Day 3: Data Collection and Preparation

Welcome to Day 3 of our series on Data Analytics in Business. Today, we’ll discuss the crucial first steps in any data analytics process: data collection and preparation.

Data collection is the process of gathering information from various sources. In a business context, this could include internal sources like sales records, customer databases, or external sources like social media, public records, or purchased datasets. The key is to identify which data will help answer your business questions.

Once the data is collected, it needs to be prepared for analysis. This involves cleaning (removing errors or inconsistencies), transforming (converting data into a suitable format), and integrating (combining data from different sources). This step is often time-consuming but is critical to ensure the accuracy of your analysis.

Remember, garbage in, garbage out. The quality of your insights is only as good as the quality of your data. So, invest time in collecting relevant data and preparing it meticulously.

Tomorrow, we’ll delve into how businesses can use descriptive analytics to understand past trends. Stay tuned!