3 Ways Big Data Can Influence Decision-Making for Organizations

1. Real-time Data to Improve Customer Engagement and Retention

Customer service is one of the most vital areas on which organizations must deliver metrics today. Companies have been using real-time data to offer one-on-one personalized services and solutions to its customers. Kroger uses Big Data to provide customized loyalty programs to its customers. The company utilizes the data collected from about 770 million consumers to generate actionable insights that help the brand in enhancing its customer loyalty and profitability. Kroger claims that 95 percent of its sales are rung up on loyalty cards and has reported 60 percent redemption rates and over $12 billion in incremental revenue. This has helped the company stay profitable even during the global recession.

2. Enhance Operational Efficiency

Today, companies are leveraging data to automate processes, optimize selling strategies, and enhance the overall efficiency of their businesses. For example, Tesla’s vehicles are embedded with sensors that collect data and send it to the central servers for analysis. This helps the company improve the performance of their cars. The company also informs individual vehicle owners about priority repair or servicing. Another useful application of Big Data is Tesla’s autopilot software. Today, Tesla logs more miles per day than the total miles logged by the Google driverless car program since 2009. It has also generated roadmaps for driverless cars by compiling all this data into the cloud. These roadmaps are considered to be 100 times more accurate than standard navigation systems. The enhanced autopilot software helps match a car’s speed to traffic, guide lane changes, and self-parking without the driver’s intervention.  

3. Increased Capacity Without Extra Investment

Can you imagine an increase in customer base, without extra resource allocation? Sprint, a telecommunications company, uses Big Data analytics to reduce network errors, optimize resources, and improve customer experience by analyzing real-time data. This has helped the brand achieve a 90 percent increase in its delivery rate.

Why Should Professionals Prepare For a Career in Big Data?

Nearly every industry today is improved with the implementation of Big Data, and similarly, every career field is significantly enhanced when the ability to collect and analyze Big Data is added to the mix. Getting trained in Big Data Analytics will help you broaden your professional horizon. Here’s how:

• There has been a rise in job opportunities in the field of Big Data management and analytics in the past five years. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute predicts a shortage of almost 1.5 million analysts in the U.S. by the end of 2018.
• An assortment of job profiles and titles such as Big Data Engineer, Analytics Associate, and Metrics and Analytics Specialist are some of the most sought-after jobs in business today.
• The salary of Big Data professionals is higher than their other IT counterparts. According to Randstad, a global recruitment firm, the wages of Big Data professionals are 50 percent more than that of any other IT professional in India. Similarly, ITjobswatch reports a 14 percent rise in median salary for Big Data consultants in the U.K. in 2016.

Preparing yourself with Big Data skills will help you stay relevant and contribute towards the growth of your organization, no matter what industry that may be in today.

Conclusion

As more organizations move towards a data-based decision-making approach, it is essential that enterprises foster learning and invest in their employees to gain value-added certifications in this domain. Companies must take initiatives in sponsoring employees for relevant training programs on analytical tools and techniques that will arm their teams with the knowledge and skills required to leverage data for informed decision-making.

Simplilearn's Professional Certificate Program in Data Engineering would be a suitable course that would