Most business owners are constantly bombarded with messages about how important data is. With our technology today, data has helped countless entities learn more about their consumers, make decisions and improvements, and change their strategies accordingly. However, even if you’ve been diligent in gathering data, you might realize that your information just looks like a bunch of facts and figures strung out all over the place. What does all this data mean anyway? More importantly, how will all this data help you to do business better? Every day, business owners with piles of data suffer with this same problem. They have amassed tons of data, but have no real clue what it means. Here are four ways to help you make sense of your company's collection of data so it can help you improve how you do business.

Organizing Company Data

You spent a lot of time collecting data about your business, now it is time to make sense of this data. According to one source, organizing data is an important step to making sense of the data you collect, and to make the data researchable. It is also important to use tools like spreadsheets, for example, to neatly categorize facts, figures and numerical information so that it is easy to follow.

Understanding Online Data

According to the Harvard Business Review, a company like Netflix will get more out of the data it collects than a company that simply manufactures and sells a DVD. The reason is because there is a disconnect between the DVD manufacturer and the end buyer. With Netflix, all the data they gather from customers using their website is data that is received in context. Their system tells them who is watching what movies the most, which movies get stopped half way through, and even which movies customers enjoyed the most. Online data can be best understood in the context it is gathered, because the observations made while collecting the data identify things the observer is looking to know. With this information in hand, online companies are able to better meet the needs, demands and expectations of their customers. Consequently, studying data in the context it was gathered is actually quite revealing.

Hire a Professional

When business owners are unable to make sense of the massive volumes of data their company collects, it is sometimes best to hire a professional called an operations research analyst. According to U.S. News, an operations research analyst uses sophisticated advanced data manipulation techniques, from data mining to mathematical modeling, to employ the use of gathered data to solve huge operational problems for small companies and big corporations alike. With the advent of big data driving market research these days, operations research analysts are now more in demand than ever to help companies understand data in order to gain a significant edge in their corner of the market.

Taking the Reins and Doing Your Own Serious Analysis

At some point, a business owner wants to be involved in knowing for themselves what the data really means. They want to get their own hands around the company's data and improve their intuition and overall business sense. If you are new to the data game, there are tons of analysis software programs that can aid you in learning the ropes—some of which are free. As you learn to use the software, you begin to not only understand the data you are analyzing, but you also start to see how to get what you want out of the data you are collecting.

Data is all around us. Businesses dedicate vast amounts of time, effort and money to getting their hands on useful data. Making sense of this data is an art and involves experience in organizing and modeling information to arrive at a proper understanding of what the model is saying. With the right tools and even a little professional help, a company will be able to better address customers and improve revenue by leveraging the information they gather to help them operate more effectively in the marketplace. The information for this article was provided by professionals who offer a networking master’s degree for those who are interested in computer science.