It’s been said a thousand times that data today is the new oil. Data is driving businesses to the pinnacle of success. Irrespective of what process you depend on, what product you choose, or what channel you use to interact with your customer, data lies at the foundation of every action you take, every decision you make. But just having this data is not going to lead you to the intended business results; you need to be able to constantly analyze and process this data to make timely and effective decisions. Enterprises and individual customers alike understand this. This belief is driving their expectations of the products they use too. This is exactly why I feel every software product today must be a data product; Here’s why.
The significance of data is continually growing
In today’s digital era, most organizations are quickly realizing the significance data plays in their digital transformation efforts. Seen as a valuable business asset, businesses can boost revenue via new, data-based business models. It is estimated that the global data analytics market will reach $24.63 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25% during the forecast period till 2030. Here is why the significance of data in delivering powerful outcomes across functions is continually growing:
- Data allows organizations to take action on hard facts, and not just intuition – improving the accuracy and precision of business decisions
- It enables them to assess their workflows, evaluate employee satisfaction as well as customer perception
- Using data, businesses can better forecast demand, plan their campaigns, and assess the performance of their marketing efforts
- Data also enables organizations to carry out effective and timely risk management, unearthing insights into business risks
- As the adoption of IoT increases, modern data analytics capabilities pave the way for constant analysis of the massive volumes of data generated by these devices to drive precipitate action
Data products are the future
Data products are applications or tools that leverage data to boost business decision-making. By constantly processing the data that is received by them, they enable everyday users to leverage modern capabilities across data modeling, data mining, prescriptive, descriptive, and predictive analysis, and more. They allow every day, non-data scientists to make the most of a variety of analysis methods to improve decisions and processes.
So, what makes data products so attractive?
They allow organizations to achieve business objectives faster: Achieving business objectives through informed decisions is one of the main drivers for widespread adoption. Since data products constantly analyze the data within them (or within the larger ecosystem), they provide users with the insights they need to improve processes, enhance products, and boost customer experience. Since the competitive advantages created through data-driven analysis add significant economic value, they enable organizations to enhance efficiency and strengthen market position.
They empower non-data users with data science capabilities: Given how complex data analysis can get, data products empower non-data users with top-notch data capabilities, making every user a data expert. Users, with no experience or proficiency in data science, can leverage the insights gathered by data products to make critical business decisions – without having to fall back on the data analytics team or engage in back-and-forth emails for the information they need to do their jobs.
They reduce the time needed to prep, cleanse, and process data: Data products, if woven into the overall business strategy, helps organizations save a substantial amount of time spent in analysis. Since these products constantly and automatically analyze the data they receive, they eliminate the need for manual, time-consuming, and tedious analysis tasks. Users no longer have to spend time or effort prepping, cleansing, or processing data – thus speeding up the process of turning insights into action.
As the revenue generated through data quickly becomes a key driver of business success, data products are experiencing immense popularity and adoption across business sectors. These self-adapting products can aid businesses quickly and more efficiently meet their business objectives. By empowering users with top-notch data analytics capabilities, they can accelerate the decision-making process while ensuring everyone has the insight they need to improve or enhance everyday tasks. There’s no doubt really. All software products must now become data products by baking in data analytics, reporting, visualization, and other capabilities into themselves.
Of course, evolving into a data product isn’t easy. While building a data product, make sure to offer a simple and intuitive user interface. Also, make sure to constantly gather feedback from users who use the products in their day-to-day work to improve their performance and functionality. It takes a very specific set of skills to do all that. But that’s a tale for another day.