I don’t know about you, but I love stand-up comedy. One of my favourite comedians currently is the very funny John Mulaney. In his Netflix special, Mulaney tells a joke that really resonated with the entrepreneur in me. He brings up CAPTCHA (that annoying text thing we have to encode, so that the website knows we’re not a robot) and highlights the irony of having actual robots check if we’re not robots.

He starts this joke with a simple thesis: “Everything’s fast now and it’s totally unreasonable. The world is run by computers, and the world is run by robots.” This line really struck me, not just because it reflects the reality we live in, but it speaks of a simple truth that everyone (entrepreneurs or not) has to accept – data is king.

Every day, businesses, including mine, pump out neither gigabytes nor terabytes, but exabytes and zettabytes of data. That’s right, we’re dealing with data that has bytes of up to 21 zeroes. These might be incomprehensible numbers to you and I, and yet, these are the numbers we deal with daily. It’s gotten to the point that scientists believe that in just four years, that is by 2025, all the data online will have exceeded the total brain capacity of every human on Earth.

So, what does this teach us? That data is all around us waiting to be harnessed, and it is now more important than ever that we learn to best utilise it.

Data is Everywhere

When we talk about data, we aren’t just talking about the cryptic kind of stuff that only movie hackers know about. Data is not just numbers and lists of ones and zeros.

Data is everything. It is pictures, videos, sound files. It could be as simple as a website banner or something as confidential as bank statements and employee files. As long as it’s countable by a computer, it can be broken down into data.

This is why if you’re still stuck in the mindset that you can get by purely on manual work and processes and age-old business strategies, know that this doesn’t fly nowadays. We’re living in a tech-driven, data-first world, where underestimating what data means and how much it can do for you will do you no favours.

The Biggest Companies Lead by Leveraging Data

When you look at it, the biggest companies in the world are simultaneously trying to get their hands on new data and doing their best to manage their own. It’s such an important resource that it’s been considered the “new oil,” and the way companies value it proves that. And we’re not just referring to social media behemoths like Facebook and Twitter.

Take AirAsia, for example. In 2016, its CEO Tony Fernandes made sure to jump-start AirAsia’s transition to becoming a “data-first” business, by executing a five-year plan for the airline to become a “digital airline.” Their goal is now to use data analytics to fix pricing, increase revenue, and upgrade the customer experience. AirAsia knows that it’s through using data that one can really understand trends and process this information into data-driven solutions that would contribute to providing customers with a better overall experience. And believe me, all companies across the world are doing the same.

You Need to Manage Your Own Data

Now, while knowing the importance of data is well and good, if you aren’t managing and processing your company’s own data, then you’re really going nowhere. No business can manage what they can’t measure. Proper data mining can help businesses with strategic planning and effective forecasting. So consider all the ways you can harness data when you start your business.

Begin by using analytic software and understanding the current digital software available. You can start learning how digital marketing really works, and how to interpret different analytics from different sources. When you can effectively manage your data, you’ll be able to scale your business to something that doesn’t just thrive in the present, but is built to last until the next generation.

Discover more why data is king in today’s times in this video: Data is King

To your success,

Mario

[Visit www.mariosingh.com now to enjoy a FREE e-book of my latest “37 Essential Principles for Massive Success” when you subscribe!]