Implementing a worthwhile long-term data processing strategy is at the forefront of any modern business. This is especially true for businesses in the IT, blockchain, and data analytics niches, given the abundance of data they generate. However, collecting noteworthy data from B2C stakeholders, as well as internal project development, can be difficult without a proper data system in place.
Studies published by Forbes have shown that 60-73% of all data generated by a business goes unused for analytics. Additionally, 90% of unstructured data is never analyzed and goes unseen, such as customer reviews, user-generated content, and support tickets. In today’s day and age, this is a staggering issue which more businesses should consider addressing.
Enter gamification, a promising system of using game-like systems in fields unrelated to gaming, such as in data processing. Typical elements related to gamification include digital currencies, points, leaderboards, achievements, and other forms of virtual rewards for the participants. With gamification both in the back-end and front-end of your business, you can learn to utilize your data more precisely going forward.
The Purpose of Gamifying Your Data Management
Gamification and data can go hand in hand if you facilitate their relation within your business. Reports by Gartner indicate 80% of data gamification solutions are bound to fail due to poor design and misalignment of gamification with existing data processes. Why is this the case?
To build a solid foundation for gamification in your data analytics processes, you should start from what already works. Adding gamification as a top layer to an existing data strategy is far more effective than restructuring your entire data processing philosophy. What are some of the reasons you should consider going with gamification for your business in the near future?
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Objective, data-first marketing decisions for your products and services
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Communicate your businesses values and culture via diligent data processing
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Create a sense of agency and ownership over data processing for your staff
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Maximize ROI for each subsequent marketing campaign or business decision
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Long-term consistency in processing, indexing, and using data
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Streamlined stakeholder segmentation and audience targeting
The main purpose of gamification in data analytics is to unlock the full potential of your data. Using as much data as possible, as intelligently as possible, will put your business one step ahead of the competition.
Data Processing Vectors to Explore
Gamifying your data processing won’t happen overnight, and depending on the scale at which you generate data, onboarding could take time. That’s why you can take multiple steps to introduce gamification to your data processes.
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Smart Automation of Existing Processes
Automation’s goal is to increase the efficiency of existing processes within a company. By automating your data processing, your staff will be able to focus on high-level decision-making rather than the mundanity of processing data.
Automation is focused on predictive processes which can be managed by AI algorithms, such as service automation and predictive maintenance. Any automated process will in itself generate data that can then be used to further business development.
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Applications Driven by Data
Creating and deploying smartphone or desktop apps under your business’s umbrella can generate unprecedented amounts of data for your convenience. This is especially true if you can develop an eCommerce or sales-oriented platform that people are bound to use with purchase in mind.
Collecting their data will give you crucial insight into how to personalize your marketing and sales as much as possible and present them with recommendations. The outcome of deploying and tracking these apps is to create a cycle of collecting, analyzing, using, and collecting new data from customers cyclically.
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Staff Agency Through Insight
The more informed your staff is, the better they will perform their everyday duties. Your staff must have full access to the data gathered from outside stakeholders for them to make more informed decisions. This level of staff transparency inevitably leads to higher engagement, personal agency, and innovation on the part of your staff.
Examples of how you can give your staff insight into collected data include scheduled publications with processed data, forecasts, market projections, etc. Failing to provide such a level of insight for your staff can lead to blind decision-making and overlooking critical data points due to miscommunication.
Redefining Your Business’ Data Culture
While gamification itself can be implemented into an existing data processing structure, business culture is another matter. A staff that has been conditioned to process data in certain ways for years will need time to transition to innovative, gamified data solutions. As such, the business’ data culture will need to be revamped to accommodate for new software and gamification in the workflow. This can be done in several interconnected ways.
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Data Silo Decentralization
Data silos are the bane of effective data processing and have put a wrench into many successful businesses. To make the most of gamification, the practice of collecting data in silos such as servers or external drives should be abandoned. Instead, cloud-based systems should take their place to allow all employees unprecedented access to any data point they might need.
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Data Technology Modernization
Investing in infrastructural upgrades, including hardware and software within your business, is important even without gamification in mind. Acquiring modern applications for data analytics and setting up machine learning AI in your company will be essential to the gamification process. Long-term, this means higher productivity, faster turnaround times, and better employee engagement thanks to state-of-the-art technology being available for use.
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Redefined Data Culture Training
Making use of the majority of the data you generate as a business is only possible if your staff is onboarded properly. This translates to redesigned training and onboarding processes, as well as a comprehensive introduction of new software apps to make use of. In most cases, this requires the hiring of outside instructors or professionals with insight into data processing and gamification. This will kick-start the data culture redefinition within your business.
Making the Most Out of Data Through Gamification
Gamification can make your data processing more effective, engaging, and not to mention, more resource-efficient. Getting from here to there however takes time, and gamification is still in its infancy when it comes to it being implemented into enterprise-level processes. Make good use of any data point available to your business, and never overlook seemingly inconsequential data – a creative spark can appear at any moment.