Has your company recently decided to make the most of its big data? If so, here are some common mistakes to avoid.
- Don’t collect data indiscriminately
At first, it may be tempting to jump right in and collect data on a whole host of topics without proper thought into how this will help your business. Raw data often says nothing at all to most business users, and creating huge databases with copious amounts of data provides no particular value or useful purpose – except taking up your time and resources.
Some good advice to help business avoid this pitfall is to create a big data roadmap. This should focus on critical business decision, short and long term that will help everyone to understand what information can bring value to their business.
- Don’t over-analyse
In contrast to the first point, some businesses feel that to get any value over their data they have to categorise every tiny piece of data they’ve collected. Of course, centralising, cleansing, classifying, and structuring data goes a long way to help you move forward. However, just like collecting data indiscriminately, there is not much point in doing this if it doesn’t deliver end results that are useable and will make a difference to your business in the long run.
- Find the ‘not too hot’, ‘not too cold’ approach
A common mistake that many business make is failing to act on the data they gather. Within your business you should aim to interpret any data methodically. Develop a process that works for you, ensuring that people are not jumping to hasty conclusions based on tiny bits of data, or simply using the finding to confirm what they already believe. Once a decision is made, however, companies must act on it as soon as they can. Companies that collect, analyse, and interpret data with accuracy and then act upon it with speed can often gather a significant advantage in the coming days.
- Don’t think that data is the enemy of intuition
Many people believe in this misconception. It indicates that a shift is needed in the mindset of business leaders in order to make the most of big data. Data can be used as an effective tool to enhance intuition, by missing things that are too small for the human radar. For instance, you may think you know who your customers are, but data may show you that you have a far more diverse range of customers than you first thought.