By Kehad Snydewel
Green Managing Director.
In the modern world, the pursuit of money has to many become an obsessive activity. There’s nothing wrong with earning money, as long as it’s done with a certain goal in mind. This train of thought and discussion I recently had, got me thinking. We are consumed by the need to acquire things, stuff, and as much money as we can.
This is not just a Namibian obsession, all around the world it seems people are pursuing the same goal. Having money to buy nice things, a nice house, a nice car, nice holidays and other essentials and luxuries is great. Having piles of money for the sake of just having it, makes no sense. The same can be said about information.
Companies, Governments, and Institutions are constantly collecting data. Through their websites and their apps, every time you scan a barcode or a QR code, more data and information is collected. Everything is measured and stored, both quantitively and qualitatively. They harvest this data, so much of it these days that it’s become known as Big Data.
Having information, data, and business intelligence, gives you an edge. Some say it gives you ‘the edge’, giving you enough power to leverage during election times and change the mindset of whole sections of a population. Information and data are only assets if you use them. Just like money. Companies and governments harvest data and store petabytes of the stuff but don’t use it as effectively as they could. If you have money that you don’t know what to do with, you call upon a financial advisor.
In the same vein, experts can assist organizations in harnessing all this information to make it work to perfect service delivery, create efficiencies, or increase productivity. Data Analytics (DA) and Business Intelligence (BI) software are used all around the world. Namibian industries like; banking, insurance, and retail as well as (local) government can leverage DA and BI and discover patterns of behaviour and figure out what products or services are popular. Even the hospitality industry could use all the data on tourists coming to our beautiful country to grow the industry and cater to the traveller’s needs.
The recent uptake and developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools mean you can now detect inconsistencies in your information and data in real time. For example, if the analytics results are out of sync with what you expected, an AI chatbot can help investigate why this might be. It assists in cleansing your data. This can lead to major savings, and improvements in processes and make an organization more agile.
Just imagine using the data to be able to do; faster reporting, analysis, or planning, make better predictions and business decisions, improve workflow, cut costs, tailor customer interactions, or improve your competitive advantage. These are just a few things that you can do by implementing DA and BI. Just capture and utilize the information and data that is swirling around in the organization.
Use your information intelligently, store it securely and according to international regulations and guidelines, and use it to improve your business, your organization, or government services. If you are unsure of how to do this, just as you would get a financial advisor, get a data consultant. Namibia has data analytics and business intelligence specialists, hiring them will take your organization to the next level, whatever the size of your organisation.
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