Identify, Enrich, Monetize: unlocking the untapped value in your business data for growth
There's a secret asset in your business that could unlock new streams of value and income. How are you utilizing it?
If you’ve been running your business for upwards of 3 months, you have been generating and are currently sitting on a potential goldmine that can unlock income, improve customer satisfaction, strengthen operations, and equip teams to work better. It’s so overlooked that this sounds too good to be true. What’s this goldmine you ask? It’s your business data.
The phrase “business data” means different things to different companies. Most associate it with customers, their profiles and their transaction data. Others associate it with employee data. A few expand this to supplier data, or sentiment data (what the world - via social media, news coverage, customer feedback - is saying about their products or services). Business data covers all of this, and even more.
1. Identify your data
How can you uncover the extent of data your business generates? There are different conceptual approaches that can be explored. For this instance, let’s use the 7-Pillar approach: Profit, Portfolio, Promotion, People, Partnership, Process, and Performance. This framework helps in data discovery across various business functions.
Most data conversations start with Profit data - which is further broken down into revenue and cost, the two components of Profit. On their own, at a first-principle level, revenue and cost information are typically explored across four questions: What type, How much, How fast, How often. Transaction volume, transaction frequency, expenditure by category, expenditure over time… these are examples of Profit-type data your business has started generating since its inception. This forms the core of your financial data analytics.
The next data bucket tends to be Product/Portfolio data: Types (What variants, SKUs?), Volume (How much are we producing, selling, creating inventory for?), Quality (How good are they and how much are we doing to improve their standard?), Innovation (What features are we including to improve their value and how well are they being adopted?), and Patterns (How often do we sell, how many do we typically sell per month, etc.?) are the common areas explored. This is crucial for product analytics and inventory optimization.
Usually following this is Promotion data, which for this context can be broken down by Customer, Channels, Campaigns, Content, Community - similar data questions on How much, How well, How impactful/engaging, etc. This is essential for marketing campaign optimization and understanding customer engagement.
Right after this is People data: questions and conversations on Capacity (How many do we need to hire), Competency (What skills do we need), and Culture (less often). This falls under HR analytics and workforce planning.
Partnership data questions and Performance data (all the data points above actualized versus a set target or plan) are also vital. All these data conversations usually lead to the creation of a database or other structured systems for data collection, storage, and analysis.
A last data pillar for digital or digital-enabled businesses is Platform data, focused on the usage frequency, quality, and effectiveness of any platforms the business is utilizing to design, develop, distribute, and deliver their products and services. This includes website analytics and app usage data.
2. Enrich your data
So, we’ve established up to eight categories of business data, each with its diverse dimensions. (Point of note: if your business is still young, you want to set up the systems for accurately capturing, collecting, and storing this data so that it is available for you to leverage). What next? Having the data is simply Stage 1; the next step is enriching it so that it delivers more than the sum of its parts. This process, known as data enrichment, transforms raw data into powerful insights.
Let’s take an example: your product sales data by region. This dataset by itself is a bunch of numbers. However, layering it with demographics on the customers that made the purchases and economic trends or events by region can create a new level of insights on your customer’s purchasing patterns and purchasing decisions that you can leverage to strengthen your marketing operations.
Here are a few approaches to data enrichment:
Third-Party Integrations: Combine internal customer data with external demographics, geolocation, or economic trends to refine targeting and decision-making.
Sensor & IoT Data: Businesses with physical operations can combine sensor-generated data (temperature, usage patterns, stock levels) with historical trends to optimize processes. For instance, a manufacturing company enriches its internal maintenance logs with real-time IoT sensor data, reducing equipment downtime by 40% through predictive maintenance.
Social Listening: Insights from online reviews, social media conversations, and customer feedback help brands refine their messaging and improve products. This is key for sentiment analysis and brand reputation management.
AI-Powered Contextualization: Machine learning can identify patterns in large datasets, helping businesses predict demand, detect fraud, or personalize recommendations.
3. Monetizing Your Data
Monetizing data doesn’t always mean selling it - it can involve leveraging data to create new revenue streams, optimize pricing, or enhance business offerings.
Customer behavior analytics: Understanding purchase patterns, browsing habits, and engagement metrics can lead to smarter upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
Operational efficiency data: Analyzing inefficiencies in logistics, production, or service delivery can help reduce costs and free up resources for growth.
Industry benchmarking data: Aggregating anonymized customer or market data can create a valuable benchmarking tool for partners or clients.
Subscription-based insights: Some companies package and sell insights derived from their data, such as market trends, competitive analysis, or performance predictions to ecosystem partners or prospective players looking to enter the space. e.g. A retail company discovers that its loyalty program data holds insights into regional product preferences. By selling anonymized insights to suppliers, it unlocks a new revenue stream.
Final Thought
The most valuable data in your business might already exist - you just need to identify, enrich and monetize it. Whether you’re looking to drive revenue, optimize operations, or enhance customer experience, unlocking the hidden power of data could be your biggest competitive advantage.
Are you ready to leverage your data goldmine?