Big Data — which refers to large volumes of data obtained from numerous sources including customer databases, social networks, and business transaction systems — has recently taken the world by storm, especially within the global economy. In fact, a report from McKinsey Global Institute estimates that Big Data could generate an additional $3 trillion in value every year in just seven industries.

But what capabilities does Big Data unlock and how exactly does it provide economic benefits? Alone, Big Data is simply a large volume of data that inundates a business on a day-to-day basis. But the amount of data a company stores is insignificant; rather, what organisations do with that data is what matters. The process of using data to obtain quantifiable economic benefit is known as data monetisation, and in this blog, we will discuss the benefits this provides to your business.

Economic Forecasting

To begin, Big Data allows for better prediction of economic phenomena. By analysing broad sets of financial data, businesses are able to detect various economic trends which they can use to their advantage for future endeavours. Although this is no quick task considering that Big Data is relatively difficult to analyse based on its sheer size and complexity, having the ability to accurately foresee economic trends still remains a highly-desirable and powerful tool. The most common method to approach this task is through the creation of predictive data models. Data modeling makes it easier to integrate high-level business processe, i.g. such as economic forecasting, with data rules, data structures, and the technical implementation of your physical data.

Marketing Strategies

Big Data contributes greatly to company marketing strategies, which in turn lead to improved customer relationships, client retention, and thus, revenue. With properly structured data, marketers can segment customers as sub-groups with their specific features and activities online. Moreover, based on customer data, companies can identify their loyal customers who are repeat buyers and who recommend your brand to their friends and family members.

Besides, Big Data helps to measure people’s reactions to each marketing activity. With Big Data analytics, business intelligence can be improved by making positive changes such as improving existing products or increasing revenue per customer. For example, you can customise operations and improve customer journeys, in which every single client receives products or services based on their personal preferences. Based on careful monitoring, they can also adjust prices to their products and services in real time. With this information a company can measure ROI, as Big Data takes into account all marketing channels, activities, and investments and conducts a cost-benefit analysis of each element. Thus, you get the option to track your marketing activities and the corresponding budget.

Additionally, to helping to know your audience better, Big Data also helps to provide content of customer interest. To compete efficiently, businesses can use Big Data to provide content to their targeted audience. For example, major companies like Facebook and Google often use Big Data analysis to allow advertisers to target content with people of desired interests and behavior. Thus, marketers can deliver relevant content to their website visitors, based on details such as where they clicked and where they came from.

Production Efficiency and New Products

Another economic benefit of Big data analytics is increased productivity and efficiency gains. Using data analytics, you can discover new information and identify patterns that enable to improve your business processes, increase supply chain efficiency, and identify variables that affect production quality, volume or consistency. On a similar note, Big Data analytics also help uncover defects in processes and improve overall product quality, as well as reduce variation in quality.

On top of increased product efficiency, Big Data analytics also contributes to the development of company’s new products or services. By analysing data trends and identifying patterns, a company can create products that connect with the consumer, provide increased consumer value, minimise the risks associated with a new product’s launch, and both allocate, and coordinate the use of internal resources efficiently. Through data modeling (mentioned before), companies can also forecast the performance of the new products in the market both pre- and post-launch in real-time, determine the optimal distribution chains, and optimise marketing strategies to reach out to the greatest number of customers at the lowest cost.

To conclude, data monetisation provides companies with the ability to better predict economic phenomena, bolster custom relationships, raise brand awareness, and much more. With the many benefits associated with the use of data monetisation, it is clear to see why so many businesses are looking to pivot towards utilising their data more effectively. If your business in particular aims to stay afloat in this increasingly competitive digital era, it is imperative that you utilise Big Data to its fullest effect in your company’s daily operations.