The most important asset anyone can have in business is good data. Success in the business world is all about making decisions, making them well and making them quickly. And the better informed one is, the easer that is to do. With data never previously available on the scale it is today, the art of success has shifted from being good at acquiring it, to being good at processing and extracting value from it. The other change caused by this shift is that its temporal value is now much shorter. So businesses really need access to real time data if they’re to stay ahead of the pack.
Market Data
Fast access to market data can now be facilitated through a combination of online access to stock exchanges and software designed to track particular stocks, or types of stock, and send alerts when they reach key values, either in isolation or in comparison with other stocks. These technologies are reshaping the way that markets themselves behave, especially on a global scale, as anyone can now, at least in theory, access any major stock exchange. This means that business people seeking an advantage need to plan their investment strategies ahead of time so they can be active at the right times to get results. It’s one of the reasons why an increasing number of businesses now have decision makers available on a 24-hour basis. But that shouldn’t be considered essential to success. More important is the ability to think ahead about which trades will have value in different market scenarios.
The Business World
Beyond the value of different stocks and shares, it’s important to be able to track what’s happening in the business world more widely: Who’s negotiating with who, who’s socializing with who, how businesses are interacting with their employees, and how regulatory changes coming down the line are likely to impact different sectors. Reading a frequently updated site like baedaily.com/business/ is essential to keep up with business news daily. News data should be factored into strategic planning, providing the background against which to calculate the most effective way of managing investments.
Managing Data
It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the flow of real time data, especially when working at the big data level. That’s why data processing software has now become not just useful, but essential. And it’s important for senior decision makers, as well as technical staff, to be able to work with it. When it comes to market data, speed is the key. With big data projects, information inevitably moves a bit more slowly even if it’s flowing in real time, so the important thing is to be able to spot patterns. Some businesses prefer to develop their own algorithms for this while others bring in outside experts to help with their more challenging ventures.
Extracting Value
Although data can provide an edge in business, it’s ultimately no use unless there are people in the business capable of extracting value from it. This means understanding the relevance of different pieces of data and their relationship to one another and to the bigger picture. Some business people have a good intuitive grasp of this, but even they tend to find that their instincts sharpen over time. When first working with real time data, it’s a good idea to keep strategies simple and stick to clear rules in order to avoid getting carried away. Otherwise, the advantage of speedy decision making can create a temptation to work faster than is really practicable, and can lead to mistakes that wouldn’t be made if more time were taken to think things through.
Customer Activity Data
As well as providing a better understanding of the position of any given business within the wider marketplace, real time data processing and management systems can be of considerable internal value helping to keep day-to-day aspects of business activity running smoothly. Used to monitor customer activity as an example, they can track the progress of promotional campaigns to the minute, making it much easier to refine them. They can also help with inventory management and can even be automatically linked to supply systems so that where orders have been pre-approved, they can go out automatically as needed. All this makes it much easier to keep a business functioning at the speed required by the size of the modern online marketplace.
Getting comfortable with data takes practice, but has become essential to business success. Smart operators keep up to date with the slightly slower pace of software development and take advantage of all the helpful tools they can get.
