Starting a business is usually perceived to be as simple as just having an idea. But that is usually the least part and the most interesting part of it all. The bigger bulk of the work is setting up the business and ensuring it is up and running as effectively as possible. Businesses usually have a life cycle that they run by. This refers to the trend that all businesses go through while they exist. There are seven common phases in the life cycle, and they are Seed- Start up- Growth- Established- Expansion- Mature- Exit. This is the normal path that Businesses are supposed to take as they establish themselves. Despite it being the trend, things don’t usually go this way and somewhere along the road issues might crop up and cause the intended path to be aborted.
When this issues crop up, the management usually has to sit down and try to find a way out of the predicament and if all known avenues cannot work then the company may have to go under. At times the management may end up making the decision to liquidate the business yet upon closer scrutiny this was not necessary. This is because most organizations tend to overlook the resources that they possess. These resources in question are not necessarily the human or financial resources but the resource in question here is their Data Resource. The stark reality is that most organizations are Data Rich but Insight Poor!
According to statistics on the ground, all that a company needs to rejuvenate and propel itself to higher levels can be found in their own company records. We are living at an age whereby we are creating new data every new second and it’s translating into overwhelming amounts of data that we are not sure how to handle or what to do with it. The truth is that most businesses have more than enough data to use constructively but they lack the know-how. We can closely take a look at our own local Nakumatt Supermarket.
Nakumatt supermarket has over 20 branches not only in Kenya but in Eastern Africa. This means that they have a very large Customer base. As a customer in Nakumatt,one is usually advised to get a Nakumatt Smart Card whereby upon every shopping trip one gains smart points that are usually redeemed at a time when Nakumatt deems it fit for them. For a customer to acquire a card, the supermarket has to gather information about the customer that they store in their database, for future reference. Loyal customers at Nakumatt feel that they should have the smart card because considering they shop there every day they are sure to garner enough points that they can redeem when Nakumatt announces. This to some extent keeps the customers loyal to Nakumatt, but is there more that can be done using this client information that Nakumatt can use to increase their customer numbers? Of course there is.
The Smart cards can enable the supermarket to effectively categorize their customers into the loyal ones and the not-so-loyal ones. This shows them the ones who can easily be poached by their competition and thus gives them a chance to try and solidify the loyalty of these customers before another competitor takes them away. This can be done by close monitoring of the Smart cards level of activity. A loyal customer will definitely get to use their card a lot as compared to the inconsistent one who might seldom use it because they are also shopping elsewhere. The information gathered from the loyalty card will show the satisfaction levels of the inconsistent customers and help the management prioritize actions that will prevent these customers from leaving and keep them happy and glued to the supermarket.
This example shows that despite Nakumatt Supermarket being held in high esteem in the business world there is still so much they can do to become even better. That is how the SMART use of an organizations data can help increase opportunities and fine-tune procedures and operations to squeeze out every last drop of competence. You want to know how to effectively use your businesses data to move your organization to new height, consult with our experts at Kenvision Techniks Limited and you will be able to accurately make decisions for your business that will see you soar to new heights.
