Using Advances in Data to Create Competitive Advantage
The volume of available data is growing rapidly, as is the range of tools to analyse it. How can your business turn these advances into competitive advantage?
Today’s data is broader in nature and larger in volume than anything businesses have ever seen. The concept of big data is something that we all know a little about, and the fact that it can be used to channel our marketing efforts and guide business decisions is generally acknowledged.
Yet when it comes to the finer details of how we go about doing this to derive the best possible insights, many business leaders are quick to look at their phones and mumble vague buzzwords about Google analytics and keywords.
This is neither surprising nor unreasonable. The leading data insight developers are working in a fast-moving environment that is developing at an unprecedented rate. And there is more opportunity than ever for business leaders across all industries to work right alongside them in the new era of big data analytics, or to work with a data analytics consulting service to help them get ahead.
Developing the tools
Mastering the tools to derive the maximum benefits from big data is therefore something that every business needs to place near the top of its strategic agenda if it wants to leverage that all important competitive edge. It is a subject that many top organisations are devoting increasing time, money and resources into exploring, and there is no shortage of working groups and conferences that bring together leaders in a variety of fields.
A case in point in Whitehall Media’s Big Data Analytics Conference, which will be held on 22 June at the Victoria Park Plaza. Sponsored by industry specialists such as Objective IT, it will feature speakers from a broad range of industries, including media, management consulting, banking and many others.
Taking inspiration from the finance sector
We need only look at the financial services sector to be given a tantalising glimpse of just how much smart data can do to transform business. From enhancing customer service levels to revolutionising back office compliance functions, data driven technology is at the heart of every innovation.
To push these advances still further, business leaders in the finance sector need to see beyond the traditional role of their regulatory compliance functions as necessary evils and tap into their innovative technologies to provide deeper and broader strategic inspiration and insights.
The techniques they use and the data they generate can be combined to provide linkages, patterns and customer insights that are not at all obvious at first glance. And this, in a nutshell, exemplifies why the whole field is so exciting and potentially so powerful.
The new oil
Sopnendu Mohanty, the Chief FinTech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, recently described Big Data as the “new oil,” which can have the ability to power national and international economies.
However, with great power comes great responsibility, and the potential for data to be misused raises a number of ethical and risk management based topics in its own right.
Clearly, there is even more to be discussed than the mechanics of big data and its immediate applications. Why not get along to Victoria Park Plaza on 22 June and join in the discussion? If you cannot make the summer event, there is another BDA conference on 9 November 2017, details here.
