Consumers have become immune to marketing that is not targeted directly at them.
The companies that are winning have tailored campaigns designed to reach specific customers. They are harnessing the power of business intelligence (BI) and analytics to get actionable insights, to help them make better-informed decisions that are backed up with accurate data.
"Cost savings targets should be realised through the effective use of analytics, and in good cases, growth in revenue, too," says Greg Morley, business development director at Expeditus.
"In addition, operational efficiencies should be realised when deploying enterprise-grade BI platforms."
Expeditus is a sponsor of ITWeb Business Intelligence and Analytics Summit 2019, to be held from 12 to 14 March, at The Forum, in Bryanston.
Morley says corporates often do not invest in adoption and change management of their BI projects, and there is a general data literacy issue in most businesses. "As businesses become more and more reliant on data, they need to invest in the upliftment of data literacy skills.
"Large, corporate decision-making time frames are generally cumbersome and should become quicker," he adds.
"When it comes to BI and analytics projects, when problems are identified, decision-making needs to be quick so that quicker time to value is achieved, whether it is a software, consulting or education investment."
So where is BI and analytics going in the future?
According to Morley, artificial intelligence (AI) is the next big thing in BI. "AI is capable of making a vast difference to BI and analytics, helping to democratise data and improve analytics adoption. It is definitely on Gartner's radar as something to look out for in the future, as major breakthroughs in AI, computing power, predictive analytics and machine learning are driving a new generation of BI tools and solutions.
"AI has been around the market in its infancy for the past three to four years; however, it is now starting to gather momentum in various ways and will have a major impact in the BI market," he concludes.
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