Business analytics is all about evaluating the possible factors that have affected an organization’s past performance and applying the resulting insights with the goal of making improvements. Data is currently a driving force for many sizable corporate businesses; but business analytics can be useful to businesses of any size, including small, home-based businesses.
However, small businesses do face some barriers when it comes to implementing the use of business analytics. Let’s discuss 4 of the most compelling challenges, along with some possible solutions for beating them.
4 Business Analytics Challenges Small Businesses Face
1. Business Analytics Presents Cost Challenges
It can be expensive to implement a workable business analytics system. The biggest expenses tend to be the cost of talent and the cost of the technology.
Talent
Relatively speaking, data-savvy professionals are in short supply and high demand, which means they command high salaries. For a small, home-based business, this expense could seem like an insurmountable challenge.
Technology
In order to use data to effectively solve the problems faced by a business, someone has to identify which problems could actually be solved, gather data relevant to those problems, sort through it, and figure out how to apply it to the problems. All of this requires the use of appropriate technologies. The technologies might or might not be cheap (more information on that is below); but again, it comes back to having the right talent who can make use of the technology in effective ways.
2. Business Analytics Presents Transition Challenges
In cases where a business has been operating successfully without business analytics, it may be hard to convince the current team that it’s necessary or even desirable to incorporate a data-driven strategy into the day-to-day workflow. When things are running fine without analytics, implementing them might seem like a lot of extra work — and the rewards might not be immediately obvious.
3. Business Analytics Can Seem Overwhelming
Once you start collecting data, it tends to accumulate at an alarming pace. Storing it all can be a challenge. Figuring out how to retrieve it can also be a challenge. The greatest challenge of all is figuring out what, exactly to do with it.
4. It’s All Too Easy to Focus on the Wrong Indicators
Problem-solving is rarely an easy thing for business executives. Data-driven problem solving isn’t any easier than any other kind, and it involves additional layers of complexity. In any case, it can be easy to draw the wrong conclusions from analyzing data, so this is something you must learn to guard against when you implement a business analytics strategy.
Possible Solutions for These Challenges
Training in Business Analytics
Virtually all of these problems can be solved by training the right person or people to effectively use business analytics. While it is possible to hire a person who has the proper expertise, it is likely to be significantly more cost-effective to train an existing team member to perform the necessary tasks. If you’re a solopreneur, you could either get the training yourself or collaborate with another business owner who’s also interested in business analytics.
Multiple solutions are available for training. These range in cost from totally free to extremely expensive. The following are a few examples of opportunities that are currently available:
Business Analytics Courses at Coursera — Coursera offers both free and paid options for business analytics courses. There’s a paid option to enroll in a course which also enables you to receive access to all the other courses within a specialization. After successfully completing the work, you receive a certificate. If you aren’t interested in earning the certificate, in many cases you can view all the course materials for free.
Business Analytics Books — If you’re looking for an affordable way to learn about business analytics, books could offer you a good option. There are numerous excellent books available on the topic.
Master of Business Analytics Degree From UTS — The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) offers an online master’s degree program in business analytics. This program is designed to empower you to collaborate with your fellow students and the course instructors so you can build relationships while you are learning the science of business analytics. UTS also offers a graduate certificate in business analytics.
Online Master of Science Business Analytics — A science business analytics SBU Online provided by the online university St. Bonaventure could be just the ticket. It is specially designed for demanding roles and working with a lot of data. As it is online, you can study in your free time to keep up with the everyday business environment.
Harnessing Existing and Open-Source Solutions
Large corporations have the luxury of hiring teams of data scientists to implement in-house data collection operations. A small, home-based business is unlikely to be able to compete with that. But nowadays, so many third-party business analytics solutions are becoming available that it isn’t really a necessity to reinvent the wheel. As more of these technologies emerge, the price drops. In many cases, these platforms have the potential to pay for themselves relatively quickly.
There are even some free, open-source analytics solutions available that home-based businesses could utilize. These include Metabase and Birt. Matomo is another open-source solution that offers both free and paid solutions. Matomo’s core software is open source and available for free. Those that choose the paid options tend to agree that the associated costs are extremely reasonable considering the benefits being offered.
These aren’t your only choices for business analytics platforms. More are becoming available frequently.
These solutions could make it possible for home-based businesses to become more competitive in a world that’s increasingly saturated with data. By utilizing the right talent and the right technologies, home-based businesses can incorporate data into their operations and enjoy the resulting benefits.
