If you run a mid-level business and are concerned that you are not taking full advantage of data and analytics to drive your top-line growth, you are not alone.
The results of a recent survey by Microsoft Canada around digital transformation revealed some interesting findings of the extent to which Canadian businesses harness the power of data.
The study found that while 61% of business leaders agree that data, and the actionable insights to be drawn from it, are crucial to success in today’s economy, only 34% say they have a “comprehensive data strategy” in place. Even fewer feel their organization is a “data-led” business. Over half of businesses surveyed indicated that what prevented them from using big data analytics to drive growth was the right in-house skills.
Our Data Analytics team makes Big Data accessible to mid-market companies that may not have the in-house expertise to do it themselves. We turn data into a strategic advantage for our mid-market clients.
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
Customer segmentation, the process of dividing customers into groups based on common characteristics, allows companies to market to each group appropriately and effectively. It may require analyzing many data points, including transactional, behavioural, social and demographic.
Our analytics team searches, identifies, and analyzes this data on a granular level to give you a complete, accurate picture of your customers.
FirePower’s data analytics team drives revenue growth by identifying the answers to critical questions, such as:
- Which customers will generate the highest lifetime value? Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a critical metric that identifies the total worth of a customer’s business over the totality of the relationship.
- Which channels and geographies offer the most significant growth opportunities?
- What can I do to grow my customer value through cross-sells and up-sells?
- What is the maximum “willingness to pay” for my products?
- Which customers are at risk of churning in the next six months?
Product pricing is an example of a situation where data can help identify trends in the customer product base. Whether it’s running A/B testing or simulations/models that test assumptions and forecasts, data analysis can provide insight on how to adjust pricing and when targeted advertising and custom user paths will be beneficial.
Our suite of in-house solutions ranges from simple to advanced.
An example of a simple solution might be a peer-based segmentation of customers in the same geographic or customer group.
A slightly more sophisticated solution might include a Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) KPI, with each value corresponding to a key customer trait.
Advanced support would involve clustering algorithm-based segmentation, using techniques such as a ‘k‑means algorithm,’ which uses customer features to group those that are most statistically similar.
WHAT IS THE FIREPOWER DATA ANALYTICS PROCESS?
The FirePower team meets with senior management to identify one or two high-level questions, blind spots or gaps. Once a goal is determined, our data team steps in.
During the discovery phase, which typically takes several weeks, the data analysis team searches, “cleans,” and analyzes data on a granular level to provide a complete, accurate picture of actionable insights for senior management teams.
Our team pulls data from the client’s internal systems (for example, ERP, CRM) and other structured and unstructured data sources (such as Excel and flat files). It augments it with data from external sources, including information about earnings, demographics, and geographic trends.
Once the analysis is complete and the client’s questions answered, depending on the client’s needs, the team may engage in another series of analytic cycles.
Oren Horovitz, FirePower Capital’s Managing Director of Value Maximization, has noticed a pattern among clients engaged in this process.
“Once we’ve identified the potential benefits of data analysis for the client, we’ve found that they quickly begin identifying additional data points to refine their insights further. We call it stoking the art of the possible, and it’s exhilarating for them and us.”
Our goal is to help transform your organization. We provide tools and programs customized to your needs so you or your data team can continue to harvest the data once our project together is completed.
WHY IS MY DATA NOT USABLE IN ITS CURRENT FORM?
Firstly, not all business metrics are actionable. FirePower understands which metrics can make the biggest difference to top-line growth and how to maximize the value of a company on the way to a merger or acquisition.
Secondly, most corporate data is locked away in a data warehouse or excel spreadsheet. It is raw data, often a series of line-by-line transactions, that are optimized for storage, not for analysis. The challenge is accessing and then making sense of the data to drive revenues.
Our data processing tools not only aggregate and integrate data, they also continuously measure the quality of your data and then ‘clean’ it to prepare it for different types of useful analysis. For data to be mined, it must be in a particular configuration, nimble enough to be manipulated and structured into different types of analysis. Our team ensures that your data is ready for all reporting purposes.
WHICH MID-MARKET BUSINESSES CAN BENEFIT FROM DATA ANALYSIS?
Is your business an owner-operated, mid-market business trying to increase your top line via increased sales for the next generation?
Or is it a mid-sized company looking to prepare for significant M&A activity, financings or a buyout?
Whatever your goals, FirePower Capital’s data analytics team is accessible to you without the need for significant capital investment. As part of our mission to support promising mid-market Canadian entrepreneurs, we want to help you grow your business using the power of information.
Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you.
