Got Business Data? You're Probably Using It Wrong

pcmag.com:

The start of 2022 is freshly behind us, which has most small-and-midsize-business (SMB) execs thinking about New Year's resolutions, like cutting back on CBD brownies and how they can improve their company's bottom line in the next 12 months. One easy way is to finally take that tedious step of understanding and using your business data effectively.

SMBs are mostly ignoring their data and making decisions the old-fashioned way, according to an Unsupervised survey of 867 respondents familiar with their employer's data practices. In case you're wondering, those are accurate, time-tested methods such as gut-checks and whatever the boss thinks must be right.

Unsupervised sells an AI platform that specializes in data analysis, so you might think its opinion is a mite suspect, but it does have a point. These days, most business apps—particularly software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools—collect large quantities of performance and user data. If they're collecting those numbers in the background anyway, why are so few organizations making good use of them?

According to the survey, 33% of employees directly involved with their firm's data collection said the company had difficulty accessing and analyzing its data. Another 25% said the data wasn't being used to its full potential. And a telling 95% said there was definite room for improvement on how employees could use the firm's data to hit goals and KPIs (key performance indicators).

Data-driven KPIs can deliver some amazing results. Forty-eight percent of Unsupervised's respondents said better data analysis would increase profits. Another 47% said it would grow sales, while 40% said it would directly impact revenue. On the back end, 51% of senior execs said better data would aid in