The importance of data has proven its worth in today’s digital
age especially in the fields of ecommerce, business, or almost anyone who uses
a computer. Business leaders nowadays heavily rely on their gathered data to
make better decisions for their company in terms of profit. Data collection used such as phone surveys,
email marketing, or even people-to-people meet ups on malls are essential for
the business to learn more about their customers’ wants and needs. Whatever the method, most data had to be
collected manually for businesses to understand their customers and market
better. Because of the financial cost, time, difficulty of execution, and more
associated with data collection, many companies operated with limited data.
I personally sometimes participate in online surveys that
companies hire to get data from people. Surveys would often ask about job,
income, what products you have bought in the last 6 months or so, and sometimes
they would show a video of their newly-made commercial and you input your
thoughts, reactions, first impressions about it. I really thought it was cool
to participate in one of those once in a while, but getting them done every
month is quite tiresome.
Data and Databases
As I am writing this article, I instantly use data when I
save this article in my computer. Its data consist of the date I made it, the
author’s name, etc. It’s the same with business. Any business with a website, a
social media account, an online form that accepts electronic payments of some
form, etc., has data about customers, user experience, web traffic, and more.
All that data is filled with potential if you can learn to utilize it to
improve your business.
Data that has been given by a customer will be stored in a place
called a database. There are different types of databases. There are small
databases used for simple data storage for single users and there are big
databases that store huge amounts of data and information from big businesses
or commercial vendors such as in ecommerce websites, financial institutions
with banking features, and more.
Big companies or enterprises need big databases to store
information that is not open to the public such as employee records, company
files, contracts, and more. Master data is typically shared by multiple users
and groups across an organization and stored on different systems. Databases
such as Microsoft’s SQL uses master data services which is Microsoft’s solution
for managing master data.
Data is Good for the Environment, Too
Data is not only limited to enterprises and big companies. Did
you know that the waste and recycling industry stands to benefit from utilizing
data as well? For developed countries, the
use of data allows for garbage trucks to determine the best route to take,
which not only reduces emissions but increases operational efficiency as well.
This is really beneficial to all countries and I hope more truck companies would
consider using it. I have to admit, the utilization of data seems to be in the
early stages of the waste and recycling industries. I just hope that data
systems can one day expand to improve recycling rates.
