With the amount of data being extracted, gathered, and exchanged all over the world, along with the increasingly more advanced ways of getting all that information, it’s critical that organizations find ways to keep up with it all. It’s no longer enough to just access and extract the data, you need to process it in order to gain actionable insights.
Through a comprehensive examination of data, analysts are able to assess the performance of a business and provide valuable insights to make informed decisions on future practices. The problem is, with the sheer volume of data being collected, it can be virtually impossible to gain those insights without the help of a dedicated data science team. Additionally, you would likely need to dedicate other resources such as software developers to run the systems and platforms used by the data engineers. If you’re running a business, it can be challenging to dedicate the time and money to this kind of endeavour. But, there’s no arguing that data analytics is vital to successful business operations. So what do you do? This could be the time to consider outsourcing your analytics to get started without a massive upfront investment.
Analytics as a Service
The analytics outsourcing market has grown exponentially in recent years. In fact, MarketResearch.com reported that the data analytics outsourcing industry was valued at $4.5 billion in 2020. With its rapid growth and expansion as the demand for their services continues to rise, the industry is projected to grow to about $25.8 billion by the year 2027. This means more and more businesses recognize the need to get help with their data analytics needs. And not only that, they’re seeking this help outside of their organizations to help address their immediate needs, resolve ongoing challenges, manage dashboards, and leverage reporting and predictive modeling.
Why Outsource Analytics?
There is plenty of evidence that shows how effective data analytics can provide companies with a competitive advantage. But, if it’s that important, you may feel hesitant about outsourcing such a critical business component. You may ask yourself, “why not just build my own team and do it all in-house?” While that is certainly an option, albeit a time-consuming and costly one, here are four reasons why you should consider outsourcing your data analytics.
1. Increased Competitiveness
No company can ignore the competitive advantage a robust data analytics process can bring. From collecting vital customer information to predictive sales models, investing in effective data analytics can be a game-changer. The right analytics partner can help quickly grow your analytics process, allowing you to outpace your competitors.
An outsourcing partner can take your raw data, process it, analyze it, and present it to you in such a way that aids in smarter decision-making. This partner can do all of the heavy lifting, leaving you with the time to focus on growing your business and hitting your goals.
2. Leverage Specialized Expertise
It’s important for business leaders to know what they do well and when they need help. And the same goes for running a business. If your business is really good at making and selling widgets, it’s probably not worth the investment to try to get really good at data analytics. Those businesses already exist so why not leverage their expertise and free up your team to do what they do best? A highly skilled third-party provider can offer specialized data analytics services, knows how to meet desired outcomes, and can leverage industry best practices you may not be aware of.
3. Save Money, Time, and a Lot of Effort
For every business, it’s critical to keep an eye on the bottom line and ensure that every investment made is going to benefit the company. When considering building an in-house analytics team, the time and money investment quickly add up, and for some businesses, could be prohibitive. The time spent recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and managing, alongside the cost of employee taxes, benefits, and salary can make building an in-house team an enormous investment that could take years to pay off. Even if you already have a team that could handle analytics, such as IT, they are often called to work on pressing priorities and may not be able to dedicate enough time to analytics to make a real difference.
However, outsourcing analytics allows a business to embark on a data analytics process quickly and you can tailor the work to your budget – allocating money on a case-by-case need or an ongoing project. With a dedicated team working on your project, you could start seeing results in weeks instead of months and get a head start on making data-based decisions to improve your outcomes.
4. Flexibility, Adaptability, and Management
Outsourcing firms specialize in building their skills and adapting the latest technology so they can serve clients better and you can directly benefit from their need to stay competitive and knowledgeable. They also need to be flexible and able to use whatever resources the client requests, like a particular software for exchanging data or delivering reports. This gives outsourced analysts a significant advantage over those you hire in-house as they may not possess the same level of flexibility or knowledge. An in-house team could be hamstrung by budget constraints or time-consuming internal processes that render them unable to learn and adapt quickly.
Lastly, outsourcing firms must ensure proper and systematic management, organization, and storage of your crucial data across multiple platforms according to industry best practices. It’s in their own best interest to ensure they keep your data safe, secure, and easily accessible, and they have the dedicated time and resources to do so.
Conclusion
Outsourcing something as huge and critical as data analytics can seem like a huge leap of faith for many companies. But, increased competitiveness, leveraging expertise, saving time (and money), and better data management are just a few of the benefits companies can gain by outsourcing their analytics. With the right partner, your business can capture and consume key information in a timely and effective manner.
If your business is ready to start a data analytics journey, reach out to AscentCore today. We build world-class digital products and can transform, enrich, contextualize, and visualize your raw data to drive actionable insights.
