Over the last 20 years or so, Big Data completely changed the face of business. Then the pandemic hit.

While other industries skidded to a stop, the pace of technology development skyrocketed. Suddenly, our whole lives, from work to entertainment to hanging out with friends, were happening online. Worldwide, 97 percent of businesses sped up their rate of digital transformation.

Ten-year plans were suddenly happening over the course of 12 months. And while the pandemic is waning, tech development is not. Global spending on digital transformation is expected to reach $1.8 trillion this year and $2.8 trillion by 2025.

FOMO is real, and a lot of companies are shelling out big investments in data without a clear plan. They’re just trying to keep up. But collecting data is not a strategy. There is no one size fits all. Your choices of technology, architecture, and spend all depend on your specific business goals.

To quote Amit Zavery, VP/GM and head of platform at Google Cloud, you have to “think of digital transformation less as a technology project to be finished than as a state of perpetual agility, always ready to evolve for whatever customers want next.”

So how can Big Data help you achieve your goals as an organization? Here are a few ideas to inspire your strategy.

Transforming customer care

Automation and digitization can help provide your customers with a more seamless on-demand experience. AI can filter customer complaints and handle minor issues like lost shipments or broken items without human intervention. Your customers get their problem resolved faster and your customer service reps can concentrate their time and energy on bigger customer retention issues.

You can reduce downtime by using cloud services that lower the risk of outages. Planned maintenance can roll out when traffic volumes are at their lowest.

Finally, Big Data provides valuable insights that help you continuously improve customer experience. Analyzing behaviors can help you track satisfaction, predict buying patterns, and gauge the success of new ideas.

Reducing waste

Big Data can save big bucks by uncovering wasted resources. Identify a resource you want to optimize – like energy use, raw materials, or employee time. Big Data allows you to compare metrics at different stages to spot inefficiencies. The more data points you have, the better your analysis will be. When you spot areas you suspect are leaking resources, test out waste-reduction ideas. Then measure your results.

By analyzing power use, you can find ideal times to power down equipment with intense energy demands. For a mid-size office this might be small potatoes, but on the scale of a factory the savings could be huge. Tracking equipment efficiency can help you schedule maintenance before a minor slowdown becomes a complete breakdown.

Using Big Data to automate your supply chain can help you get the best prices on your inventory. The system can strategically place orders when costs are low and track inventory to prevent overstock.

Improving manufacturing resilience

Manufacturers were hit hard during the pandemic when the global supply chain failed. Big Data is key to making industries more agile in the face of the next disruption. A 2021 Forbes survey concluded digital transformation is no longer something manufacturers can consider “someday.” It has to happen now.

Big Data can help manufacturers track their entire operation – from materials acquisition through supply chain, workforce needs, and market demand. A big-picture dashboard gives them greater visibility into and control over operations. That visibility will be key to a quick pivot when the next disruption hits.

Big Data can also help manufacturers build better products and avoid costly recalls. Automation results in fewer errors. AI makes quality assurance tests more accurate. The quality of raw materials is easy to evaluate. And when there are defects, you can trace them back to their source.

Shortening time-to-market

Big Data has been used for product development from the very beginning. Data is the most reliable way to analyze competition, market trends, customer experience, pricing, and product specifications, just for starters.

Approaching product development with a data-first mindset can improve your entire product strategy. The modern marketplace is a fast-moving and uncertain environment. Big Data reduces uncertainty by monitoring trends and customer behavior so you can develop and test ideas faster. Deloitte says using a data-driven approach can shorten time-to-market by up to 20%.

Optimizing human resources

At first, using Big Data to optimize human resources sounds kind of cold. Because it’s true you can use data like absenteeism, work output, and error rates to prune your workforce.

You can also use this data in a people-first strategy to develop your workers and build their loyalty. Analyzing workload and staffing levels could uncover employees who are overworked or times when you are overstaffed. Performance data can alert management to gaps in employee training. And tracking rewards and compensation both inside and outside the company aids in retention by helping you to maintain a competitive work environment.

Digital transformation is complex, and it can be intimidating even for technology-first companies. Change management is hard even without technology. Of the $1.8 trillion that will be spent this year on digital transformation, about $700 billion won’t deliver results.

It’s not enough anymore just to have advanced technology. That’s table stakes. Everybody has advanced tools. To gain a competitive advantage, you have to know which tools can advance your strategy and which will be a distraction. Once you have your tech stack, you need a sustainable plan to get the most out of it.

Before investing in a new suite of tools or an overhaul of your data strategy, consult with an expert who can give you the clarity to go beyond having data and start actually using it effectively.

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