A Peek About What is Data and Its Importance



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.


1 comment: