Why Data is the lifeforce of business...
In the world of cloud computing, we’re constantly hearing the word “storage” batted about. And it’s true that storage is important to all businesses but...?
It’s data that’s the true lifeforce of business these days.?
Businesses aren’t really concerned with hard disk partitions?or complicated server specs, it’s the actual data itself they care about. Finding out what data is important to customers, what needs to be done with that data and if there's anything that can be commercialized from the data collected. ?
Mastering data is now considered as the big differentiator that will separate the winners from the losers in the marketplace. ?
At EvoLearn , many of our clients work in sales and this is a perfect example of?data as a lifeforce. When you think about it, we all rely on CRM solutions of one form or another. Or maybe lots of excel sheets!?
A CRM system is the entire customer database, all their details, everything they've ordered, every communication with them, key contacts, past orders and the pricing offered to them. Everything you need to know about those customers to do your job effectively. ?
I'm old and ugly enough to remember the days of carrying all this around in a ring binder with a page for each customer containing all the usual information such as: contact details, their kids’ names, their dog’s name and where they go on holiday! All so that I could open a conversation and engage with them. I walked around with that folder for years with a carbon paper pad to take orders on. And faxes, lots and lots of inputting faxes!?
Those were the days! Incredibly manual and extremely slow. ?
Nowadays you can deliver those sales experiences for customers and end users far more effectively. You see it everywhere, simply log onto 亚马逊 and watch how data is delivering a more customized shopping experience. From a sales perspective, they understand their customers, what they buy, when they buy it, how they buy it and how often they buy it. ?
They use this data to spot patterns and trends to become more efficient. So, they know when they've got to ramp up stock during certain periods of the year just from analyzing data. They can also make measured and relevant upsell recommendations based on the products their customers are looking at. ?
Any business can apply this lesson to the data on their database. For example, if the data shows that a customer bought a bunch of servers three years ago (that're all going towards the end-of-life) and are out of warranty; you know it’s time to call them up again. It’s not a cold call, it’s a call that’s likely to be one they’ll listen to. ?
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The predictability we can get from the data helps us spot patterns and shows what’s likely to happen in the future. This is just one area data transformation has helped sales advance in leaps and bounds. We can now deliver better selling experiences, manufacture products faster as well as provide better shopping and navigation experiences. ?
In my opinion, it’s this type of transformational approach that we should now look to modernize. Businesses are potentially out there facing many data challenges. Data all over the place or bits of data trapped in different locations. Some of it on-site and perhaps some on Microsoft Azure Cloud , some on 谷歌 and the rest of it scattered across company laptops – that's the sprawl. ?
And let’s not forget data migration – potentially a huge headache that costs both money and time. Data in the wrong place creates a bad experience for customers. Many cloud providers will usually make it free to put data up but try getting that data back... oh boy!?
Add to this all the data from company smartphones, supermarket checkout systems, security cameras and even sensors in factories. Suffice to say, there's lots of data being generated at the edge of organizations. There must be a solution for these vast quantities of data.?
And we’re only scratching the surface here. Successful IT sellers will be the ones that can assess and then offer the best fitting solution to the challenges their customers are facing with optimizing, managing and protecting the lifeforce of their business.?
Learn more at: https://evolearn.co.uk/sales-academy-2/?
Julian Stiles is an Enterprise IT Learning Specialist that helps sellers position business outcomes and user experience. An instructor, facilitator, trainer, streamer and geek!