One of the top benefits of becoming a data-driven organization is the ability to quickly sense and respond to changes in market dynamics and customer behaviors. According to Enterprise Apps Today, as companies seek new ways to grow their revenues and expand their customer bases, predictive analytics can help teams and business leaders obtain a real-time view of operational and business conditions—and become more nimble with decision-making and execution.
Predicting Customer Needs
For instance, a line of business manager for a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company can analyze customer and market data to identify changing attitudes and buying patterns within specific geographics or categories (e.g. frozen foods, jams/jellies).
A deep dive into consumer buying behaviors and attitudes may reveal an opportunity for a CPG company to expand its offerings for low fat/no fat/no calorie options across a set of products that consumers are most interested in purchasing (e.g. yogurts, ice creams, frozen prepared meals, etc.).
Analytics also helps business leaders identify potential customer needs before customers reach out to their customer service centers for help. For instance, a pharmacy retailer can proactively contact customers to notify them when a prescription is due to be refilled or has to be renewed. Proactively reaching out to customers based on their needs and preferences can help companies strengthen customer relationships, build trust, and grow customer lifetime value.
Improving Readiness
The use of predictive analytics and data (both real time and near-real time) enable organizational leaders to identify opportunities to improve operational readiness and to avert equipment or supply-chain disruptions before they become problematic.
For example, team leaders for an airline’s maintenance crew can use analytics and data from existing aircraft to identify and forecast remaining equipment life, as well as maintenance or component replacement cycles based on flight hours or mileage and stress. The ability to anticipate when equipment maintenance is required can help the airline avert costly downtime and flight delays that can lead to customer dissatisfaction and churn.
