Data

Analytics

Essentials
Unlocking The Power
of Your Data

No nonsense
Guide for Executives
 D ATA A N A LY T I C S E S S E N T I A L S

Executive Summary
According to the evolutionary theory, species must continually adapt, evolve, and reproduce
in order to stay competitive. The business world today is highly competitive, and companies
must also adopt a similar approach as the landscape is witnessing tremendous tectonic shifts
in business models. One of the key drivers of this change is the proliferation of smart devices,
social media, and the Internet of Things (IoT), which are generating vast amounts of data from
digital interactions. In order to make sense of this data and stay competitive, businesses are
turning to data analytics.

Data analytics has a wide range of applications, and it has the potential to revolutionize how
businesses operate and engage with customers. By providing valuable insights into key areas
such as customer behavior, market trends, and financial performance, businesses can identify
areas where they can cut costs, increase efficiency, and identify new revenue streams. This is
particularly important during a recession when many businesses are struggling to survive and
need to find ways to stay afloat. The ability to analyze data quickly and effectively is becoming
critical for any business looking to stay relevant in today's fast-paced digital landscape.

Leading businesses in various sectors are utilizing data analytics in innovative ways to provide
cutting-edge experiences for their customers. For example, they use social media data
analysis to predict upcoming trends in areas such as snack foods or use algorithms to deliver
hyper-personalized recommendations for over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms.

Most Adopted Technologies in 2022 1

85% 75% 73%

Data Analytics Internet of Things Machine Learning

72% 59% 58%

Cloud Computing Digital Trade AR & VR

As an executive, in order to stay ahead in the accelerating data analytics race, you must make
quick, intelligent decisions about where and how to apply data analytics. One way to get
ready to act quickly is by knowing the data analytics essentials presented in this guide.

Source: 1 weforum rapidops.com 1

 DATA A N A LY T I C S E S S E N T I A L S

1. State of Analytics
Adoption Rate
In 2022 and beyond, companies will be prioritizing data analytics as an essential
business function, correctly identifying it as a must-have for business intelligence,
process efficiency, and customer happiness.

1
Data Analytics Adoption & Investment Rate Trend

Adoption rate Investment rate

66% 68% 69% 70%

66% 65% 68%

55%

2019 2020 2021 2022

$270.8 billion worldwide spending on business data analytics solutions in 2022

U. S. has become the largest market, with more than $126.5 billion in value 2

3
Shift in Perception

94% businesses believe data

analytics solutions are critical
for growth.
84%
businesses either already
implemented data-driven
projects or have them in the
pipeline.

72% businesses don’t have

designated full time staff to
perform data analysis.
66% businesses agree that data
analytics fundamentally changed
the way they do business.

Source: 1 AVASANT 2 IDC 3 microstrategy rapidops.com 2

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Technologies Currently in Use for

Analytical Processing 1

Business intelligence
50%
platform 34%

Relational
47%
database 19%

Enterprise data
28%
warehouse 22%

Data science & machine

28%
learning platform 27%

20%
Document database
13%

Distributed data
17%
analytics platform 15%

Streaming data
17%
processing platform 16%

Column-oriented
14%
relational database 11%

13%
Key-value database
11%

12%
Time series database
11% Currently in use

10% Planning to invest over the next 12-24 months

Graph database
9%

Top Benefits of Data Analytics

According to a survey, top benefits companies get from using analytics 2

64% 56% 51%

Increased productivity Faster, more effective Financial gains
and efficiency decision-making

46% 44% 43%

Ability to identify & create Improved customer
Competitive advantage
new revenue streams experience

Source: 1 FoundryCo 2 Microstrategy rapidops.com 3

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2. Trending Topics in Analytics

There are many buzzwords associated with data analytics, many of which have broad

remit or interpretation depending on the experience and perspective of the

commentator. Understanding each terminology, how they relate to one another, and

which one best serves the business's needs is essential to get ahead of the competition.

Artificial Intelligence

Machine Learning

Data Science

Deep Learning

Big Data
Data

Analytics

Data Analytics

A process of collecting, cleaning, analyzing, and interpreting large and complex sets of

data using statistical, mathematical, and computational techniques. The goal of data

analytics is to extract valuable insights and knowledge from data, which can support

decision-making and improve business performance. It can be applied across various

industries, including retail, supply chain, manufacturing, healthcare, and technology, to

analyze and understand trends, patterns, and relationships in data and to make data-

driven decisions.

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Data Science

A multidisciplinary field that mines large datasets to produce insights using various

algorithms, techniques, and scientific methods. It focuses on effective methods for data

analysis, modelling, and trend identification. The information produced is further used

in enhancing ML & AI algorithms, search engine engineering and corporate analytics.

Artificial Intelligence

A machine's ability to carry out cognitive processes like perceiving, calculating, learning

and problem-solving, is the standard definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Robotics,

autonomous vehicles, virtual agents, language, and machine learning are some

examples of technologies that allow AI to tackle business challenges.

Machine Learning

The most recent significant developments in AI have been made possible by applying

machine learning to large amounts of data. Instead of receiving explicit programming

instructions, machine learning algorithms learn how to make predictions and

recommendations by analyzing data & experience. The algorithms also update

themselves to increase effectiveness over time in response to new data & experiences.

Deep Learning

A specialized subset of machine learning trains computers to analyze data with a logical

structure similar to how humans make conclusions (analyzing examples). The computer

model learns to carry out categorization tasks directly from images, text, or sound and

can meet cutting-edge accuracy, sometimes outperforming humans.

Big Data

Big Data is information assets with high volume, high velocity, and high diversity that
require new processing techniques to improve decision-making, discover new insights

and streamline processes. It enables businesses to do multiple tasks on a single

platform, storing T Bs of data, pre-processing, analyzing all data regardless of size or

type, and visualizing it.

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3. Techniques: Driving Business Value

There are multiple ways in which data can be analyzed to generate insights, ranging from

manual to the most sophisticated approaches with machine learning. It is important to

understand what can be achieved when it comes to choosing where to invest effort and

x
dollars to ma imize the value of the data.

Prescriptive Analytics

How can we make it happen?

Business Value

Predictive Analytics

What will happen?

Diagnostic Analytics

Why did it happen?

Descriptive Analytics

What happened?

Difficulty

Definitions:

1 Descriptive Analytics

Identifies patterns and trends using historical and

present data, the same data used as a springboard

for further analysis to drive decision-making.

The simplest and most common use of data in

today's business world, descriptive analytics is the

foundation of all data insights. Summarizes

What happened?
historical data, usually in the form of dashboards, to

provide an understanding of "what happened."

Primarily used in business to track performances, to

measure how well a business is performing.

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2 Diagnostic Analytics

Diagnoses the trends and discovers causes and

correlations using descriptive analysis’ insights.

Recognizing meaningful connections between

data by digging deeper and detecting behavior

patterns are the primary reasons businesses use

diagnostic analytics. Having the inter-connected X Y Z

root cause data of any problem beforehand helps

businesses avoid the repetitive effort of finding the

Why did it happen?
causes of similar problems.

3 Predictive Analytics

Predicts future trends and events using historical

data that can help drive strategic decisions.

Predictive analysis can be performed using

machine-learning algorithms or manually using

statistical models. As forecasting is an estimate,

accuracy depends on the quality and detailing of

the data. Most businesses are yet to fully unleash

the potential of predictive analytics, as industries

What will happen?
have a shortage of data experts and little

knowledge about the data field.

4 Prescriptive Analytics

Prescribes the best course of action to follow in a

given business problem or decision using all the

combined insights from past analysis.

Prescriptive analysis is the data analytics frontier

and the most sought-after type of analysis, yet only B

a small percentage of businesses are capable of

performing it in real-time. AI is a prime example of

prescriptive analytics, as it consumes massive

amounts of data to learn and make informed

How can we make

decisions continuously. A well-designed AI system

it happen?
is capable of converting decisions into actions

without the need for human interaction.

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 2

Data is a precious thing and will

last longer than the systems

themselves.

Tim Berners-Lee

Founder of World Wide Web Consortium

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4. Emerging Challenges

Poor Data Quality

Poor data quality can significantly affect the accuracy and trustworthiness of data

analysis. Even minor variations in data can lead to vastly different outcomes. Factors that

contribute to poor data quality include human errors during data entry, discrepancies

between different systems, and errors that occur during data conversion. These errors

can have severe consequences and call into question the validity of conclusions and

decisions based on the data.

Lack of Appropriate Skill Sets

As the demand for data analytics solutions has exploded in recent years, there is a need

for more skilled and effective talent to meet this demand. The cause of this challenge is

the ever-changing landscape of open-source technologies, AI/ML techniques, cloud

platforms, and data architecture. The constant evolution of these technologies makes it

increasingly difficult to find the right data engineers, scientists, and analysts with the

appropriate skillset to build data analytics solutions.

Manual Processes/ Time Constraints

Many businesses have a hard time analyzing and understanding large amounts of data

in a timely manner. This is because their processes for collecting and organizing data are

not digital and instead, rely on manual methods. Even if the data is eventually put into

excel sheets, it's not as efficient or accurate as using digital methods. This makes it

harder for businesses to make decisions and can take longer to finish projects.

Integration Challenges

Integrating different data sources can be difficult for businesses. It involves connecting

different databases, systems, and platforms which can be time-consuming and

complicated. This can slow down the decision-making process, waste resources, and

even lead to mistakes. The main reasons for this issue include a lack of standardization in

data format and structure, complex systems architecture, inadequate integration

technologies, and poor data management practices.

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Workload on Cloud

Managing and analyzing large amounts of data in the cloud can be a challenge. This

includes scaling and optimizing cloud resources, as well as managing and securing data.

The reason for this is the lack of expertise and skills in CloudOps and DataOps, and

utilizing new cloud tools can be a steep learning curve. Another concern with cloud

platforms is the rapidly rising costs for analytical workloads, specifically due to the "pay-

per-query" cost models.

Data Security Concerns

Unauthorized access to sensitive information can lead to data breaches, security

incidents, and many problems for organizations. With the sheer amount of data being

stored and processed, it's no surprise that many businesses struggle to keep their data

secure. Emerging regulations like GDPR and CCPA have added to the complexity of the

issue. The reasons behind this issue are multifaceted - from a lack of proper protocols,

insufficient employee training, third-party vendor risks, and sophisticated attacks to

cloud storage, all make it harder for organizations to keep their data safe.

1
Barriers to Efficient Data Analytics

There is no centralized
21%
analytical tool

Lack of proper
21%
technologies

Lack of analytics
25%
strategy

Access to data is
29%
limited

Data privacy concerns 43%

Lack of training 27%

Current solution is too

25%
complicated

Analytics is not the key

18%
focus

Tools are not

24%
convenient

1
Source: Microstrategy rapidops.com 10
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5. From Data to Dollars: Popular Use Cases

1. Retail & CPG:

Hyper-Personalized Experience

Retailers can track customer behavior across channels to determine preferences

between physical stores & online stores. Also, upselling & cross-selling are feasible by
providing highly personalized offers to customers visiting brick & mortar shops.

Amazon generates 35% of revenue from its recommendation engine

by analyzing over 150 million accounts. It uses customer data to
recommend items based on past searches and purchases. 1

Price Optimization

Predictive analytics enables businesses to adapt to the market and maximize profit
quickly. Analyzing competitive pricing data and forecasts of external factors like weather
and current sales data empowers retailers to offer the best price to customers.

Walmart collects real-time data from the POS system, roughly 2.5
petabytes of data hourly, to analyze and make highly optimized pricing. 2

Demand Forecasting

Data analytics algorithms can empower retailers to predict the next big thing in the
market by analyzing historical sales data, weather reports, web browsing, etc. This helps
retailers to improve forecasting accuracy, make better decisions and plan for the future.

Pantene analyzed weather data and served customized product

recommendation ads; sales increased by 10% over two months. 3

Source: 1 mckinsey 2 forbes 3 MMA rapidops.com 11

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2. Manufacturing:

Predictive Maintenance

Manufacturers can leverage data analytics to anticipate maintenance and repairs for

machines to reduce technical downtime. It also allows automatic tracking of component

condition and alerts for any replacement parts before they become faulty.

Volvo employs ML to detect patterns and learn from data. Now Volvo

can identify faults and provide repair instructions before the vehicle
1
comes in for service, reducing the diagnostic time by up to 80%.

Process Optimization

Process optimization is an elusive goal for executives in today's manufacturing. Data

analytics helps manufacturers uncover defects in processes, speed product

development, improve product quality and reduce variation in quality.

Employing data gathered from multi-sources, Siemens Healthineers

2
reduced production line failures by 36%.

Automation & Robotization

A recent study found that 23% of unplanned idle time in manufacturing is due to human

error. The tight integration of manufacturing data analytics and robotic technology can

handle complex tasks requiring high precision and eliminate issues due to human error.

Optimizing the analytics algorithms can avoid unplanned downtime to detect potential

anomalies in the production process or equipment, which helps quick deployment.

Schneider Electric reduced the order processing time from 4 hours to 2

minutes, and errors, if any, are flagged quickly with the help of RPA. The

3
goal was to eliminate tasks with no added value and decreasing TAT.

1 2 3
Source: Volvo Siemens Healthcare UiPath rapidops.com 12
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3. Supply Chain:

Inventory Management

The predictive analytical process considers fluctuating demand, historical data, demand

forecasting, and economic trends to manage inventory proactively. Simply eliminating

the conventional guesswork method, businesses can now determine when to pull/push

stock, what stock to remove, and predict how many units they require.

In 2020 with the whole world suffering from the pandemic, Amazon reported

$350 billion in annual revenue due to their smart warehouses empowered

1
with outstanding automated inventory management technology.

Optimum Route Planning

One of the most challenging logistical problems to solve is route optimization. Predictive
analytics ensures optimal frequencies and shortest routes, taking into account distance,

weather, drop-off locations, and quantity. Additionally, intelligent monitoring of fuel

usage can reduce costs while meeting demand.

DHL has integrated sensors in delivery vehicles and GPS-enabled

smartphones to improve route planning using data from GPS trackers

2
and roads. DHL has decreased total miles by 15%.

Supplier Relationship Management

Leveraging data analytics in supply chain management and integrating various metrics

helps conduct in depth and e -

xtensive vendor evaluations. Considering the factors, i.e.,
on-time delivery and quality of goods & services, harnesses procurement transparency

with vendors.

Within the first year of implementing a data analytics program, Owens

Corning started using gathered data from the system to negotiate
3
over $2 million in savings from consolidating vendors.

1 2 3
Source: TechVision DHL OwensCorning rapidops.com 13
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4. Healthcare :

Disease Prediction and Prevention

Predictive analytics allows healthcare professionals to identify early illness symptoms

and take action when there is a higher probability of developing a chronic disease. Also,

they can prevent hospital re-admissions and downtime for medical equipment by

spotting early indicators of patient deterioration in the ICU & general ward.

Penn launched the trigger system Palliative Connect, a machine-

learning algorithm, that extracts patient EHRs data and analyzes 30

parameters to predict severe disease. As per the pilot testing result,

1
the control team approved 57% of cases with complete accuracy.

Delivering Telehealth Services

Patients are starting to expect more convenient options with the increasing technology

usage. Data analytics allows healthcare providers to deliver better, faster, and more

meaningful services to the patient by analyzing data such as peak usage times,

diagnoses/reasons for visits, revenue-volume ratios, etc. Some examples include

preliminary consultations, initial diagnosis, medical education for healthcare workers,

and remote patient monitoring.

A gilon H ealth gathered population data from China, Italy, and the US

to estimate individuals ris k scores using the data model ; provided

2
22 00 telehealth appointments in the first 12 weeks.

Integration o f Data with Fitness Devices

Analytical algorithms ensure sufficient data collection via monitoring devices and allow

healthcare providers to monitor multiple patients on vital parameters at once.

Leveraging smart fitness device data to monitor individuals efficiently,

BCU H ealth Board successfully reduced cardiac arrest cases by 86% 2 .

1 2
Source: PubMed.gov healthcatalyst rapidops.com 14
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6. Inspiring Case Studies from Leaders

(Capabilities of Data Analytics)

Personalized Customer Experience

Content streaming on Netflix in today's time is based on their

recommendations algorithm to provide a personalized customer 80%
experience. Focusing on massive amounts of customer data Content streaming
leveraging data analytics algorithms, Netflix predicts user on Netfilx is result of
preferences. Offering customers a range of options as per their recommendation
interest has successfully increased the watch time. algorithm 1

Informed Business Decision-Making

Lufthansa Group used to generate billions in revenue. Besides

that, the company was missing out on a major chunk of revenue
due to the absence of uniformity in data analytics across
30%
Time savings through
subsidiaries. A strategic move to use a uniform analytic platform
standardization and
for automated & standardize reporting has enabled decision-
report automation 2
makers of the 550+ subsidiaries to make informed decision-
making and gain flexibility.

Data-Driven Innovation

The company's ultimate objectives are to speed up the product

development cycle, lower the research and development costs
and increase customer satisfaction. In order to find and fill the
3
Months for every
gap company adopted a data analytics platform and now quickly
new smartphone
understands customers' needs and behavior. Platform acquires
development 3
datasets from about 300 processes that run simultaneously and
come from sources, including third parties, social networking
feeds, and APIs to facilitate product innovation.

Source: 1 WIRED 2 Tableau 3 Lenovo rapidops.com 15

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Streamlined Business Processes

UPS extensively relies on logistics analytics for cost savings. It

examines everything, even the smallest details, such as the route 10 M

followed by a delivery vehicle, and estimates whether it increases
Gallons less fuel
the cost. This accuracy of UPS's analysis enabled truck drivers to
1
used
avoid congested roads, eventually keeping deliveries on time

and smoothening the process. As a result, UPS now delivers

350,000 more parcels annually.

Internal Business Process Automation

Tracking thousands of products worth $7 billion is a complex

task. The constant introduction of new products increases the $7.4 M

scope of error, such that some products may be incorrectly
Value of inventory
coded in distribution centers. To avoid this, Hershey's 2
recovered
implemented intelligent digital workers that automatically

capture every mislabeled product and correct inventory

accordingly to avoid product and time wastage. With the help of

analytics, employees get an idea of the items in their stock and

can better manage production schedules.

Risk-Mitigation and Setbacks Handling

99.4%
U OB bank recently tested a risk management system based on
big data to analyze real-time risk; as a result, Bank has seen a

drastic change in required risk calculation time. The traditional

Decrease in risk
process takes about 18 hours; now it only takes 5 minutes after
3
calculation time
implying big data and analytics.

Financing firms lose around $68 billion every year due to fraud.

Leveraging data to process billions of claims and billing records

enables investigators to identify and mitigate fraudulent activity.

1 2 3
Source: TheConversation Smart Automation Mentionlytics rapidops.com 16
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The best way to predict the future

is to have a data-driven view.

Jeff Bezos

Founder of Amazon

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7. Emerging Opportunities

IoT Smarter and Scalable AI

IoT enables devices to Better learning algorithms,

communicate and collect data from interpretable systems, and a shorter

multiple sources, often in real-time, time to value can be made possible

and analyze it to make informed by scalable, responsible, and

decisions. It can be used in a wide intelligent AI.

range of applications such as

The adoption of action-taking
predictive maintenance, energy
systems eliminates human-intensive
management, logistics, etc.
computations and integration

IoT holds power to bring together processes.

all the digital technologies for SMEs

According to prediction, more than
and transform their businesses.
75% of businesses will shift from

A recent Forbes survey found that 7 piloting AI technologies to

in 10 executives believe IoT operationalizing them by the end of

2
technology has helped them 2024.
1
increase revenue.

Automated Machine


Learning

Enables businesses to use the Machine learning is

baked-in knowledge of data
becoming more
scientists without spending time

and money to develop the sophisticated with every

capabilities themselves and focuses

passing year. We are yet to
on increasing the data science
see its full potential—beyond
initiatives' ROI.

self-driving cars, or retail

Excellent accuracy and a shortened
trends analysis.
process prevent countless

opportunities for human error

Wei Li
&bias.
Vice President, Intel

The auto-ML market is estimated to

3
go up to $14.5 billion by 2030.

1 2 3
Source: Forbes Gartner psmarketresearch rapidops.com 18
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Engineering Decision

Intelligence

Focuses on data analytics Information is the oil of the

technology to enable organizations
21st century, and analytics
to gain insights needed to drive

actions for the business quickly. is the combustion engine.

Analyzing the data in the

Creates a new opportunity to rethink

how businesses optimize decisions right way only can drive the

combined with composability and

value.
standard data fabric.

Peter Sondergaard
Also known as designed decision
Senior Vice President, Gartner
analytics, supports human decision-

making rather than replacing it.

Augmented Analytics Marketing Automation

Augmented analytics helps businesses Businesses can use data to

transform large data sets into smaller, determine which platforms and

more digestible information through channels their audience is most

statistical and linguistics technologies. active on and when and how they

interact with content.

Empowers Machine learning based on

algorithms that have the ability to learn Leveraging marketing automation,

from data without relying on rules- businesses can create focused

based programming. campaigns across all channels to

achieve improvised results.

Leveraging natural-language

generation, machine findings become 51% of businesses are currently

translatable into words and phrases using marketing automation in one

humans can understand, i.e., making way or another, according to

2
data feel & sound like a human. x ’
e perts report.

Industry analysts predict the

augmented analytics market will reach

1
$32 billion by 2027.

1 2
Source: IMARC Group emailmonday rapidops.com 19
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Proven strategies

for accomplishing
analytics goals.
Every day, the world generates an unfathomable amount of data. With the sheer volume of data
available, businesses today have an unprecedented opportunity to gain valuable insights and make
data-driven decisions that can drive business success.

As a digital & data innovation partner, Rapidops helps businesses harness the power of data
analytics to achieve their goals. Drawing on our years of data expertise, we have developed proven
strategies that can help businesses of all sizes turn data into actionable insights.

Data Engineering

Data Visualization

IoT & Machine Analytics

 D A T A A N A LY T I C S E S S E N T I A L S

8. Recommendations for Analytics Success

1. Assess the Current State To help with this process, our team of

experts have created a free and

As a business leader, you understand the comprehensive assessment to measure

importance of staying ahead of the curve your data analytics capabilities. By taking

and leveraging new technologies to drive the assessment, you'll be able to discover

success. However, in order to truly your business’ data strengths and

capitalize on the power of data analytics, weaknesses, get personalized tips for

you must first evaluate how well your improvement and evaluate how you

organization is currently utilizing it. compare to industry competitors. This will

Without a clear understanding of where help you pinpoint areas for improvement

you stand, there is a high probability of and devise a plan to monetize your data.

investing in the wrong areas and missing Don't let uncertainty and missed

desired ROI, resulting in wasted opportunities hold you back.

resources and missed opportunities for

growth.

Measure Your Data Capabilities

Find out where your business stands with data and how

to leverage it to do more with less in the age of cost-

savings and talent shortages.

Take the Assessment

2. Define Data Analytics Strategy success of your data analytics strategy.

And let's not forget the all-important tool

Maximizing the impact of data analytics selection and investment planning factors.

requires more than just having a strategy It is a must for the leadership teams to dive

in place. As a senior executive, you are deeper and explore how these elements

aware of the basics, but considering the can be integrated into a comprehensive

key elements can make or break a data strategy that drives business growth and

analytics initiative. From building a data success. With a well-designed strategy that

culture in the organization with data-driven leverages your data assets to the fullest,

leadership to effective adoption of you'll be positioning your organization for

analytics across the organization and success in this rapidly evolving, data-

building the right talent pool, all these driven world.

elements play a crucial role in shaping the

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4. Understand Your Data

A clear and accurate understanding of the

data is essential for effectively navigating

the analytics process and making the

most of your data resources. Data

profiling is one of the main techniques

used for this purpose, starting with

identifying the key characteristics of the

data, such as the sources, types, quality,

and structure.

This information is essential for making

informed decisions about how to use the

data, such as which data to clean and

prepare and what insights to extract. It

also includes identifying any

inconsistencies or errors in the data, as

3. Identify the Use Cases
well as any patterns or trends. Although a

As you invest in data analytics, it can be high-level step, organizations can face

overwhelming to determine the right use challenges without clean & defined data

case to tackle first. Your team can select sets. A long-term partnership with a data

the most crucial one by understanding analytics company can provide the

business problems and identifying areas expertise and tools needed to analyze

where your organization can achieve the and understand the data effectively. By

most value. By focusing on strong taking a thorough and holistic approach

opportunities and targeting low-hanging to understanding your data, you can

fruits, you can quickly demonstrate the ensure your analytics efforts are based on

value of data analytics and lay the accurate and reliable information,

foundation for advanced initiatives.

ensuring optimized utilization of

resources & efficient execution.

One way to identify key use cases is to

concentrate on areas where data and

analytics techniques are already in place

within your organization. By starting with

small improvements and implementing

proven procedures, you can showcase

the immediate value of data analytics.

This approach optimizes current methods

and improves the return on investment.

For example, to increase sales, you

should focus on analyzing customer

behavior and identifying patterns that can

derive insights to plan personalized &

targeted marketing campaigns.

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when designing your data ingestion and

integration strategy.

Using a combination of batch and real-

time processing techniques, along with

an appropriate data integration tool, can

help ensure that your data is accurate,

complete, and available in a timely

manner. Additionally, implementing data

governance and quality control measures

at this stage can save significant time and

resources later on. As your organization

grows and the volume and variety of data

increases, it is important to continually

5. Establish Architecture, Platform,
reassess and adjust your data ingestion
Tools
and integration strategy to ensure

scalability and maintain the integrity of

The long-term cost of a bad analytics
your data.
architecture is extremely high. Hence, it is

crucial to design your data architecture

and tooling in light of your long-term

strategy, your team’s technical 7. Deliver Business Intelligence

capabilities, infrastructure costs, and the

Business intelligence use cases are the
volume, velocity, and variety of your data.
lowest-hanging fruits and deliver
For example, if you have a lot of data or
immediate ROI in a matter of weeks.
expect it to grow fast, doing all analytics
Hence, leaders should prioritize any use
in the cloud is going to cost a fortune.
cases that can be facilitated simply by
Starting simple and adding more
integrating and analyzing existing data. It
capabilities and components over time is
is crucial to choose the right business
the best strategy for growing
intelligence tools that allow non-technical

organizations. In our experience, the right

users to slice and dice data on their own
mix of open-source tools and talent can

offer highly scalable, open, future-proof,

and extremely cost-effective analytics

architecture.

6. Ingest and Integrate Data

Ingesting and integrating data is a critical

step in the analytics process, as it lays the

foundation for all downstream analysis. It

is essential to consider the various

sources and formats of your data, as well

as the frequency and volume of updates

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while empowering the data engineering AI/ML may also be perceived as a threat

team to build rich and reusable insights by the existing employees, so it is

quickly. In our experience, just basic important to address the human aspect

business intelligence can unlock millions of automating processes with AI.

in new opportunities and cost savings if It is important to note that most AI/ML

done correctly.
algorithms, even the best ones that

power tools like ChatGPT, are open

BI will also enhance your entire team’s
source, but preparing the right data and
understanding of your processes and
training (and tuning) the model is the
bottlenecks and help unlock hidden
hardest part of realizing the ROI of AI.
opportunities in your data and business.

9. Measure the ROI

Most companies are quick to launch new

initiatives but slow to measure the impact

and prove the ROI. Measuring the

performance of data analytics use cases

also enables you to learn and course-

correct the strategy. Hence, before an

initiative is launched, you must emphasize

on the definition of success in terms of

business KPIs (like sales lift, customer

satisfaction, productivity gains, and many

more) and measure the progress towards

them aggressively. These KPIs will also

help your team stay focused and aligned

8. Start Leveraging AI/ML on business value, not just the tools and

processes.
AI/ML is penetrating every single industry

at a faster pace than we can keep up with.

Every executive (and board) is looking to

invest in AI/ML to reduce costs and

improve revenue. There are many

algorithms, tools, and platforms that

promise the riches of AI/ML, but they

leave the hard work of realizing the riches

to the team. It is super important to first

build a strong foundation to collect,

organize and enrich data for any AI/ML

use case to be successful. Alongside this,

it is also crucial to find low-hanging and

small-size use cases that can be enabled

with AI/ML to test the waters and build

internal capabilities.

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10. Create an Agile Data Culture

Creating a dynamic and data-driven and take advantage of new technologies.

culture in your organization is not a one-

It is also vital for you to establish a data
time effort but a continuous process that
council with cross-functional team
requires ongoing care and support. A
members to gather feedback and address
crucial first step is involving employees in
it. Communicating with employees about
the data decision-making process by
how using data is helping the business
encouraging them to ask questions and
achieve its goals will help them recognize
share their insights and ideas. Organizing
the importance of data and their role in
workshops, training sessions, and data
utilizing it, improving their adaptability and
literacy programs for employees to
openness to change. By nurturing this
deepen their understanding of data,
agile data-driven culture, you will be well
including concepts like data governance,
on your way to establishing data as a key
data lineage, and data profiling, can help
driver of your organization's success.
them adapt to changing business needs

33% 28%
data workers say that they waste data workers say that there is a lack
too much time preparing data. 1 of collaboration in their team.1

Source: 1 millimetric.ai rapidops.com 25

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 About Rapidops
Rapidops Inc. is one of the fastest-growing digital products and services companies in the USA. We partner with
leading companies of all shapes and sizes to transform their businesses and industries with our advanced digital
products, software, and services. Rapidops offers digital solutions to turn global challenges into innovation-led
opportunities - from rethinking business models to optimizing operations and enabling modernization. We
impact millions of lives daily, solve tough problems, and empower businesses to thrive in the digital age.

To know more about Rapidops services for data analytics, please visit https://www.rapidops.com/services/data-
analytics/ or contact us at hello@rapidops.com.

Authors

Jayesh Mori Lalitya Sirapu

CEO Consultant, Data Analytics

Sourabh Gurga
Marketing Analyst

United States Headquarters India Headquarters

525, North Tryon Street, Suite 1600,
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Charlotte, NC 28202-0213
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