Business Analytics Challenges

• Challenges in implementing Data

Analytics:
1) Collecting meaningful data
2) Selecting the right tool
3) Consolidate data from multiple sources
4) Quality of data collected
5) Building a data culture among employees
6) Data security
7)Data Visualization
1)Collecting meaningful data
• There’s data for every aspect of business, which
more than often overwhelms employees. The
plethora of data from different channels makes it
difficult for employees to drill down and determine
the critical insights. And they end up analyzing the
data that’s readily available and not the one that
truly adds value to the business.

• Solution:
Data literacy can easily mitigate most of the data
analytics challenges, starting from collecting
meaningful data. Once the employees start
understanding data, they will know which data is
vital for your business.
2. Selecting the right tool
• The second most common challenge in data analytics arises
with the vast number of tools available in the market.
• Is MongoDB the best for storing data or Cassandra?
Is RapidMiner a better option for data analytics, or should you
opt for Microsoft’s Power BI?
• If these questions are not answered correctly, the chances are
that you will end up investing your time, money, and effort in
inappropriate tools.

• Solution
• The best option is to seek professional help. Experts who have
experience working on different tools can help you to select the
right one.
• You can also start using the trial versions of the tools to check
out the features yourself.
3. Consolidate data from multiple sources
Data comes from scattered and disjointed sources.
For instance, you will need to pull data from your
website, social media pages, CRM portals,
financial reports, e-mails, competitors’ websites,
etc. The data formats of most of these reports will
obviously vary.

• Solution
Organizations should focus on creating a
centralized data hub. It will become easier for
employees to access information from that
location. Thus, freeing up time spent on data
collection and helping you compare data from
across channels.
4. Quality of data collected
• One of the primary reasons behind inaccurate
data is errors made during data entry, i.e., manual
errors.
• Another reason for poor quality data is the
disparity in data.

• Solution
• The first check that you should put is at the data
collection stage. If you have the budget, automate
this process. Or you can use forms with drop-
down fields and data validations. Thus, not leaving
much room for human errors.
5. Building a data culture among employees
According to a study, the biggest obstacle in
becoming a data-driven company lies in an
organization’s culture and not technologies. Only
a meager 9.1% of executives have pointed out
technology as a challenge in the path of data
analysis.

• Solution
As Albert Einstein has said, “The world cannot be
changed without changing our thinking,” you need
to create a culture that understands data and
supports it. To make data analysis a success at
every level, educate your employees and help
them to upgrade themselves.
6. Data security
• Once businesses realize the importance of Big Data, they
start focusing on storing, understanding and analyzing it. They
tend to overlook the potential risks that come with the privacy
and security of the enormous data sets collected.
• Security of your company’s data is a necessity and one of the
scariest challenges in data analytics. Unprotected data
sources can become an easy entry point for hackers.

• Solution
The moment you decide to use data analytics in your
business, make sure to take care of the security issues. Some
steps that you can implement are:
• Hire cybersecurity professionals to guard your data.
• Control access rights.
• Encrypt data with secured login credentials.
7. Data Visualization
Data analytics holds no meaning for you or your stakeholders
until the numbers tell a story.
After all, the time, money, and effort you invest in collecting and
securing the data are to help you make informed decisions
and meet your ROIs. So, data visualization is very critical in
data analytics and challenging too.

• Solution
• Use data visualization tools like Power BI, Tableau, Google
Data Studio, which are easy to learn and have a wide range of
features. These tools have drag-and-drop features and can
also connect to various data sources. They come with intuitive
graphs and charts, thus helping you to visualize your data.
• Other challenges are
1. Shortage of talent for Data Analytics
2. Handling Large volumes of data
3. Changing Technological Landscape
4. Quality of storage & retrieving data