Biz
Black Enterprise|March/April 2018

SINCE DATA BECAME KING, THERE IS NO such thing as business as usual.

Biz

IT’S TIME TO DO MORE WITH DATA

SINCE DATA BECAME KING, THERE IS NO such thing as business as usual. Nowadays, if you want to grow your business you have to be able to measure what you’re doing, know your audience like the back of your hand, and understand how to use data to make informed decisions. For small business owners and entrepreneurs, big data can help them grow exponentially without having to cost big bucks. That is why investing in data is money well spent. Some would even say that data is the new oil.

Whether you agree with that sentiment or not, black enterprise spoke with Sherrell Dorsey, founder of BLK- TECHCLT daily tech newsletter and ThePLUG, about big data for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

As a data journalist and the founder of two businesses, Dorsey is a big proponent of data and says that it’s time to smarten up as business owners.

“The key is knowing what works for you. There’s this whole mystique around data and the mystique has made it unapproachable for small business owners. And, I think that we have to remove the elitisms from it. The way that The PLUG uses data, or with any of the conversations that we have, or as I run BLKTECHCLT, we use data in the sense of very practical analytics,” says Dorsey.

It is important for businesspeople to plan, strategize, and set goals for the kind of data they want to collect so that they can have a clear understanding of how they will use the information. Data is historic information you use to make decisions. And, one of the best ways to make an informed decision is to plan for your outcome ahead of time.

This story is from the March/April 2018 edition of Black Enterprise.

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This story is from the March/April 2018 edition of Black Enterprise.

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