Utilisation of Data Science - SME’s VS Large Corporations.

“All organisations create data, and in today’s market how you leverage that data into insights is one of the key differentiators of top performing organisations.” Simon Dutton – Founder of Discovr Analytics

Data scientists and analysts mine data in all its various forms, for hidden connections, and give expert insights on the outcomes. Data science and analytics is being utilised by more companies than ever, and the results speak for themselves. Whilst bigger enterprises have easier access to data scientists, analysts, the funds to hire new teams and investments behind them, SME’s are wary to put the same level of investment in, especially when their organisation is still in their infancy.

Most SME’s are keen to utilise data science and analytics especially within their marketing but often times don’t want to take the step outside their comfort zone and stray from off the shelf analytics. Bigger organisations such as retailers, technology giants, and banking institutes have no worries regarding trying a new venture, or changing up the way they manage their analytics, whereas smaller enterprises can be slow to change and instead rely on simplistic reporting, in Microsoft Excel, for example.

This, when contrasted with the fact that a report conducted by London.gov has stated that SMEs make up to 99.8 per cent of the UK’s private sectors businesses, with their turnover equating to £430 billion, it’s perplexing that so many SME’s aren’t utilising their untapped potential by focusing on newer ways to access their data and insights to increase their performance.

The starting point in analytics is no different for bigger organisations and SME’s – regardless of size, the thing that is needed to know first are the questions they are looking to answer, be it from sales, operational insights, or customer experience, from this it’s easier to discover the data points required to deliver on specific requirements and needs. Data consultant Bernard Marr agreed with this in an article he wrote about big data for SMEs, saying, “In many ways, big data is suited to small business in ways that it never was for big business – even the most potent insights are valueless if your business is not agile enough to act on them in a timely fashion. Small businesses have the advantage of agility, making it perfectly suited to act on data-derived insights with speed and efficiency.”

Once collated data has hit a particular mass, the next step is for the organisation to start using data science and machine learning to predict outcomes as many, if not all SME’s crunch their data and present their sales, revenue, and profit performance – but by the time this information has been collated, formatted, and released it’s most likely out of date, or time to start focusing on the next release. By utilising analytics, data science, and machine learning, this becomes a thing of the past. Current information and data is being learned from constantly to be able to report on future predictions meaning that resources can be better allocated as the predictions are increasingly accurate, and SMEs can begin to optimise their place in the market.

By starting small and utilising a company like Discovr Analytics, it removes the need for internal hiring, HR management, and excess expenditure, and means you can take your first step to understanding the integrity and condition of your data.

If you’re interested in utilising analytics, data science, or machine learning for your organisation, please get in touch > info@discovranalytics.co