When it comes to the data you use for your business, it is crucial that it remains organized and exactly where it needs to be. Data analysts have enough work on their plates without having to worry about tracking down every last piece of information on a daily basis. The information is a critical part of any sales and marketing strategy, which is why it needs to be utilized in ways that will best grow the business. How can analysts best keep track of valuable data?
Store
What can be done to keep everything in line where it needs to be? First, you will need to decide on the data you need to collect and keep for future usage. Not everything that is encountered each day will be important, so weeding out what is useless from what is crucial will be an important first step. You do not want to waste valuable storage space on numbers that will not have a larger role to play in the future.
Segment
Segmenting the data by type is also a way that everything can stay as organized as possible. Data fields will help the analysts go through everything more efficiently, which will save your company time and money in increased productivity. Whether the information is separated by service, product offering or region — or some other metric — is entirely up to you and your colleagues.
Merge
Finally, business data must be merged. Combining data across sources paints the big picture, but also determine the outliers.
In a study conducted by University of Nebraska – Lincoln, researchers concluded the benefits of merging data. In the paper, "Merging Qualitative and Quantitative Data in Mixed Methods Research: How To and Why Not," the team noted that mixed methods research "expand the scope of breadth of research to offset the weakness of either approach alone."
By using multiple approaches and merging the data from those different methods, data analysts can better evaluate the details to put together informed strategies.
If you are looking for ways to be more effective with data, contacting Interactive Edge is a great first step! Take a look at the rest of our website to learn more about the services we offer to our clients, which will give you more time to focus on your most important business objectives.
