Every business-owner wants their business to thrive, but the journey to success is never easy, nor is the pressure to continually achieve great results.
This is the case for every business, regardless of their size, industry or current status in the marketplace. For those who have not learnt to navigate and adapt to the current developments in both the business and technological worlds have inevitably struggled to keep up with their competitors.
The same can be said for those who remain loyal to the “old ways of doing business” rather than embracing the new or cutting-edge; this archaic approach is leaving these types of businesses trailing behind in the modern day.
For the many who want to learn and grow, the innovations of the technological world will develop your business in phenomenal ways. It’s a daunting but exciting time for business owners around the globe as we enter the data age and smarter business thinking.
Many businesses are sitting on a goldmine of data. Some may try to utilise it, but trying to derive meaningful insights for business development is easier said than done, and many only touch the surface of possibilities with data analysis.
What is Data Analysis?
Data analysis (sometimes referred to as big data analytics) is the process of reviewing large amounts of data to quickly unearth patterns or insights that allow for advantageous business development.
Data analysis has been around for years – yet, even to this day, many organisations are relying on very basic analytics to inform their business decisions and identify opportunities, usually through the analysis of quantitative data (i.e. number-crunching). Whilst understanding figures is good for a basic picture of how your business is functioning according to the external world, this type of data analysis will not give you the all-important WHY something needs to change, develop or be created, and it is vital that businesses explore all the methods of data analysis including the newly-emerging qualitative data analysis.
How Does Qualitative Data Analysis Work for Business?
Qualitative data analysis, on the other hand, provides a wealth of opportunity for businesses ready to implement it within their operations. Compiling, categorising and deriving insights from complex data (like comments or voice data) for example, can provide a much more complete and detailed picture to inform the development of your products or services, improve your customer or staff experiences or even provide opportunities to branch out into new areas.
Utilising this type of analysis will also allow you to gather more in-depth profiles of your customers, how they feel about your products and brand and their loyalty to it – therefore, allowing you to personalise and customise their experiences and build long-term relationships. From qualitative analysis, you can also determine how your staff feel about working for you and what problems they face in their working lives so that you can fix any structural issues – after all, they are the cogs that keep the business ticking and the faces of your organisation!
Insights derived from qualitative data analysis allow for more relatable and powerful marketing communications, and we all know marketing can be expensive, so it is important to get it right and get a great ROI.
The benefits of this type of analysis develop companies into strong organisations who better understand their customers, their marketplace and their staff.
To conclude, qualitative data analysis is the tool that every business needs in their toolbox, and just like you would get in a professional builder to build and maintain your home, outsourcing your data analysis to the experts is the sure-fire way to ensure you get the most important and efficient insights to act upon.