Data Science’s Commercial Opportunities (£)

Data Science has the real potential of creating more business for your organisation if it is used well and your requirements are really understood by the Board and your IT teams. 

Over the last decade and a half many companies have substantially invested in business infrastructure and this is creating the ability to collect and analyse data throughout the enterprise. 

All aspects of the business can now collect and analyse data relevant to their operations and the strategic and tactical processes they are engaging in where it is accounting, manufacturing, supply-chain management, marketing, HR performance, customer behavior or workflow. 

Currently information is also widely available on external events such as market trends, industry news, and competitors’ movements. This data is the realm of data science and it needs to be collected and analysed with IT and strategic techniques that make sense for your business future.

Data Analysis Opportunities

Because of the vast amounts of data now available, businesses should have plans and strategies to exploit the data for competitive advantage. Currently and previously companies would often employ consultants and teams to engage and explore datasets manually, but the volume and variety of data have far outstripped the capacity of individual analysis. Computers being used for data analysis are far more capable than individual’s or teams of consultants. 

This new data science enables broader and deeper analyses than was ever previously possible. The convergence of these phenomena has given rise to the increasingly widespread business application of data information and data-mining techniques.

At present the area that employs this type of analysis the most is marketing and the focus is advertising on-line, targeting customers and cross selling but the potential is far more and has a lot of other commercial applications that can be used to analyses your market space and the areas that you could exploit.

Data mining is also useful for researching customer relationship management and behavior. The finance industry uses data mining for fraud analysis and customer management. Major retailers use data mining for marketing and supply management et al. 

Data analysis can be used to review statistics, technology and business opportunities also analysis of sales, customer service, marketing and communication. 

All Boards should review and be aware of the opportunities that data science offers and also how the competition is using this type of analysis. Training and skills should be reviewed as all employees should understand and be able to use this type of analysis to improve their work and help the business grow. 

Recently Google’s Deep Mind beat a human in the board game ‘GO’. This has been suggested as way of helping organisations and individuals to help predict the future. There are debates as the broader ability of computer and software systems to achieve future predictions but the employ such technology to help organisation make decisions is sensible.