Not a day goes by without talk of ‘big data’, and it’s certainly true that there has never before been so much information generated on human activity. The digital world has turned us into data producers; everything there is to know about us is stored as data and if we aren’t careful, even the most intimate parts of our lives are in danger of falling into the public eye.
For those in the world of commerce in general, and of course in FMCG, information is becoming a key element that enables us to focus resources and sell more and better. But to be honest, I’m not convinced when people talk about ‘big data’ as if it were a miracle solution without properly considering what it actually allows them to do and how it can help them. That’s why I much prefer the emerging concept of ‘smart data’.
Obviously size matters, but ultimately the value of information is determined by how we use it. Merely accumulating data without a concrete strategy and objective overwhelms servers, and more importantly users, without having a demonstrable impact on business results. What do we really get out of the data lake that has taken us so much time, effort and money to build? Some industry professionals say ‘we have everything’. Okay… but how much of this ‘everything’ is actually operational and available to improve business efficiency?
That’s why we have to be smart, which means deciding what information we want to use, and what we can leverage to make our businesses grow and achieve our objectives. Being smart starts with knowing what we’re looking for, or at least identifying the areas that can act as potential drivers of business and strategy. We can then adapt our technical solutions according to these objectives, instead of the other way around. This requires knowing how to bridge the gap between business and technical aspects. It’s an art that combines very different professionals, but when orchestrated and executed well, it enables data to become smart – and therefore more effective.
In the FMCG world, sell-out POS data is surely the most important of all. It reveals the real pulse of a business and is the final judge of how successful the manufacturer and distributor’s marketing strategies are. However, it’s no miracle in itself: just a succession of EANs, store codes, dates, value and volume… little more. In this form, data is very ‘big’ but certainly not very ‘smart’. Making it smart involves more calculations, connections and benchmarking with other data provided by panels, ERP software, sales force and other sources that put it into perspective and give it meaning. Being smart also means having the flexibility to adapt to constantly changing business needs and circumstances. Knowing how to adapt is the key to evolution!
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Interested in this topic? Learn more about smart data here: https://www.universidadviu.es/smart-data-importante/