Data crunching has been popular since a very long time. And organizations have been using data even before analytics became popular. What we are seeing today is the industrialization of data crunching and insight gathering. We are in the midst of an explosion—a veritable data deluge, as I mentioned—and there seem to be no signs that this will change. Presently, companies have the required knowledge and tools to extract data about their customers, business units, and partners. This includes systems such as CRM, social media channels, ERP application, POS applications, and almost all IT applications, which churn out large amounts of valuable data. With the power of analytics, businesses can make use of this information, using algorithms and tools. Data can be meaningful only when it is analyzed, shared, and made available to the relevant people. What is important is to identify what data benefits you, and at times, this decision has to be determined in nanoseconds.
