Data analysis is a set of steps that take raw information and transform it into insights that help guide your business operations and decision-making. It begins with identifying the issue you’re trying to resolve, obtaining all relevant information, and then analyzing it using a variety of statistical techniques to find patterns or relationships. The result is usually greater efficiency or profit.
You must first identify the goal. This could be as straightforward as a specific sales goal or as complicated as predicting the probability of customer churn. It is then up to you to decide what kind of analysis you will use to achieve your desired goal. Diagnostic data analysis attempts to determine the relationships between data points in order to explain observations. Predictive modeling is the opposite. It, uses past results to predict the outcome.
The next step is to gather data. This may involve collecting it from sources like CRM software, internal reports and archives. It may also involve importing external data, which involves working with data from multiple sources in a variety of formats. Once you have your data you can begin preparing it for analyzation by organizing, cleaning and transforming as necessary.
Once the data is analyzed and analyzed, you need to create a report that summarizes the results and presents the results in a way that is easy for your readers. Based on the level of knowledge among your readers, this may require writing for laypeople or working with an expert to translate technical terms and processes into readable content.
