As a business owner looking to differentiate yourself from the competition, you need to step up your game by focusing on customer needs, providing great service, and getting a leg up when it comes to sales and your bottom line. If you need help bringing your company to the next level, look to the services of a data scientist.
This professional information wrangler can find data scattered all over the world and use it to create projections that can help your company succeed. Data science is an evolving field, and major companies like Adidas and Netflix are already using this advantage to grow their brands. Let’s take a look at the field of data science and how you can use it to help your business succeed.
What is a Data Scientist?
Before you put out a job listing for a data scientist, it’s important to understand what the job involves and how they can help your company. In essence, a data scientist is an expert who knows how to find data and present it in a way that helps management understand their shortcomings and take advantage of the sales opportunities around them. This data is gathered through a mix of statistical analysis, computer programming, and general inquisitiveness.
Gathering the data is one thing. However, what makes a data scientist or analyst unique is their ability to organize, clean, and process that data so it can be put into models and algorithms and presented in a way so that management can understand and act on the information.
A good data scientist will have a solid educational background, often with a master’s degree in science or analytics. The best will have computer programming and critical thinking skills, along with business intuition. Hiring a data scientist should be an extensive process as you explain your corporate needs and ensure that the applicant has the skills and ideas to make it happen.
Better Sales and Marketing
A good data scientist should have a natural curiosity about how to help a company thrive, especially when it comes to incoming revenue. In addition to analyzing how sales are right now, a good scientist will think about the potential opportunities that a company is not currently seeing that could boost its bottom line.
One way they do this is by pulling information from website visits, reviews, and social media posts to see which eyeballs are looking at their content and how you can best market to that group. Data scientists can also look at emerging market trends before they are widely known, which could give your organization a leg up on the competition.
Predictions through data are very important for a company that wants to continue to grow. While there is always data available, a scientist can organize all of that information and create models that can help your organization continue to thrive. They also do this by determining the relevance of your product to your current target demographic to see if you are getting the most bang for your buck. The data they gather can also determine the additional needs of the consumer, so you can modify your product accordingly to appeal to the masses.
Improvement Through Analytics
In addition to helping you make more money, data scientists can use customer analytics to determine the best approaches to customer retention and satisfaction. Great sales are one thing, but if the customer cannot come to you when they have issues, then they will likely go somewhere else. Data analysts can take all of the info received through review sites like Yelp and feedback on social media to determine how you can improve on the customer service side to keep your customers coming back.
Good analytics can also give you a good read on your competitors and determine where they may be falling short. Your organization can use this information to adapt your marketing so you can capture those lost customers who cannot get what they need elsewhere.
Once you know what must be done to benefit your business, you need the best people on your staff to help achieve your goals, and data science can help with this as well. Analysts can review the background of potential candidates based on their social media, job sites, and internet presence to determine who may be the best fit. Hire these excellent candidates, and the circle of success continues.
If you haven’t thought about adding a data scientist to your team, now is the time to consider the option. This talented individual can analyze your needs and help your business grow in ways you never realized were possible.