Blog

The determining factor in achieving success or failure in business is increasingly data and the effectiveness of interaction with them. Now, information can be obtained from many different sources using available technologies to extract it. Today we are witnessing a shift from an «intuitive» decision-making model to a business model where all decisions are made based on reliable data. Such a wave will cover all industries in 2023 and beyond. This approach adds more confidence in the correctness of the decisions and actions taken.

Data and analytics world is very dynamic, where new technologies are constantly emerging for faster and more accurate access to information. New trends encourage consideration of ways to use them in business and in society.

The most important data and analytics trends for business development in 2023 are:

1. Data democratization

Expanding the ability to work with data of all team members is one of the important trends of this year. Data democratization refers to providing improved access to data for each team member in order to fulfill duties and tasks. In addition to access to data, it is necessary to organize a learning process to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. This will help to use data qualitatively, draw the right conclusions and identify new ideas and opportunities. In turn, this implies new forms of augmented work (apps, tools, and devices delivering intelligent ideas to each employee for better results).

Understanding customers, developing a quality product and service, optimizing internal operations, reducing costs are all possible with the help of data. More and more companies are realizing this. However, the ability to work with data and make decisions based on it must be available to all departments of the company and all staff (technical and non-technical).

An example is the use of natural language processing (NLP) tools by lawyers to scan document pages. Also, the use of hand-held terminals by sales assistants to access real-time purchase history, allowing them to better recommend products and make additional sales. A study by the McKinsey Institute found that companies that provide enhanced data access to their employees claim the positive impact of analytics on revenue.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence will have the greatest impact on the life of business and life in general in the future. Its main objectives will be to improve the accuracy of forecasts, reduce the time required for daily and repetitive work (data collection, cleaning, etc.), providing more opportunities for users to act based on data, regardless of roles and technical knowledge.

AI aims to make the process of analyzing data and extracting valuable information faster and more understandable using software algorithms. Today, the principles of machine learning and AI technologies are most often used in business. These include NLP, that allows computers to understand human language and communicate with us, computer vision to understand and process visual information using cameras, and generative AI to create texts, images, sounds and videos.

3. Cloud and Data-as-a-Service (DaaS)

The work of Data-as-a-Service technology is implemented with the help of cloud. Companies have access to data sources collected and processed by third parties through cloud services. Payment for such services occurs upon the use of services or by subscription. As a result, companies don’t need to build their own costly data collection and storage systems for many types of applications. In addition, DaaS providers offer analytics tools as a service.

4. Real time data

When working with data to find new solutions and insights, it is critical to understand the current situation. Outdated data (yesterday, last week, etc.) is of no use in this case. Only real-time data is a valuable source of information for business.

Working with such data involves a more complex data infrastructure and analytics, which increases costs accordingly. However, being able to act «here and now» based on data (analysis of data on site visits, determining the best offers and promotions for each client, tracking transactions, and much more) is a strong advantage. Facebook analyzes hundreds of gigabytes of data per second for a variety of use cases, including displaying ads, preventing fake news, and more. Real-time video analysis is performed in a South African national park to detect poachers.

5. Regulation and data management

Many governments are taking data security into account. Laws are being passed to regulate usage of personal and other data types. Now, there are such data protection regulations: GDPR (Europe), PIPEDA (Canada), PIPL (China). Gartner predicts that 65% of the world’s population will be covered by GDPR-like regulations in the near future.

This will affect every company, regardless of its location. Their internal processes for processing and storing data will need to be documented in a certain way. It also means that companies will have to be tested to see if they know and understand what information they have, what data they collect and store, and for what purpose it is used. Of course, this can become additional work. However, it will be an advantage in the long run. When entrusting their data to the company, it is important for customers to be sure of their security. In turn, companies can use customer data to improve their products or services, as well as develop new ones based on customer needs.