to illustrate very clearly where efficiency gains can be gleaned. Even without digging particularly deep into operational matters, it’s often very easy for small companies to use big data to spot where their everyday costs could be cut and which aspects of their businesses could be run more efficiently.
Support for long-term progress
Small and larger scale companies alike can now make easy use of big data storage and the associated solutions by enlisting the help of third-party services providers. This usually means that use of big data can be scaled up at any time and without any great difficulty. So businesses that find big data particularly useful from a strategic or operational point of view can expand the scale at which they use these services and do so in ways that support their sustainable long-term development.
ROI
Crucially for small businesses, big data solutions tend to be quick to prove their worth from a return on investment (ROI) perspective and, for some, the insights derived can swiftly prove absolutely invaluable.
