Is your business data aware? Here are 3 reasons why you need data to scale

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provides the information you need to understand your business's place in the market and identify opportunities for increasing revenue and optimizing expenses, which will support your company's growing valuations over the years.< /p>

But to get there, you need to know where to find the data and how to capture, organize, and interpret it to fuel your decision-making processes.

Let's look at how data literacy helps you build a scalable business, gather data and use it to make strategic decisions that lead to .

Related: Eight Ways Data Analytics Can Revolutionize Your Business

1. Build a scalable business

What creates value for the company is not just profit. If you are looking for investors, partners or bank financing, they are not only interested in the fact that you can generate excess income. They want to know that you are capable and positioned for growth.

A common truism in life is: "if you don't move forward, you fall behind". Although commonplace, there is some truth for business owners. If you only maintain the status quo, there is a strong perceived implication that you will likely lose your competitive edge over time. This loosening of your market position will erode your value going forward, and investors and other stakeholders will recognize that.

The relevant example here is the adoption of . Depending on your industry, you can get by for a while without integrating emerging technologies that offer the opportunity to operate more efficiently by reducing operational expenses, strengthening customer relationships and generating more sales. p>

However, most of your competitors will adopt the technology, allowing them to outperform you in terms of generating value that will trickle down to their customers and investors. As a result, you will gradually decline and become less attractive to stakeholders, including potential partners and employees.

Related: Every Business Can Work More Effectively With Better Data

Some of the essential cloud technologies you'll need to stay relevant in almost any business include:

Data and analysis. (CRM). Digital communications (i.e. customer portals, etc.). Inventory, asset and supplier management. Accounting and payroll. . Team collaboration tools. 2. Identify, collect and sort data

Becoming "data aware" begins with recognizing where data resides in your organization. You probably already use some or most of the technologies mentioned above. If so, the task of locating data is simplified, and even more so if you use centralized systems in all units of your organization.

If you haven't gone paper-based and are still tracking things and doing business on paper, or if you're using software, but it's on specific computers or servers internal to your organization, you will be at a disadvantage.

This hurdle can be significant if you have multiple locations and systems that are unrelated; a situation in which isolated systems are often referred to as "silos". In this case, you will need to hire staff or hire outside consultants to help you pull data from disparate systems into a unified platform, breaking down silos.

Once you have all the data in one place, you can start setting up data management systems specific to your type of operation. These platforms automatically collect and organize your data to make it accessible to all team members - now you know.

Related: 4 Steps to Become a Data Scientist...