Why is Data Science Important for your Organisation?

Understanding how Data can help you grow.

The term Data Science has been around for a long time. It was occasionally used to refer to computer science and statistics related concepts as a whole in the late 1900s. Today, Data Science has been revived into a complex world of methods, algorithms and processes that are utilised to extract knowledge from unstructured pools of data. It has become a tool for many to start new companies or expand existing businesses and has rapidly gained traction. Because of this, there are many who have jumped on the bandwagon of utilising and applying data science in their organisations; and this is especially true for large corporations who deal with billions of data points everyday. However many remain who are slightly apprehensive of the word, or have never taken the time to really comprehend why this concept has blown up so much in recent times and how it could help them reach new heights.

So let’s try to understand the beauty behind data science, why it makes a difference to you and more. By the end of this article, I hope you, the reader, are able to realise existing data that has always been around you, and are able to use it in a productive, and hopefully empowering way.

What do I mean when I say: Data?

Now this is a really valid question. What do I even mean when I say data? What qualifies as data and how on earth do I even begin to identify that something around me is data, worthy enough to scour through?

Well, the answer to that is pretty simple. Everything. Anything around you: may it be individual facts or trends that you unknowingly create or observe, are data. The weather around you, your online shopping history, your eating preferences, the demographics of your locality… I could go on. Any information describing anything, anywhere is data. It is a constant massive noise of information and patterns, surrounding us all the time.

We can choose to ignore this noise and go on with our lives. Or we could choose to pause and listen: try and find the sounds among the noise and the structure within the chaos. When we finally see the structure, we suddenly start to see the obvious answers that were always around us, and begin to apply them in our lives. This listening, observing and applying I mentioned are what we fondly call: Data Science.

Ok. I get what Data is. How do I locate it in my business?

As I said, data is present in every business no matter what you do. Let’s say there is a company called Company A that has an app where users can order bakery products from nearby bakeries. The product is home delivered and there is even a service for daily delivery schedules. Now this company has a very basic business. Get bread from nearby and deliver it. Correct? Wrong. The business also knows account customer locations, the bakeries’ locations, the type of breads sold by the bakeries, rush hours for bakery orders and a lot more.

Ok, so how does that help?

Well, given this information, Company A can now analyse the data and figure out what kind of bread is most popular? Which bakeries are most popular in a given locality? What is the frequency of purchase for various breads for various customers? When are people most likely to purchase? I could keep going. (If you would like to understand how to understand and analyse data more in detail, you can read my blog on a similar topic.)

Do you see what I did there? With the limited data I had, I was able to correlate different points and find trends and patterns within seemingly irrelevant data. Now Company A can easily utilise these trends to release well-timed discounts, create price surges according to timings, advice bakeries to stock up on a particular product based on its previous purchase history and even offer customised order recommendations to users. These small changes can cause massive increases in the company’s positive interactions with the bakeries, the customers, as well as the delivery agents all in one go. It creates a positive ecosystem and in turn increases the company’s business.

And this was just a random example of a made up company. We didn’t even break a sweat thinking up these obvious applications of the data the company already had. They did not have to invest any extra capital in getting more data. All they had to do, was use it correctly in a way that made everyone happy. And that is the essence of why Data Science and analytics has gained popularity in many businesses: from start-ups to multinational corporations.

This sounds interesting. How do I get started?

Now this part depends strictly on the kind of business you run. The data collected by a company that sells healthcare products will differ from a company that manufactures shoes. There will be similarities in their data (for example customer information) but all in all, the kind of analysis they need to do will change from company to company. So what to do?

Well, there is a generalised thought process you could follow to gain some ideas:

1. What sort of data do I possess? Understand and locate the data your company already possesses. This can be any information that you are getting from anyone through your business. See what data this is, and how relevant it is to your business.
2. What can I do with the data? Figure out what you want the data to do for you. Do you want to use it to increase your customer base? Improve quality of life for the people using your service? Solve a problem you are facing? Or something else entirely. Ask yourself questions like: “If the data I have shows patterns, will it help my business?”.
3. How do I go about analysing this data? This is the bit where you actually use data science and run various processes through your data to find patterns or trends to draw relevant conclusions. You can do it yourself or partner with companies that will do it for you.
4. How do I apply this knowledge? Now that you know what the trends are, you can start working on doing things that exploit your findings to improve your business and its reach.

And that’s it! You just went from having random data that you never even gave a second glance, to using it in your company to improve and enhance your business! It is that easy.

Wrapping it up

Data Science is a beautiful and powerful tool. You are using data readily available to you to understand the world around you in a productive way. The best part is that you are solving problems related to your company and moving forward to expand your business strategies. At no cost you suddenly have a broader perspective of what your company can achieve and what it can do to achieve it. Used properly, data science can be the key to unlock many doors for the future of your business.