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How Data Science Impacts Business: 6 Key Points

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By 2025, it’s expected that 463 exabytes of data will be created every single day. That’s equivalent to 116 billion movies. 

The world is drowning in data. And businesses are eager to use all those kilobytes and megabytes to drive sales and profit. By drawing on a range of disciplines, including statistics, business management, and computer science, data scientists are able to mine large sets of data and generate practical insights. 

In this post, you’ll learn six key points about this emerging industry and its impact on business. 

What Is Data Science?

In a nutshell, ‘data science’ refers to the process of organizing and understanding large amounts of data with a view to “drawing out” practical insights. As a subject, data science integrates an array of disciplines, including computer programming, statistics, business analytics, mathematics, and more

Because data has many business uses, companies are increasingly creating dedicated roles for data scientists. These individuals are able to gather data from across a company and use it to inform future decisions. 

Here are the main ways that data science boosts business performance.

1. Reduces Inefficiencies

Inefficiencies often cost businesses up to 30% of their revenue. Data scientists track a range of company-wide metrics – factory production times, delivery expenditure, employee productivity, and more – and pinpoint areas for improvement. 

By limiting wasted resources, it’s possible to lower overall costs and boost return-on-investment. It’s expected, for example, that big data will reduce healthcare costs in the US by 20%.

2. Predicts Trends and Customer Behavior 

Predictive models are essential business tools. Data scientists organize huge swathes of historical data and utilize it to inform planning processes, thus helping businesses make informed decisions about the future. 

On a practical level, data-based predictions have an array of applications. It’s possible, for example, to determine peak customer shopping times and adjust staff levels accordingly, or to identify early buyer trends and implement appropriate promotional campaigns.

3. Enables Competitor Research

As much as companies value data that helps them understand their customers and internal processes, they’re also eager to gain an edge over their competitors. 

Data scientists are responsible for understanding and gleaning insights from data about competitors. Effective competitor research helps businesses make competitive pricing decisions, reach new markets, and stay up to date with changes in consumer behavior. 

4. Allows Testing of Business Initiatives

Consistent, long-term testing enables companies to drive incremental revenue gains. Data scientists are responsible for conducting extensive tests to guarantee successful marketing campaigns, product launches, employee satisfaction, website optimization, and more. 

Testing is one of the most exciting areas of data science. New, innovative alternatives are posed against existing features, often with unexpected results. What’s more, businesses like Amazon adopt an indefinite approach to testing, trialing new changes and implementing them as part of a long-term strategy, rather than ‘one-off’ optimization campaigns. 

5. Develops Market Understanding

By ensuring a ready stream of actionable insights about customer psychology, behavior, and satisfaction, data science enables businesses to consistently reshape their products and services to fit with a shifting marketplace.

Data about customers is available from a variety of sources, and mining information from third-party platforms, like social media, search engines, and purchased datasets, presents a unique challenge. 

6. Informs Hiring Decisions

One of the big problems faced by businesses when searching for new employees is the disconnect between prospects that look good on paper and perform well in practice. Data science seeks to bridge this gap by using evidence to improve hiring practices. 

By combining and analyzing a variety of data-points about candidates, it’s possible to move towards an ideal ‘company-employee fit’. 

Are You Considering a Career in Data Science?

Data science is an exciting and fast-growing industry. Data scientists leverage a multi-disciplinary approach to generate actionable insights and drive informed business decisions. 

Careers in data science boast high starting salaries, an attractive package of bonuses, and excellent job satisfaction. 

At EU Business School, we understand the importance of staying ahead of the latest trends in business. This is why we ensure that our programs are aligned with global industry trends while taking future forecasts into careful consideration. Our offering of innovative bachelor’s, master’s and MBA programs ensure that our students are prepared to be gamechangers in the international business arena.

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