Some of the challenges mixing data and small business

Posted on by Lani Haque

I’ve been searching to see what kinds of problems, obstacles, any information about what small businesses face when it comes to data, big data, data sciences, data analytics and everything else data related.  I found some interesting articles.  The first article I came across was Business Analytics Challenges Faced by Small Businesses .  It talks about some of the more common challenges or myths when it comes to mixing data and small business.  This list includes,

Challenges and mythos of data and small business

  1. Business analytics is too expensive
  2. Lack of adoption by team members
  3. Data overload
  4. Measuring the wrong indicators

Something to take away from this article and list is to have clear objectives as to what your key “performance indicators” are or will be as the business moves forward.  This requires some thought and sometimes discussion around this is required.  Data overload can be managed through visualization of data.  Once things can be seen in some kind of organized fashion through tables, charts, graphs, figures, anything that is a bit more “appealing” visually, it becomes easier to wrap your head around and slowly understand and interpret.  When you’re actually in the business, the data is all around you and it’s possible to have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, as they say.  Data blind spots, as they mention in the article, develop.  This can be due to focusing too much on one aspect of the data and business. For example, financial metrics, or inventory.  As mentioned in the article, this can lead to reactive actions rather than thoughtful and the proactive actions.  Stepping back and asking a variety of questions not the most reactive one.  For example, profits are down.  Why are profits down?  Spending too much?  So lower spending.  But perhaps it’s something else.  So perhaps looking more closely at why the sales are down as that is where the profits will come from.

Another article that was great was 5 Data Management Challenges Facing Small Business Owners.  In this article they start by all the hats small business owners wear, sales person, manager, accountant and now data scientist, whatever that means.  A small business owner has limited time and money so anything that will help save time and money and make the business more efficient and maximize profits, is welcome.  So trying to figure out how to use data science, data analytics, statistics etc to do this is the goal.  Some questions for handling data that they suggest are as follows:

Questions to consider when handling data

  1. Do you have a data strategy?
  2. What and how are you collecting your data?
  3. Where are you going to store the data?
  4. Who are you sharing your data with?
  5. When do you use your data?

These all sound like great questions but its first understanding the question and what it’s asking.  A data strategy consists of how the data will be collected, handled, managed and stored.  But also why you’re collecting it and what pieces of data to collect exactly?  This ties into the second question in the article.  There are various ways to collect data, through print, digital means, in person.  Storing data is another concern. When the business starts out there may not be too much data as there aren’t many sales or customers yet.  But that will change and all the data will start flowing in.  There are all kinds of platforms  such as dropbox, google drive that are free up to a point then charge a small fee.  The main take away from this point is to choose a storage platform that allows for growth.  Sharing the data sounds strange but this includes using the data with other program and software.  So being able to easier import and export the data, mobility of the data in some sense.   Finally, when are you going to use all this data?  The financial data everyone is using and has a good sense of when to use it.  But there is a lot of other data out there now that can be tapped into.  For example, social media data, location data of customers, date and time of sales data, etc.  These can all be used, but when and for what purpose?  This ties into what data you’re collection.  If you’re collecting it, there must be a reason why?

References:

Business Analytics Challenges Faced by Small Businesses, Haney, J, Dec 2017, URL: https://businesspartnermagazine.com/business-analytics-challenges-faced-by-small-businesses/

5 Data management Challenges Facing Small Business Owners, Crompton, J.C., Sept 2016, URL: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281058

Lani Haque
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Lani Haque

I enjoy learning and sharing that knowledge. Sharing has been in many forms over the years, as a teaching assistant, university lecturer, Pilates instructor, math tutor and just sharing with friends and family. Throughout, summarizing what I have learnt in words has always been there and continues to through blog posts, articles, video and the ever growing forms of content out there!

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