source: sites.ndtv.com

Real-time data means information that is available for use immediately after collection. However, it doesn’t mean that the information will be available to an end-user with microseconds after collection. To best understanding, we can say real-time data is fast data that is not meant to store or kept back for later use in future, but to keep it in motion to give rise to immediate response and action.  

For a long time now, use of real-time data has been restricted to navigation and tracking only. But the picture is changing now with the advent of new technologies being capable of delivering up-to-the minute information to mobile devices through convenience apps.

How real-time data could help businesses grow?

By deploying real-time data analytical tools, such as Woopra, Clicky and Mixpanel, businesses can analyze huge data sets of fresh information in a matter of seconds or a few minutes, unlike hours and days previously. However, before the deployment of these tools, a coding assessment is necessary so as to deliver flawless applications. Real-time data comprises what people are purchasing online, sharing, posting, clicking, reading and many more.

Making right sense of such information opens doors for businesses of all sizes to understand customer behavior and target them with products they would actually like to make a purchase for. Besides, assessment of customer interaction in real time enables to improve customer service and improve brand value of your products and services. Real-time data improves your business-decision making ability, which in turn increases profitability and takes your business to new heights.

To make real-time operation possible in reality, many businesses have already started availing marketing automation implementation services to leverage real-time data, business intelligence(BI), and analytical tools.

Factors to be considered while designing real-time data apps are as follows:

• Customization: Adding a personal touch in an app makes it easier to understand consumer preferences

• Awareness: Capability to figure out where a user is and what he/she is looking at

• Speed and interaction: Ability to respond in real-time and take quick actions

All these benefits can be availed if businesses can manage to transcend limitations of cost, difficulties in designing real-time systems, data-management infrastructure, lack of staffing etc. Besides, it would really become possible to make software-enabled automated decisions without having to rely on human beings for the same.  

Let’s now talk about applications of real-time data

                                            source: www.slideshare.net

Retail companies: Real-time data enables a retail company to decide the right product it needs to target a potential customer based on information about what interests and behavior he/she has recently showed on social media and shopping sites.

Retail companies can also figure out on which day traffic is high on their sites and can increase their sales by quickly responding through email campaigns. It’s also possible to monitor social media campaigns in real time and figure out which posts and tweets were liked by your target audience and attracted them to visit your site and make purchases. With online campaigns, it’s very important to act on feedback in real time to improve your products and services, which leads to rise in sales and adds value to your brand.

Sites are subject to downtime due to updates or maintenance requirements. Via real-time data analytics tools, you can figure out when the traffic is low and high on your website. As a result, you can choose right time of a day to repair or update your site, so that users face minimal disruption.

Banking: Real-time data also has a role to play in banking sector as many banks are looking forward to introduce the concept of small mobile banking. This will allow a customer who has recently inquired for a financing a new property to automatically receive alerts from the bank about its mortgage offer, thereby increasing chances of conversion by many folds.  

Insurance: GPS coordinates could help an auto insurance company to get real-time information about an accident a customer has had. Thus, the insurance company, without wasting anytime, can call a towing service provider to take the customer’s car to a repair shop and arrange the nearest rental car service.

Trading: In trading, it becomes paramount to evaluate real-time impacts on trades in order to maintain balance of portfolio metrics and bring down equity-risk exposure. Real-time data is imperative for risk assessment in a trading.

E-commerce sites can enjoy skyrocketing sales by analyzing real-time data, which opens gates to take interaction to an all new level. With real-time data, you can immediately become aware of a blog or any post on the internet that has mentioned your business. You may like to comment on every post that has the name of your business mentioned and is bringing a good traffic on your website. This will help your business increase interaction with more and more people. You can also make informed business decisions by using cutting-edge data integration products available in the e tech market.

You will also be able to figure out the place a user has come from on your website, how long he stayed on your site, which page he spent the most time on and what product he clicked the most at. You can tag the customer from your database to know when he/she comes next time on your website and based on the vital information at your disposal, you can launch a browser chat session. A chat session usually has a huge impact on a customer and drives him/her to buy a product he/she had previously showed interest in on your website.  

Real-time data has many virtues for businesses to give their rivals a tough competition and increase their bottom line to a great extent. I hope this blog has served the purpose it was intended for.