Do small companies need data science? Absolutely! In the modern business landscape data is everything - it tells you everything that you need to know about your customers, your marketing approaches, your products and more in order to make your business a success.
Do you know if your marketing campaigns are succeeding? Do you know why this is the case? Do you know who your ‘average’ customers are? Do you know what they like, where they are likely to see your marketing materials, how they like to be spoken to?
Good quality data science can tell you all of this and plenty more besides - and because these are questions that businesses of all shapes and sizes should be asking themselves and be very interested in what the answers are - it’s not hard to see why the answer to the question ‘do small companies need data science?’ is such a resounding yes.
That said, answering these questions isn’t the only benefit that good data science can have for your business, so let’s look at some more below:
The benefits of data science
Data science reduces the cost of data storage and acquisition. Good data science provision also improves data quality and provides the potential for flexible sourcing of data resources. When you’re trying to answer the question ‘do small companies need data science?’ looking at some of the benefits of good data science provision might help you make your decision. Those benefits include:
• Reducing data costs
• Improving data quality
• Allowing for greater efficiency in processing data
• Allowing for greater integration between business processes and technologies
• Providing greater insight into your customers' patterns
• Generating more informed marketing messages
These benefits have invigorated the formally non-existent field of data science. The term ‘data science’ is a bit broad however. and It can be broken down into a lot of different sub-topics.
To begin with, let's look at what people mean when they mention data science.
In some regards, data science could be seen as merely ‘understanding a database’ However, those in the know understand that this is just the starting point. When you’re looking to answer the question ‘do small companies need data science?’ you also need to bear in mind the following sub-disciplines - all useful services that a good data science provider should be able to offer you:
• Data interpretation
• Professional advice & insights related to data
• Data driven business planning
• Data mapping
• Data quality assessments
• Data validation
• Data completion
Those who use applications like SQL or Excel, or even old-school pen and paper methods like ledgers, will be able to relate how their businesses work. These businesses rely on data, and (data science) to help analyse prior performance and plan their next moves. So, do small companies need data science? You bet they do!
Firms that offer SQL or Excel training will be able to integrate the tools more effectively. The knowledge will be beneficial and transferable. Put simply, if they want to play the game like the big names do small companies need data science - it is something that can give them the edge against larger companies, and something that can help them compete (and beat) them.
So, now that you’ve seen the benefits, I’m going to ask you again - do small companies need data science?
Making the change to a data-driven approach
When organisations transition to a system like SQL or Excel, data management within the application is consolidated. The database is the guide that the user manipulating the data follows.
This brings us to why SQL or Excel can be such powerful tools. These applied systematic technologies make the application of data science quicker and easier than other methods, apply their powers more efficiently. They also speed up the integration of new data or keeping existing data up to date.
We’ve spoken above about how to compete like bigger businesses in their industry do small companies need data science, and this is because Data science is fundamental to a data-driven approach, free from hunches and guesswork, and which delivers success by only dealing with concrete facts and realities. The integration of databases and enterprise information management technologies, and the relational database approach to database processing, ADCs, and E-business all fit comfortably under the umbrella of data science.