Get Behind the Idea of Big Data

Is your small business making the most of big data?

Big data is no longer limited to large companies; many small businesses are turning to big data for the helpful insights and competitive advantage it offers them.

So just why does your business need big data? And what are some of the ways in which small businesses like yours are using big data to improve their performance and their profits?

Why Your Business Needs Big Data

Gathering and analyzing large data sets provides you with valuable insights into your business operations and your customers' behavior, along with their wants and likes.

As the article "How to Unlock Big Data's Big Potential" points out, integrating big data into existing systems takes some planning and effort, but the results are certainly worth it.

Analyzing and responding to big data means more streamlined operations and happier customers who are more likely to become repeat clients.

To get a feel for what big data can do for a small business, take a look at these examples of small businesses that are using big data to their advantage.

Big Data Pinpoint Peak Times and Trends 

One of the beauties of big data is its ability to show long-term trends, peak times and quiet times in any business.

Access to that knowledge makes it easier to plan ahead. Your business can prepare for upcoming busy times, whether that is by adjusting staffing levels or re-arranging workloads to accommodate it. You can anticipate quieter periods and avoid over-ordering stock, for example.

Twiddy & Company, who manage vacation rentals on the Carolina coast make use of big data to predict the prices homes are likely to let for based on time of year, the type of home, and other seasonal trends. Homeowners are able to tweak their prices according to the data on market demand, and rentals have risen as a result.

Big Data Shows What Customers Want 

A vital use of big data for small businesses is analyzing what customers want and like, whether that is by sales figures, analyzing what is popular on social media, or by harvesting data from a CRM system.

Understanding what customers want and are willing to pay for allows your business to constantly evaluate what you do in order to best meet demand.

Phoenix-based online used car retailer Carvana makes use of big data to better pinpoint which cars are likely to sell and avoid cars that are unlikely to bring them a good return on their investment.

Their big data strategy has saved them money and allowed them to spot good deals on cars that will sell, a saving that gets passed on to their customers.

Big Data Improves Customer Service

Customer service matters no matter what size of business you run.

From customer satisfaction to the length of time customers wait to get queries resolved, big data can be used to show how your business is doing when it comes to customer service. Happier customers means good reviews, repeat business and brand loyalty, which are good news for your business.

California-based FruitGuys, who sell fresh fruit to workplaces, uses big data to improve their customer service.

Gathering data helped them to see how many emails were coming in and what the response was like. Using big data in this way cut their customers response time down from over 24 hours in some cases to around 2 hours, even for complicated queries.

Big data is a mine of information that your small business can't afford to be without.

By starting to use big data you can better serve your customers and run your business more efficiently, which means happier customers and a happier business owner.