With the growing amount of data, more and more companies are investing in BI tools. These are solutions that help transform data into visual elements, i.e., charts, reports, and dashboards. By using these tools, companies can make better decisions and monetize data. In this article, we will show you how to visualize data and learn how to monetize data.
Data visualization
The data contains vital details hidden that can help your business grow. The problem, however, is that looking only at the raw numbers, it is not always possible to interpret them properly. When you present your data visually, you can see patterns, connections, and other important elements.
Data visualization is nothing more than presenting data in the form of images or charts. Visual elements such as diagrams, charts, graphs, and maps facilitate understanding trends or irregularities in data sets. Thus, the possibility of interactive visualization allows you to understand the concept better. Processing a large amount of information and its visualization allow users to make the right decisions faster.
Data visualization tools
BI systems are solutions used to aggregate data from various sources and then visualize them in the form of KPI Dashboards. There is a wide range of data visualization tools in the Business Intelligence market. Here are some that you can choose from:
- Power BI
- Tableau
- Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting
- Oracle Smart View for Office
- Infor BI Office Plus
The selection of an appropriate BI tool depends on the data sources used in which the company collects data. Companies that use these tools may notice the following benefits:
- Greater work efficiency
- Better decisions (based on facts, not intuition)
- Better understanding of customer needs
- Creating accurate forecasts
- Faster response to market trends
BI software is the most used technology for data monetization. This is influenced by the provision of data through reporting and benchmarking. What is data monetization?
Data monetization
Data monetization is the process of using data to obtain measurable financial benefits. There are two main ways businesses can monetize data. The first is cost reduction, that is, using data to increase productivity or reduce consumption and waste – raw materials or activities that do not translate into too much value for the company. The second, in turn, is the increase in revenues – the use of data analysis to improve sales results or actions to improve the retention of existing customers.
According to research, 17% of companies have taken data monetization initiatives. The largest retail, services, finance, and banking companies currently take the lead in data monetization[1].
How to start
The more ways to use data and analytics, tools, and systems to facilitate it, the greater the chances of increasing their value. To maximize the value of data analytics, start by understanding:
- The source of your data
- Data role
- The information that appears as a result of the analytics
You must be aware of where the data comes from and how important it is for individual stakeholders. Organize your data. Many organizations lack information about data quality, where it is stored, the processes that generate it, and what it actually means. To monetize data analytics, you must start an internal analyzing process. Think about what kind of data you have about your business partners, customers, products, assets, or transactions. In addition to analyzing your own resources, you should remember to analyze publicly available databases. Oftentimes, such data can add value to proprietary information collected within an organization.
How to monetize your data with business intelligence
Companies can monetize data using business intelligence services. How? By creating visualizations, dashboards, and reports to define:
- Customer purchasing trends
- More prosperous sources
- Which advertising channels bring the best revenues, etc.
There are two methods to monetize data with BI. The first approach is to create new revenue streams. The second, on the other hand, involves improving the existing ones. Let’s look at these methods in more detail.
FIRST APPROACH: NEW REVENUE STREAMS
There are many ways to increase your revenue with the use of data analytics. Here are the most common ways businesses use:
- Acquiring new customers
- Creating a new product or service (based on customer feedback as well as data observation)
- Creating discounts or coupons using data
- Premium service upon additional prior purchase
SECOND APPROACH: IMPROVEMENT OF EXISTING ONES
It is also possible to monetize data by improving your current revenue streams. The most common ways to do this include:
- More effective ad targeting
- Better customer service
- Achieving a higher revenue-per-customer
Conclusion
Analytics and data can be used for multiple purposes simultaneously, making the potential to benefit from them enormously. Moreover, data-driven assets have relatively low maintenance costs. Many organizations increasingly use BI tools to visualize data. Besides, some companies are looking for different ways to use the data they collect. One of them is data monetization.
[1] https://bi-survey.com/data-monetization
