Why data and digital analytics are key to digital transformation

A successful digital organisation will have tonnes of historical data which can be used to predict future trends and gain a better understanding of their consumers behaviours to gain a competitive advantage. The consumption and use of data has changed in the past few years, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, that it has become a key element of digital transformation. We look at what digital analytics are and why they are so important for digital transformation.

Digital analytics is the analysis of digital data which can be derived from a variety of sources such as websites, mobile apps, and consumer feedback. Digital analytics are a clear indicator of consumer behaviour and how a business is performing against its competitors.

Digital analytics are particularly important when a company wishes to establish which areas they are excelling in, and where improvements could be made. This data can also be used to become insights driven, which is becoming a hugely fundamental step for companies of all sizes.

According to research by Forrester, businesses make fewer than 50% of their decisions based on quantitative information as opposed to gut feeling, experience, or opinion.

However, 85% of the participants wanted to improve their incorporation of data insights into their decision-making processes, but 91% agreed that they found it too challenging. This is a position that many companies find themselves in.

So, where do you start? Ultimately, your customer should be the base of your decision-making processes, as they have a huge impact on your bottom line.

There are however other factors that must be considered alongside your customer data. Digitally transforming your company can be challenging due to the impact it will have on complex factors within a company such as the people, processes, and technology. These factors all link to the company culture which is arguably the most challenging thing within a company to change. However, despite the challenges, digital transformation can be sustainable and provide significant returns to shareholders and consumers.

Data is arguably one of the most important factors in digital transformation. Data enables companies to track past successes and failures, benchmark against competitors, and spot trends. In the past, data was used to present to stakeholders how the company was performing, however in today’s digitally advanced environment, data can provide much more than that.

• Predictive analytics can use AI to learn from previous data to predict and generate models to improve operations.
• Quick decisions can be made as the data is presented in a real time format.
• Highly secure, good quality and readily available without the use of an external agency.

Your data will need to be discoverable and analysed to gain actionable insights for your business’s desired outcomes. Using software platforms with AI learning capabilities such as BOSCO™ are a highly powerful tool to help with this.

However, it’s vital to understand your business’s current digital transformation stage. When you have established this, you should create a clear and understandable data strategy for everyone within the company. From this, you should determine your success KPI’s. Communication within this process and engaging with feedback from shareholders and consumers will allow the process to run more smoothly. It’s important to remember that digital transformation will not happen overnight, and results will be visible over time.

Customers have a massive impact on the bottom line of most businesses, so it’s key that within digital transformation, the consumer isn’t overlooked. As most companies undergo digital transformation to benefit for the consumer, you must focus on the following initiatives:

• Gain a full understanding of consumer behaviours, that includes; buying habits, transactions, industry benchmarks and trends etc.
• Use valuable consumer feedback to understand attrition and retention trends and predict future consumer behaviour.
• Improve your fraud-protection to protect your company from scams and future frauds.
• Fast-track employee motivation as they understand how to better market to consumers.
• Highlight consumer data which will open doors to future targeting opportunities.

Digital transformation is a timely process, and it can often be challenging to establish if you are doing it well. Here’s a checklist of measurable metrics which you can use to track your progress.

• Engagement level and usage metrics
  • Tracking metrics such as net promoter score, exit rate, bounce rate and employee satisfaction rate can be a key indicator of employee engagement levels. Engagement level from consumers comes from the top, so by having engaged employees, you will more readily engage your consumers.

• Adoption and performance metrics
  • Adoption is the measure of how well your employees are using the digital tools made available to them. A high adoption rate is a key success indicator of digital transformation.

• Cost of digital transformation
  • A key indicator or success in your digital transformation is when your revenue generated exceeds the cost of the digital transformation. It is important to measure the amount of money that is being spent on the digital transformation, and this will also highlight where money is best spent or being wasted.

BOSCO™ is a digital marketing software which features AI learning capabilities, using historical data to spot past trends, uses predictive analytics to predict future trends, help users to understand where their marketing budget is best spent, and benchmarks companies against their competitors.

If you have any questions for our team about how we can help you digitally transform your business or would like to know more about the BOSCO™ software, book a demo.