George Casey from Junction Solutions explained that a cost-effective business should not solely rely on gathering data and information, but also take into account the interpretation of the data through the lens of insight and truth. Casey described insight as what the data means and how to act on the data, and truth to mean gathering a playbook of sorts on possible outcomes for the future. Doing these things in a variety of ways will be how a business makes more money and gets the most out of their company. (Listen to the webinar, Better Cost Control with Better Business Intelligence)
The most prominent way that Casey mentioned was through customer segmentation.
“Wherever we are in the supply chain, we have customers with different demands and expect us to respond to those expectations,” Casey said. "Understanding how the products are used downstream is extremely important and provides tremendous value into how we decide to adjust our portfolio products and services to meet [each customer’s] needs.”
This involves more insight on each individual customer and figuring out the different possible demographics and behaviors that they have, all leading a company to find the people that are most interested in their products. Some potential demographics to look at are age, gender, race, income level, education level, political affiliations, religious affiliations. Some behaviors to potentially take note of in a customer are purchase history, promotional response, social media activity, website visits.
An insight on a group of people doesn’t just have to be done through a survey of people; it can also be achieved geographically. Through data collected about where people live, a company can gain insight on where their business would thrive the best and in which community.
Given the rise of social media, it’s prominence in the business industry cannot be ignored. When analyzing the reaction consumers have to a certain business on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, that company can take that information and use it to build up their company and product to receive a better reaction from consumers.
All these options that Casey explained are valid and potentially directional-shifting for a business. If a company is willing to take the next step and dive into the world of data-collection, analysis, and follow-up, a business could rapidly improve in the eyes of its consumers.
