Leveraging insights from their data will be critical if SMBs are to overcome Covid-related challenges in the final quarter of 2020 according to TrueCue.
Following the CBI chief economist’s warning that the UK faces “a bleak midwinter”, TrueCue managing director James Don-Carolis, said: “Nearly every organisation in the country is facing some degree of impact to their daily operations, with many having to quickly adjust their business models in response to the latest lockdown restrictions. Smaller businesses are typically more vulnerable to these disruptions, as they lack the capital and resources to maintain continuity, however we firmly believe they can overcome these challenges by being smarter with the data available and making conscious strides to improving their analytics maturity.”
He continued: “Prior to the crisis research had shown almost half of SMB’s had made plans to adapt and transform their organisations for a digital future. Since the pandemic that desire has now transformed to an inevitable necessity. Business leaders recognise the criticalness of data, but many fail to achieve valuable business outcomes, because they have a low data and analytics maturity.
“Data analysis amongst smaller organisations tends to be carried out via spreadsheet analyses or through personal data extracts. In order to compete beyond Covid-19 those organisations relying on these opportunistic practices will struggle to make faster and smarter decisions. To address this, businesses must install the right tools, effectively train their employees and ensure support from senior management, to gain true value from their data.
“Early adopters of advanced analytics are likely to be nimble to any instability faced over the coming months. Those which don’t will lack the foresight to address potential challenges.”