How are organizations embedding data and analytics to transform business outcomes

‘Data is the new Oil, New Gold” a quote shared by our PM Narendra Modi in Houston, US in 2019, while addressing a conference of investors.

As we understand that crude oil has to be filtered, processed, distilled & refined, before it can truly turn in into Gold, such is the case with data as well. Data the ‘New Oil’ requires application technology, powered by advanced infrastructure (computing and storing infrastructure) to generate Gold or value from that data.

We are living in an era where data is getting generated around us every millisecond, even when you are just sitting and watching your favorite show on television…

·????????The electricity consumption is generating data for Discoms (Distribution companies) in the form of Units of consumption which can be analyzed to gain insights into your consumption patterns, which devices you use(Aircons, Refrigerators, TVs, heaters, etc), during what time of the day do you use them and impact on seasonality. This is helping them optimize costs, provide advisory and do better load forecasting.

·????????Your TV show is generating media records on your preference of shows, if you like horror, news, music etc, preferred timings and days when you watch them and smartly updating the TRP ratings of various channels and shows to plan similar shows to be presented to you and you stay hooked

·????????Your mobile phone knows your location, and when you use different apps, it is generating data about the type of apps you use, if you like playing games, you will start getting recommendations on newer games and related products to purchase.

·????????if you are someone who prefers to shop on ecommerce sites, your every click on different product pages, is valuable data which when combined with advanced analytics techniques helps these sites provide better recommendations for your product selection

and we have only scratched the surface on how Enterprises are embedding analytics in its products and services. The evolution in technology, interconnectivity, IOT, application development & Open source, complemented by economies of scale in hardware to support scaling of data eruption running into petabytes and speeds of data/information processing in real-time is bringing a complete shift in our habits, behaviors, routines, livelihood.

We use using these advanced technologies to drive around, to order food, to watch our favorite shows without the interrupting ads, plan our finances, get preferred recommendations on our online shopping, medical consultations and pathology labs test results, connected home & security, online education and so much. All this is happening to us, around us or through us.

This is what is helping enterprises take more informed decisions. Lets look at some of the industry verticals leveraging analytics to drive innovation, increase customer growth and user experience. (I will possibly cover AI/ML application in my next article.

1.????Ecommerce – These organization are embedding analytics in its processes right from the point of you landing on their websites, they will start showing recommendations basis your past browsing history captured from cookies, even though you may not have registered with them. Incase you have registered, they will combine the information of your past purchases, products browsing history, your latest cookies references and other influencing factors like trending products, seasonal impacts etc, and apply analytical and ML techniques to recommend you products you are mostly likely to buy. Thereby improving customers experience and themselves achieving target sales. At next stage, once the customer purchases the product, now the logistics processes will kick-in, where analytics will help optimize the costs by ensuring the products are collected from sellers, clubbed at respective distribution centers and then routed to common destinations. Again, analytics help them saves millions of dollars by optimizing the logistics processes and delivering in committed time.

2.????Banking/Insurance – These institutions are leveraging analytics right form prospecting stage to profile users leveraging data from of their transactions if the Customers hold account with them, or source it through lead generation enterprises. The analytical techniques are applied to the User profiles, leverage data of their salary credits, spending transactions, personal information like age, gender, family details and employment type, to derive the customer propensity scores, customer risk scores and customer lifetime value scores. These scores help the enterprises to map suitable financial products to the respective customers, having a higher likelihood of customers buying them.

These, enterprises are also leveraging analytics to improve the service experience of customers. Interaction history data can help analytics identify the bottlenecks in services, help cluster user interactions, identify channels and work loads on them, further drive customer segments movements to more digital channels of services which improving digital apps experience with every interaction and User Journey. Thereby cutting costs from overloaded contact centers.

3.????Telcos – Well we can’t truly be transforming businesses if it had not been for Telecoms, which made technological leaps in network, mobility, data capacities, aiding the whole interconnectivity and generation of data for other businesses to be riding on faster networks to deliver experiences Over The TOP (OTT). It even lead to complete disruption in various sectors like Uber disrupted the whole taxi and ride sharing experience, Zomata (Food delivery) disrupted the food ordering, taking education to remotest places through online classes. All of them are leverage the Telecoms networks (3G, 4G and 5G in some countries now).?However, Telcos are leveraging analytics beyond the examples shared in Banking/Insurance with advanced customer analytics to capture and retain customers, launch new clubbed products, innovative product bundling and further monetizing data, for other disrupting industries, as well as the standard enterprises like retail, banking, insurance, etc.

4.????Manufacturing – with the advancement of IOT technologies, manufacturing firms are transforming in terms of achieving lower costs by reducing downtimes through predictive maintenance, analyzing patterns to identify factors which cause early or higher wear & tear and reduce the influence them, thereby saving critical machinery/equipment from permanent damages. They are leveraging analytics to minimize stocking of finished goods, while ensure that just the sufficient supply is maintained of raw materials, thereby reducing waste and opex. Analytics in manufacturing is looked at from a different lens and I would possibly cover that as a separate topic.

As I mentioned earlier, we have not even scratched the surface and in fact each industry/enterprise, is embedding analytics with a completely new outlook, from innovation and advancement standpoint in their ‘Transformation Journey’, wherein a complete paradigm shift is happening with the AI/ML advancement and adoption.

Please do share your thoughts, feedback, comments?