1. When things get complicated, machines beat humans with flying colors
Would you dare to expose your business to the risk that some important facts are left unnoticed? Analytics can provide support for your business or guide you towards new possibilities you might not have otherwise noticed. But this information can’t be extracted from the data without analytics.
Machines are far ahead of humans in understanding complex cause-and-effect links. We are fairly good at perceiving linearity, but causality is often too complicated for us. We tend to simplify things unconsciously. Machines don’t take such short cuts. They can handle complex information without making mispresenting simplifications.
Our minds can handle two or three dimensions, but our capacity has its limitations. We are, for instance, unable to understand ten causality factors working simultaneously. That’s why we need computing power and analytics when dealing with complex matters.
2. Machinery solutions are scalable and automatic
Machines outdo humans in terms of both quality and quantity. It’s an inevitable fact that our computing power is very limited, and our work prone to mistakes. A machine doesn’t get tired of calculating or make careless mistakes. Analytics solutions also scale up when your business grows.
Scalability helps to concretize the benefits of data analytics. Humans can, for example, examine individual web page visitors and make recommendations based on these observations. However, we don’t have nearly as much background information available to us as a computerized database.
And even if you could understand the path-to-purchase funnel of some of your customers, what will you do when there are thousands of them? Or tens of thousands? The sufficient amount of data for understanding complex issues is often so vast that it would be nonsensical for humans to compete against computers. Luckily, we have the option to cooperate with them.
3. Machines don’t distort results or suffer from bias
On a good day, our outlook is positive, but after a setback, everything seems harder. Our thinking is full of heuristics and biases, which can have significant effects on our reasoning. It’s not a question of professional skills (or lack thereof), it’s simply human nature.
A machine, on the other hand, is able to get much closer to straightforward “thinking” because it doesn’t actually think but computes. It’s never in a good or bad mood, prejudiced or suspicious. The algorithms in data analytics offer information as objectively as possible. Not perfectly, of course, because the solution is made by humans. However, many human biases and heuristics can be avoided.
We often talk about artificial intelligence when we actually mean statistical computing. There’s no real intelligence hiding behind the solution, just mathematical models. Therefore, analytics provides us with reliable answers of consistent quality – if you can ask the right questions from your data.
4. There may be important information hiding in your data
Through digitalization, almost everything we do generates data – and so does your business and your customers’ behavior. Not utilizing this data is a waste of valuable knowledge.
Imagine if there was encrypted information about your business that could offer you a significant competitive advantage. Wouldn’t you want to hire experts to decode this information for you? Data analytics is about unlocking encrypted information and turning it into an understandable and utilizable form. Your business accumulates data anyway – so wouldn’t it make sense to discover what kind of information is hiding there?
Again, this is not a question of challenging one’s professional ability but developing it with modern-day services. If you already know your business thoroughly, perhaps data could help you set your sights forward. Or it might help you deepen your understanding of those cause-and-effect relationships that the human mind cannot perceive.
5. Analytics can bring about new business opportunities
In the thick of changes, it’s essential to keep track of trends. Your customers want services that are more customized, faster, and better. Or maybe they are looking for something completely new that your competitors haven’t yet figured out.
Through data analytics, the impossible has been made possible. The previously unattainable or hidden information is now within your reach. Data analytics or AI can even shift to the core of your business and create a vast competitive advantage.
Analytics gives you tools to react to changes now, or even lead the way to change. Maybe it’s high time to rethink your business model by leaning on today’s technologies? The possibility of understanding your business on this scale has never existed before.
In conclusion
Data is a resource that shouldn’t be forgotten to gather dust in your cloud service – especially now that the tools and expertise for utilizing it are easily accessible. Analytics can serve as your right-hand man in tasks that humans can’t perform.
An expert is at your service when you want to know how to implement an analytics solution – but a top expert also knows why and how analytics can benefit your business. There’s potential for a huge competitive advantage when you know the right questions to ask from your data. What would you like to know?
