John Cradden reveals how small businesses can turn their own data into a growth engine.
For many small business owners, data analytics might not sound like the kind of technology investment that would deliver results instantly without a considerable investment in coding expertise or data science training.
But in today’s digital-everything economy, nearly all business systems provide quick, extensive and accessible data insights that can help you make smarter strategic decisions, improve operational efficiency and boost profits.
“Whatever approach you take, you can turn your data into information that can truly lead the way forward to enhanced growth in the future”
From point-of-sale (POS) systems to customer relationship management (CRM) software and analytics platforms, data-driven insights are no longer exclusive to large firms with bottomless budgets, nor do they need to be processed by highly trained data scientists.
If you subscribe to some popular cloud-based services, you are likely to have access to data analytics tools and service add-ons that can be easily integrated into your existing setup, but valuable data insights could easily come about by simply exploring functionalities in your current systems that you may not have been aware of.
Whatever approach you take, you can turn your data into information that can truly lead the way forward to enhanced growth in the future.
POS for shopping trends
Modern POS systems can collect information not just on transactions, but also sales patterns, what’s selling and what’s not, and customer purchasing habits. This data can be used to better manage inventory, such as automatically re-ordering fast-selling items and reducing overstock of slow-selling products.
It’s also useful for optimising staff scheduling to ensure times of peak demand are fully resourced and for recognising when certain sales individuals are performing well.
From a marketing perspective, POS data can support efforts to quickly create bundled offers and prompts for upselling suggestions when customers are at the checkout phase of the buying process.
Such systems may be geared more towards online shopping, but companies like VisionR, an Irish startup, offers a software solution that enable bricks and mortar retailers to gain the same data insights that those who use ecommerce, using physical sensors.
Google Analytics for online performance
If your business has a website or ecommerce platform, a tool like Google Analytics can help them understand clearly who their customers are, where they come from, and how they interact with the site. For example, a local retailer can track which online campaigns generate the most traffic and sales, allowing for better allocation of marketing budgets.
There is a premium version of Google Analytics, but this is designed for firms with large and complex needs. The free version (called GA4) is a powerful tool for any small business, but there are a number of alternative platforms with free versions, such as Matomo, Plausible Analytics, Adobe Analytics and Clicky.
Social media platforms also have built-in analytics features that allow you to set marketing KPIs, monitor impressions in real-time and compile in-depth reports.
CRM for customer relationships
It may not surprise you to learn that your CRM system can track customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history, enabling personalised marketing and better customer service.
For service-based businesses, CRMs help schedule appointments, manage follow-ups, and automate communications—freeing up time for business owners to focus on growth.
Once the preserve of larger firms, affordable CRM tools such as those from HubSpot and Zoho will have functions that allow small businesses to trigger automated birthday or loyalty emails, follow up leads quickly, track service or repair histories and class customers based on their buying behaviour.
Challenges and issues
Combining insights from all the above tools – POS, analytics and CRM – to give you a holistic view of operations that can really drive those vital strategic decisions.
But if your business is new to data analytics, particularly in the use of the latest generation of AI-driven analytical tools, there are a few issues and challenges to be aware of.
- Data quality and accuracy: The data analytics will only work if the underlying data is good quality, clean, accurate and relevant.
- Data integration: The data you have will come from a variety of sources, so it must all be integrated into a single, unified entity, which will require some work
- Scalability: Data analytics can be resource intensive, which can make it difficult to scale up your capabilities as demand grows.
- Data privacy and security: The more data that is transferred, the higher the risks of introducing vulnerabilities that will comprise privacy and security and breach GDPR rules.
- Skills: Data science is a fast-growing area, which means a greater demand for talent and a need to upskill existing staff.
- Data democratisation: It’s important to make data accessible and understandable to everyone in the organisation, not just those responsible for handling it.
As the digital transformation accelerates, data literacy is becoming a vital skill for business owners. Consider availing of initiatives like the Local Enterprise Office’s Grow Digital voucher programme, which can help small businesses access funding and support to implement data tools.
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