Are you looking for ways to effectively utilize big data in your business? Big data refers to any data set that is too large to process using standard methods like an excel spreadsheet or text processor.
Big data can be confusing, but it can also provide valuable insights, such as customer preferences and needs that you were previously unaware of. It can also help you identify competitor weaknesses that you can take advantage of to outperform them.
Before big data platforms and tools were developed, businesses only used a small portion of their data and stored the rest. But by analyzing big data, you can grow your business faster.
This article will show you 9 essential big data tips for your business.
1. Clarify your goals
Before collecting and storing any data, you should define the goals you intend to achieve. Discuss your critical business goals with team members so you focus on collecting the right data.
Without presenting your goals, you will either collect the wrong data or too little of the right data. And even after collecting the correct data, you may not know what to do with it. So it ends up costing you extra storage space and not benefiting your business.
2. Get compliant
Once you’ve defined your big data goals, the next step is to know data rules and regulations. Ensure you are up to date with the General Data Protection Regulation Law (GDPR), the strictest privacy and security law in the world.
Find out if your industry also has specific compliance requirements in addition to GDPR to avoid getting fined for doing the wrong thing.
3. Secure your data
Ensure your data is safe both virtually and physically. Make sure the location in which you store your data is accessible and secure. Invest in proper firewall security, spam filtering, malware scanning, and multifactor authentication.
Conduct regular security training for your employees to ensure they don’t expose your company’s valuable data. Also, encrypt your data so that even if your network gets hacked, hackers still won’t be able to access it.
4. Use a web scraper
A web scraper helps you collect large amounts of data from the internet in a short period of time compared to doing it manually. It works by using many different servers and IP addresses to check millions of websites for the information you need, ensuring that you don’t miss out on anything important, which would be very likely if you did research by hand.
5. Backup all your data
The surest way to protect your data from harm is to store extra copies in multiple places. If you lose data in one location, you can always retrieve the copy held in another place.
Methods of backing up data include uploading it to the cloud, saving it on an external drive, or using a USB flash drive.
6. Create a data entry policy
A data entry policy guides your employees on the steps to follow to avoid errors that may put your data at risk. By training employees who access your data storage facilities on the right data entry procedure, you’re increasing the chances of secure and organized big data.
7. Visualize the information
Pictures and figures are much easier to understand than large blocks of text are. As data grows in size, you should convert it into engaging and interactive diagrams that employees can understand.
Analyze your data, find insights and create visuals that summarize the big data you collect and store. Visualization will save you and your employees lots of time and make it easier to communicate your findings.
8. Make your data accessible
Data becomes useless when the right people can’t access it. And this prevents your business from identifying opportunities that may bring in lots of profits.
Make data from different departments of your business accessible to the right employees so they can gain insights from it and present ideas.
9. Set a maintenance schedule
Regularly maintaining your data is the best way to keep it free of errors. Business data degrades by at least 30% each year, leading to misalignment of marketing strategies. What may have been true 1 year ago may not work today. And if your business still approaches your prospects with the same marketing strategy, you’ll be losing money.
So updating your data means keeping your business on the right track to attracting and converting prospects. You’ll be using marketing strategies that work now, not outdated ones that will not bear any fruits.
Conclusion
Big data may be difficult to manage, but when used correctly, it can make your business more successful than ever. Hopefully, this article will help you with your big data struggles and get you on track to developing valuable business insights!
