In today’s business world, I’ve seen firsthand how valuable data analytics applications are. With the increasing internet access, a vast amount of data is available. Businesses actively use such data analytics to gain insights, improve customer service, understand trends, and identify market opportunities. As someone deeply involved in data analysis, I’ve witnessed how these applications help businesses stay competitive and make informed decisions. Moreover, it’s not just businesses; even civic bodies utilize data analytics applications for various purposes, such as monitoring crime rates. 

Top Data Analytics Applications

Some of the different data analytics applications that are currently being used in several organizations across the globe are:

1. Security

Data analytics applications or, more specifically, predictive analysis has also helped in dropping crime rates in certain areas. In a few major cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, historical and geographical data has been used to isolate specific areas where crime rates could surge. On that basis, while arrests could not be made on a whim, police patrols could be increased. Thus, using applications of data analytics, crime rates dropped in these areas.

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2. Transportation

Data analytics can be used to revolutionize transportation. It can be used especially in areas where you need to transport a large number of people to a specific area and require seamless transportation. This data analytical technique was applied in the London Olympics a few years ago.

For this event, around 18 million journeys had to be made. So, the train operators and TFL were able to use data from similar events, predict the number of people who would travel, and then ensure that the transportation was kept smooth.

3. Risk detection

One of the first data analytics applications may have been in the discovery of fraud. Many organizations were struggling under debt, and they wanted a solution to this problem. They already had enough customer data in their hands, and so, they applied data analytics. They used ‘divide and conquer’ policy with the data, analyzing recent expenditure, profiles, and any other important information to understand any probability of a customer defaulting. Eventually, it led to lower risks and fraud.

4. Risk Management

Risk management is an essential aspect in the world of insurance. While a person is being insured, there is a lot of data analytics that goes on during the process. The risk involved while insuring the person is based on several data like actuarial data and claims data, and the analysis of them helps insurance companies to realize the risk.

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Underwriters generally do this evaluation, but with the advent of data analysis, analytical software can be used to detect risky claims and push such claims before the authorities for further analysis.

5. Delivery

Several top logistic companies like DHL and FedEx are using data analysis to examine collected data and improve their overall efficiency. Using data analytics applications, the companies were able to find the best shipping routes, delivery time, as well as the most cost-efficient transport means. Using GPS and accumulating data from the GPS gives them a huge advantage in data analytics.

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6. Fast internet allocation

While it might seem that allocating fast internet in every area makes a city ‘Smart’, in reality, it is more important to engage in smart allocation. This smart allocation would mean understanding how bandwidth is being used in specific areas and for the right cause.

It is also important to shift the data allocation based on timing and priority. It is assumed that financial and commercial areas require the most bandwidth during weekdays, while residential areas require it during the weekends. But the situation is much more complex. Data analytics can solve it.

For example, using applications of data analysis, a community can draw the attention of high-tech industries and in such cases, higher bandwidth will be required in such areas.

7. Reasonable Expenditure

When one is building Smart cities, it becomes difficult to plan it out in the right way. Remodeling of the landmark or making any change would incur large amounts of expenditure, which might eventually turn out to be a waste. Data analytics can be used in such cases. With data analytics, it will become easier to direct the tax money in a cost-efficient way to build the right infrastructure and reduce expenditure.

8. Interaction with customers

In insurance, there should be a healthy relationship between the claims handlers and customers. Hence, to improve their services, many insurance companies often use customer surveys to collect data. Since insurance companies target a diverse group of people, each demographic has their own preference when it comes to communication.

Data analysis can help in zeroing in on specific preferences. For example, a study showed that modern customers prefer communication through social media or online channels, while the older demographic prefers telephonic communication.

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9. Planning of cities

One of the untapped disciplines where data analysis can really grow is city planning. While many city planners might be hesitant towards using data analysis in their favour, it only results in faulty cities riddled congestion. Using data analysis would help in bettering accessibility and minimizing overloading in the city.

Overall, it will generate more efficiency in the planning process. Just erecting a building in a suitable spot will not create an overall benefit for a city since it can harm the neighbors or the traffic in the area. Using data analytics and modelling, it will be easy to predict the outcome of placing a building in a specific situation and therefore, plan accordingly.

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10. Healthcare

While medicine has come a long way since ancient times and is ever-improving, it remains a costly affair. Many hospitals are struggling with the cost pressures that modern healthcare has come with, which includes the use of sophisticated machinery, medicines, etc.

But now, with the help of data analytics applications, healthcare facilities can track the treatment of patients and patient flow as well as how equipment are being used in hospitals. It has been estimated that there can be a 1% efficiency gain achieved if data analytics became an integral part of healthcare, which will translate to more than $63 billion in healthcare services. Read more about big data applications in heatlhcare industry.

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11. For Travelling

If you ever thought travelling is a hassle, then data analytics is here to save you. Data analysis can use data that shows the desires and preferences of different customers from social media and helps in optimizing the buying experience of travellers. It will also help companies customize their own packages and offer and hence boost more personalized travel recommendations with the help data collected from social media.

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12. Managing Energy

Many firms engaging with energy management are making use of applications of data analytics to help them in areas like smart-grid management, optimization of energy, energy distribution, and automation building for other utility-based companies. How does data analytics help here?

Well, it helps by focusing on controlling and monitoring of a dispatch crew, network devices, and management of service outages. Since utilities integrate about millions of data points within the network performance, engineers can use data analytics to help them monitor the entire network.

13. Internet searching

When you use Google, you are using one of their many data analytics applications employed by the company. Most search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL, Duckduckgo, etc. use data analytics. These search engines use different algorithms to deliver the best result for a search query, and they do so within a few milliseconds. Google is said to process about 20 petabytes of data every day.

14. Digital advertisement

Data analytics has revolutionized digital advertising, as well. Digital billboards in cities as well as banners on websites, that is, most of the advertisement sources nowadays use data analytics using data algorithms. It is one of the reasons why digital advertisements are getting more CTRs than traditional advertising techniques. The target of digital advertising nowadays is focused on the analysis of the past behaviour of the user.

Wrapping Up

I’ve noticed that data analytics applications are making huge strides worldwide. Understanding and analyzing data can improve job efficiency. But, if data isn’t handled correctly, it can cause productivity issues. That’s why it’s crucial for us data scientists to learn how to use data efficiently and focus on the right applications of data analytics. When we use data effectively, it can have a big positive impact on society and different sectors, boosting overall productivity. Suppose you’re interested in getting hands-on experience through workshops and one-on-one sessions with industry experts and working on 7+ case studies and projects. In that case, you might consider enrolling in IIIT-B’s Executive PG Program in Data Science program. They offer various Data Science Programs tailored for working professionals like us.