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Competing on Analytics
By Andrew Ekwang
If you have noticed the biggest discussions in the finance and business operations functions of leading businesses is on the areas of Customer Relations management, lean operations expenses to drive value and ways boost customer loyalty, these discussions only points to one direction Business Analytics and high performing forms have already taken this direction and are reaping the benefits. Our discussion today is on how best Start-ups and SMEs can reap from this turn of events.
Differentiating your company based on products or cost is near impossible these days, especially in crowded industries. Brands have all along mastered the art of cultivating in many ways buy staying visible, relevant and building a lasting relationship with its clients. For young start-ups and SMEs these strategies sometimes dig so deep into the pocket and make competing with the big boys very hard, but not all hopes is lost since customers are still willing to buy from creative and dependable smaller firms due to their customer centric approach to providing solutions and ability to listen and module the right product for their clients. Thus to pull ahead of the pack SMEs should now more than ever use data-collection technology and analysis to get value from all of your business processes. Business solutions providers like SAP, SAS, IBM and Microsoft are leading the way in providing these tools. For firms not in position to afford these technologies, modeling spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access to help gather data at point of sale and format to relevant dashboards that can be relevant and accessible for timely decision making is the right way to go.
Analytics let you discern not only what your customers want, but also who you customers actually are, how much they're willing to pay and what keeps them loyal. It also arms your employees with the evidence and tools they need to make sound decisions fast. Start by championing a culture where employees love and respect data, they will then be willing to collect it and turn it into relevant information. Acknowledge and endorse the changes in culture, process, and skills that analytics competition requires. Be sure that you understand the theory behind various quantitative methods so you can recognize their limitations. If necessary, bring in experts who can advise on how to best apply analytics to your business.
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