We would all like to tell the future, especially when it comes to business. Thankfully, we can with predictive analytics.
Predictive analytics is not new. It’s been around for years, helping businesses make predictions about unknown events based on existing data. However, what is new is the current and emerging technology that is making it easier than ever to see into the future, rather than reacting to what has already happened.
So, how can your business take advantage? Consider the following:
- Optimize Marketing
Customer responses, purchases, and cross-selling opportunities can all be predicted with the right data. For instance, if your system sees a customer shopping for baby supplies, it makes sense that in a year or two, they will probably be looking for toddler supplies, and so on. This data can help you understand your customer demographics and buying habits that much better, so your marketing campaigns can be targeted to your most profitable opportunities.
- Boost Cyber Security
Predictive analytics can improve pattern detection and prevent criminal behavior. Cyber security is of paramount importance these days and it’s not something to be taken lightly. High-performance analytics can analyze all actions on a network in real time and spot abnormalities that may indicate fraud, vulnerabilities, and threats.
- Improve Business Operations
Forecast inventory, manage resources, and even set prices for the future. For instance, airlines use predictive analytics to set ticket prices and hotels try to predict the number of guests for any given night for occupancy and revenue.
Even if your business isn’t one where prices can fluctuate, you can still use predictive analytics to improve your business functions, like keeping inventory lower during a slower time of year or bringing on more staff when you know it will be busier.
You can also spot inefficiencies in your processes and optimize your work cycle from start to finish.
- Catch Risky Deals
One real-life example of predictive analytics is a credit score. This is used to assess a buyer’s likelihood of defaulting on a loan or payment. Other related uses might be insurance claims and collections. Or in health care, predictive analytics might be able to identify those with a higher risk of diabetes, for example. Whatever your business, you can use predictive analytics to identify a client’s ability to pay.
If you want to start using predictive analytics in your business, the right technology can help. Often, companies have a gold mine of data already available, if only they had the right tools to mine that gold. And then maybe there is data that you want to track that you do not currently have easy access to. Every business is unique, and you need solutions that can support your individual needs.
If you’re looking at software, there’s a lot of choices today. You want to make sure that you’re picking technology that is customizable for you, easy to use, and that integrates with your current systems.
As with any technology project, it can take a lot of time and company resources to explore your options, which is usually the opposite of what you want if you’re looking into predictive analytics to save costs and increase productivity. But you don’t have to do this alone.
At SHEA Global, we can help you identify the best predictive analytics opportunities for your business, and the tools to help you get there. We can also help with data migration and integration, so no important information is lost in the transition process.
Learn more about our data solutions today. Call (905) 470 6830 or visit SHEAGlobal.com.