Picture this: You’re in the world’s largest library. Answers for every question, solutions for every problem, and insights for every issue are available. However, there is one small catch: You are entirely illiterate. You have all the information in the world at your fingertips, and it is only helpful to you with the proper skills and tools to understand it.
Data dominates the world. According to Domo’s “Data Never Sleeps” statistics, every minute of the day, there are 5.9 million searches on Google, 1.7 million pieces of content shared on Facebook, and $433,000 worth of orders purchased through Amazon alone. The worldwide volume of data is skyrocketing, going from a total of two zettabytes—which is equal to around 2 trillion gigabytes—in 2010 to 79 zettabytes in 2022. For reference, 79 zettabytes is equivalent to 1.32 trillion copies of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The graph below shows that worldwide annual data volume is projected to increase steadily. An immense amount of data is available to the everyday consumer, but without the skills and tools to understand it, that data is utterly useless.
Data Analytics: Changing the World
Understanding and using data analytics is the key to being literate in a data-driven world. Harvard Business School defined data analytics as “the practice of examining data to answer questions, identify trends, and extract insights.” In other words, data analytics is the ability to organize, interpret, and utilize the data that is in the world. In the marketing and business world, every company tries to improve itself and become as efficient and profitable as possible. When properly utilized, data analytics can enable businesses to optimize and improve nearly every aspect of their company. Data analysis will show a company’s strengths and weaknesses and can help find solutions to improve strengths and negate weaknesses.
As technology becomes an integral part of the business and marketing world, more and more companies are starting to jump on the bandwagon of data analytics. The more data analytics is used, the more valuable it becomes as new analytics applications are discovered and developed. Data analytics is changing the business world, allowing a company to find insights into the most minor details of its sales and marketing scheme.
Data analytics can find the most valuable changes for a company that will increase profits while decreasing costs. Data analytics can help companies know when and where to sell a particular product or even how a certain demographic of people receives a product. As the business and marketing world keeps growing, data analytics will also increase, giving companies numerous opportunities to improve their business.
Walmart: Understanding the "Great Value" of Data Analytics
Walmart is an excellent example of a company utilizing data analytics to capitalize on the significant volume of available data. Throughout the years, Walmart has made considerable advances in data analysis to improve its business. In 2017, Walmart created what it calls the Data Café, a data hub that takes in 200 streams of data from different sources—everything from meteorological data to shelf placement of products in specific stores to social media insights—and analyzes and processes around 2.5 petabytes every hour, which is equal to 2.5 million gigabytes.
From this gathered and processed data, Walmart can improve its stores’ efficiency and business. Walmart uses the data collected to make pharmacies more efficient, improve store checkout, streamline supply chains, optimize product assortment, improve customers’ experiences, and tailor individual stores’ marketing and product availability. Data analytics can also be used to find and solve problems before they become problems.
Walmart is reaping the benefits of data analytics through increased efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Already one of the largest retailers in the world, Walmart’s advancements and efforts to utilize data analytics ensure that its position at the forefront of the business world can be maintained.
Data Analytics: One Size Fits All
Although a large-scale data analytics investment like Walmart’s is not possible for every business, and the vastness of Walmart’s global business schemes can be daunting, a small-town startup can reap the benefits of data analytics just as well as a worldwide superstore. UMass Global listed just a few of the advantages and ways data analytics can be utilized in the business world:
Patterns, Trends and Insights
Data analytics can identify and track patterns, trends, and insights for a business; information can be gathered on everything from where a product should be placed in the store to what type of customers are more likely to buy a particular item.
User Targeting
Through data analytics, gathered information can be used to focus on a specific customer’s interests, needs, and wants, enabling a company to give each customer an individual experience.
Customer Service
Tools like chatbots, AI-enabled customer service agents, can collect and analyze customer data to give custom and quick responses to questions and concerns. Data analysis can also help customer support teams locate and fix customer issues more quickly and efficiently.
Efficiency and Profitability
The efficiency increases available through data analytics allow for streamlining and improving production, operations, and supply chain management. These improvements will inevitably help lower costs, raise profits, and increase the overall profitability of the company.
Understanding the benefits and applications of data analytics is essential, but it can still be hard for a specific company to know how to start reaping those benefits. Luckily, the “how” does not have to be figured out by an individual company. Companies like Domo, Adobe, Integrate.io, Oxagile, Science Soft, and others are here to help. These companies have expertise, experience, and technology that can be brought to a company to help them understand and utilize the data coming in.
Moving Forward: Don't Get Left Behind
The world will increasingly rely on the ever-growing volume of data, and the companies that will be at the forefront of the future are the ones who learn to put that data to work for them. Look to the example of companies such as Walmart and don’t wait to reap the benefits of data analytics. After understanding the benefits and uses of data analytics, don’t get caught being illiterate in the world’s largest library.
Notes
1. Trademark Walmart
2. "Data Never Sleeps 10.0” Domo. Last modified September 21, 2022, [https://www.domo.com/data-never-sleeps](https://www.domo.com/data-never-sleeps)
3. "Volume of data/information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide from 2010 to 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025." Statista. Last modified September 8, 2022, [https://www-statista-com.byu.idm.oclc.org/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/](https://www-statista-com.byu.idm.oclc.org/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/)
4. Catherine Cote, “4 Types of Data Analytics to Improve Decision-Making,” last modified October 19, 2021, [https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/types-of-data-analysis](https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/types-of-data-analysis).
5. Bernard Marr, “Really Big Data at Walmart: Real-Time Insights From Their 40+ Petabyte Data Cloud.” Forbes Magazine, May 13, 2019, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/01/23/really-big-data-at-walmart-real-time-insights-from-their-40-petabyte-data-cloud/?sh=5ba00e776c10](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/01/23/really-big-data-at-walmart-real-time-insights-from-their-40-petabyte-data-cloud/?sh=5ba00e776c10).
6. Marr, “Really Big Data”
7. “5 Ways Walmart Uses Big Data to Help Customers,” last modified August 7, 2017, [https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/innovation/20170807/5-ways-walmart-uses-big-data-to-help-customers](https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/innovation/20170807/5-ways-walmart-uses-big-data-to-help-customers)
8. Marr, “Really Big Data”
9. “Big Data Examples: 6 Ways It’s Transforming Business.” UMass Global. University of Massachusetts. Accessed November 2022, [https://www.umassglobal.edu/news-and-events/blog/big-data-examples-ways-its-transforming-](https://www.umassglobal.edu/news-and-events/blog/big-data-examples-ways-its-transforming-)