5 Places Where Data Should Drive Your Decisions
The process of using data to guide your business decisions is known as “Data-driven decision- making” (DDDM). Using data-driven decision-making is becoming more common now than in the past. This is because people all over the world are creating more data than they have before. In fact, the amount of data that people have been creating via the internet has skyrocketed over the past decade. Some estimates are predicting that by 2025, newly created data will rise to 175 trillion gigabytes per day worldwide.
Many businesses have their own in-house databases, but they are uninformed about the ways that they can put that data to use. If you are unsure about ways to use data to guide you in the decision-making process, you can seek the help of “data mining” companies such as Webhose. Data mining is the process of taking raw data and constructing it to information you can use.
Are There any Particular Areas Where I Should use Data to Make Decisions?
The answer to that question is yes, there are areas where data is an important part of the decision-making process. We have listed some of examples of them below.
• Real estate markets
• Scientific choices
• Law
• Cyber security
• Industries such as mining
• Other types of industry.
What are the Five Places That I Should use Data to Guide my Decision-making?
We will give you a list of the five places below, and then discuss them in greater detail.
• Budgeting
• Marketing
• Product development
• Pricing
• Client Management
Budgeting
Budgeting is the most important place where data should drive your decisions. The use of data to decide when, where, and how you spend your money can make or break your business. All businesses must have capital available to stay afloat. If you have an efficient way to create a budget, your business will be better off in the long run. If your business is still new, efficient budgeting is critical.
There are several factors you should consider when making an efficient budget. These factors include such things as: startup costs, operational costs, amount of revenue you expect to have, and the profit margin you expect to have.
When considering startup costs, things like leasing, insurance, employees, taxes, and inventory are all important.
If you do not own the facility you will be using, you will be required to sign a lease agreement with the owner. Lease agreements cover things such as security deposits and monthly rent payments. If you already own the facility, there will be no monthly rent payments. You must pay for any property taxes and insurance on the facility.
You will also need capital to hire and pay employees a wage or salary. If your business will use pre-employment drug testing and background checks, then you will need to pay for those. Workers compensation insurance is mandatory by state law in 49 states. The lone exception is the state of Texas. In Texas, workers compensation insurance is voluntary. The federal government does not require workers compensation insurance.
The previous federal mandate for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act has been repealed, so there is no federal requirement for health insurance. However, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, all mandate health insurance under state law. Washington, D.C. also mandates health insurance. As you can probably see, the cost of having an employee is more than just their wage or salary.
Marketing
Marketing is a catch-all term that people use to define the costs incurred by your business to display your product or service to prospective customers. For your business to be successful, people must be made aware of it along with what you offer.
Marketing costs consist of things such as advertising via the internet, as well as printed material. Some businesses may sponsor a charity or charity event. In those cases, the charity will show the name of your business along with its logo. The usage and monitoring of social media is another example. Lastly, these costs include the employees that work on marketing.
Product Development
Unless your business acts as a distributor for a manufacturer, you will need to develop your own product. The costs of product development include such things as research, design, production, and distribution. If your business does not have sufficient capital to cover these costs, you might want to consider outside sources of financing such as a venture capital company.
Pricing
There are a few factors that are involved in setting a price for your product. The price that you expect to receive from your product is the largest part of revenue. You must consider the costs that we have listed above as well. Costs such as marketing and product development should be a part of setting a price for your product. Current market conditions such as competitor pricing is also an important part of setting the price for your product. If the price of your product is much higher than a similar product at your competitor, customers may choose to buy from them instead of you.
Client Management
Once you obtain a new client, you must take steps to keep them. Clients appear and leave for a variety of reasons. To get a grasp on some of those reasons, we recommend that you consult with your customer service representatives, salespeople, and account managers. Each one of these can offer a fresh perspective on why your clients may be leaving. The problem may be something like slow turnaround time for product orders. If you find that the problem is in fact slow turnaround time, you can take steps to make the process more efficient.
There are other things you can do to help retain clients. You could offer special pricing for larger orders, or some type of customer loyalty discount, or have a special sale price on a particular product.
