The Data Analytics Process: 6 Steps to Make Your Business Smarter

Data analysis has the ability to transform raw available data into meaningful insights for your business and your decision-making. It can be applied to almost any industry, and in a number of roles within those industries.

The Data Analytics Process

Below, I'll take you through the five steps for designing and implementing a data analytics plan, from start to finish. I've arranged them by sequence of steps so you can follow along. Step 1: Define Your Goals A data analytics program will require a lot of different types of data to function correctly. It's important to have at least three sets of goals for your data analysis. 1. Business goals A data analysis program will have a lot of data to analyze, and a business will need to be able to make informed decisions based on the results. Goals will be the main reason for getting the data analysis program up and running. You'll need to decide what information is important to you.

Define Your Objectives

To begin with, decide what kind of impact the data analysis will have on your business and objectives. Many businesses will spend months or even years trying to gather the right data, but by the time they figure it out and move on with their product, it will probably have been overshadowed by new technologies and trends. Take a leaf out of Apple's book by defining specific objectives for your project. For example, if you're making a service based on data analysis, set out your vision, the measures you'll use to measure its success, and the specific factors that will give you a competitive edge. The Role of Data Analytics Data analysis is typically a central part of a complex information-gathering exercise for a business.

Collect Data

Data collection is usually carried out in a number of ways, but what you really need is good quality data. Data that is collected and analysed is then used in order to make decisions. Design Analytical Platforms Analytical platforms are data collection and processing devices that will be the focal point of your analysis. These platforms are designed to collect, integrate, and interpret your data, so you can finally analyse it for real-time decision-making. Develop a Database A good part of creating your analytical platform will be to create a database of any data you intend to process. While there are a few examples on the web of good databases, a simple SQL database will suffice.

Analyse Data

First of all, ask yourself why you are going to use your data. Are you performing a random and innocuous survey for a group of people you've never met? Or is there something more than that you are looking for? Or are you marketing to a particular group within your target audience, and are you looking to use data for targeting or segmentation? You may not have all the answers, but you need to investigate your question to make sure you are making the right decision. Second, ask yourself: what is the data you need? And then: how is that information going to be used? Do you need a set of values to be translated into a format that will be useful to you? Do you need a list of attributes to be extracted? Or, perhaps your aim is to segment the data itself?

Identify Patterns

Data analytics helps you identify patterns in your data. Rather than analyzing only your current data set, you should first search for trends that exist in your past data. They might be long-term trends, or they might be quick-term trends. Once you identify a pattern, you can use statistical analysis to further analyze the data. Analyse Your Data Once you've identified trends, you're ready to use statistical analysis to see what those trends mean. If you know how to conduct a statistical analysis, you can take steps to validate the trend and determine if it holds any meaning. Analyse Your Data Again Once you've found your trends, you'll want to understand them. You can then use statistical analysis to determine the correlation between the two.

Decide on Next Steps Not sure how to start collecting and analysing data? We've created a Data Analysis Process Checklist for you. The first thing you'll need to do is decide on the most important goals you'd like to achieve by collecting data. Depending on the type of data you are collecting, you can prioritize which goals should be the most important ones, and which are less important. Once you have prioritized your goals, it's time to develop a plan for gathering data. Use this checklist to help you decide which data analysis step is best for your particular data type. You can also refer to our list of the best business analytics tools for your specific company for ideas on how to start collecting data.

I am a marketing and advertising student and have been studying in this field since 4 years. I live in Mumbai, India.