By now every business owner in the world knows that business analytics can help grow their company and improve sales. So why aren’t more companies making the most out of the tools they have available? Dealing with what makes some companies fail could be the key you need to succeed when it comes to collecting, analyzing and using business intelligence.
Assuming There’s a One-Stop Tool
Services and tools like Google Analytics big themselves up by claiming to track everything you need at once. This may work to persuade companies to give them a try but the fact is there’s no such thing as a single service or tool that tracks everything you need to know right from the start.
Business analytics may be easier to access than ever before, but it’s not exactly a one-click experience. Systems and tools like Google analytics are designed to work in concert with retail sales analysis software and other programs to deliver data that can then be turned into intelligence and insight.
The Problem of Too Much Data
Once you get a handle on using multiple avenues to create business intelligence, you’ll need to wrap your head around the huge influx of data they provide. Being overwhelmed by the quantity of data is a natural reaction, but giving into it can prevent you from making the most out of what it has to offer.
The solution to this obstacle is fairly simple — take things one area at a time. Don’t look at the data you receive as a whole. Instead, focus on specific areas such as looking at the marketing results of a specific campaign, sales data from a limited timeframe or website statistics from a similar time.
Learning to break down your data and funnel it through the right tools and software is the first step in creating a business intelligence platform you can actually use. As you become more comfortable and familiar with the type of data you can get and how it can be applied to your business, this will become easier, making the intelligence you gather more relevant and easier to translate into actionable steps.
