3 Simple Steps to understand Business Data

What is Business Data?

Data is a collection of numbers and text in rows and columns. Business data is a collection of numbers and text in row and columns in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, Logistics, Accounting, Budgeting, Training, Stock Inventory, and other relevant business related areas. 

For the purpose of explanation, I shall use your phone records as an example. Phone records is a collection of phone numbers and names in rows and columns. Each person is in one row and the contact number is a column.

Making Sense of Business Data

Business data is a random set of numbers and text until it is grouped into different categories.

Using phone records as the example again, phone records are random set of names and phone numbers. Other than those numbers that you call often, the rest are usually numbers you have not touched for at least a few months. We call the former active numbers and the latter inactive numbers.

There is also a high chance that you group them into different categories such as relatives, school friends, colleagues, old neighbours, new neighbours, etc. If you have just classify them as active and inactive numbers, you might have a problem search for them when you need to call someone whom you have not called for a long time. And you might not have remembered the name. By classifying them into different categories, it will be easier to find the number by looking at a smaller set of numbers. 

Business Data works the same way. You have to group the numbers together so that you can make sense of it, meaning understand these numbers better.

Pay attention or ignore the group of data

Now that the business data is grouped, it is easier to identify them by their groupings. The groups usually have their own characteristics and behaviour. By knowing these characteristics and behaviour, you can then monitor them easily. The data will then be used to measure these characteristics and behaviour so that better decision could be made over time.