In today’s data-driven world, business analytics is crucial for any organization, regardless of whether it is an association, nonprofit, educational institution or credit union. Business analytics tools can help organizations improve their operations, reach more constituents, and help them reach the objectives and goals of their organization.
The interpretation and communication of data can be a daunting task due to its inherent complexity. Nonetheless, business analytics offers a solution by transforming complex data into understandable information through visualization and identification of patterns and relationships. The application of business analytics allows organizations to derive crucial insights into their operations, enabling them to ascertain whether they are progressing in the right direction or not.
An organization can utilize various types of business analytics to examine their data from different perspectives, such as identifying sudden changes and forecasting future trends. The five types of data analytics depict distinct methods for utilizing information. Analytical programs can assist organizations in describing information, diagnosing issues, predicting outcomes, and suggesting options through various processing techniques. As one progresses from one analysis type to another, the tools required become increasingly complex, with prescriptive analytics being accessible only to those with an experienced data scientist at their disposal.
Descriptive analytics is the most common type of analytics and serves as an introductory level of business analytics. This method gives a basic overview of historical data, defining critical elements of what major data events happened in an organization. This type of analysis does not make predictions, nor does it indicate why things happened. Another common use of descriptive analytics is to look at member or donor behavior. The answers to these questions can help improve the experience for everyone who joins or donates to your organization.
Diagnostic analytics is the next step in complexity and work. This form of analysis looks over historical information to see which data points impact trends. Whereas descriptive analysis spots issues, diagnostic analytics sees correlations to try to identify why things happened. This type of analytics is invaluable in creating action plans to prevent future problems at an organization.
Predictive analytics allows organizations to examine historical membership data and offer predictions for what might happen in the future. Many member-based organizations and nonprofits have found great success leveraging predictive analytics to help reach their goals with membership retention, fundraising, event registrations, and product sales. With this form of analysis, organizational planning becomes data-driven.
Prescriptive analytics is a type of data analysis that utilizes advanced techniques, such as machine learning, optimization, and simulation, to generate recommendations for optimal decision-making. It goes beyond descriptive analytics (what happened) and predictive analytics (what might happen) by providing specific suggestions on what action to take to achieve a particular goal or outcome.
Cognitive analytics is a type of advanced analytics that utilizes machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and other AI technologies to analyze and extract insights from unstructured data sources such as text, images, and audio. Unlike traditional analytics, which primarily focuses on structured data such as numbers and categories, cognitive analytics can process and interpret large amounts of complex, unstructured data to identify patterns, detect anomalies, and make predictions.
Professional associations, trade associations, and nonprofit groups can leverage business analytics to make informed decisions based on data, visualize and analyze data connections, and reinforce past decisions. Utilizing business analytics can furnish association and nonprofit leaders with a comprehensive historical context that enables them to assess how previous decisions impacted the organization and its progress towards achieving its goals. By scrutinizing the outcomes of previous initiatives, the executive team can devise measures that maintain a positive trend or counteract a negative one.
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About Systems Rewired
Systems Rewired is a Salesforce consulting company providing services to the association and nonprofit markets. If you are interested in speaking with one of our Salesforce association consultants or nonprofit experts, contact us today.