You’ve heard the hype over and over again about data analytics, but you’re still feeling skeptical? Are you hesitant to go down a new road, thinking that it might be a waste of time and resources for little payoff?

Think again. Here are some of the most common myths that we encounter so that we can set the record straight.

Myth 1: Data analytics is too time consuming!

The truth is that you’re already doing some form of analytics now if you’re using your members’ data in any way. Actually, if you’re not using a proper analytics tool, that’s where things get really time consuming! Using old and stale data, and reviewing and manipulating it manually, like with Excel sheets, is a tremendous drain on your resources.

Instead, tools are designed to make analytics so much easier. They can glean the information from your crucial data points – spreadsheets, reports, feedback surveys, and even member phone calls and emails – and turn it into information that you can use for forecasting and decision making. 

Myth 2: Data analytics is too expensive! 

At one time, the level of analytics that we can perform today would have cost a frightening amount of money! There would have been rooms full of hundreds or even thousands of analysts manually going through each piece of data to cross check, verify, and report results. The labor costs alone would have put any small financial institution right out of business.

Instead, data analytics tools offer a manageable, affordable solution to categorize, review, and yes analyze your data. They’re built precisely to eliminate those high labor costs, and give your lean and mean analytics team efficient reports that they can work with easily. In fact, constant innovations within the data analytics industry – like the democratic, open-to-all nature of Microsoft Power BI – makes a data analytics program more affordable and efficient than ever before.

Myth 3: Data analytics has no value for our business.

Even though we still hear this from time to time, it’s still just as ridiculous. How on Earth do you expect to make accurate predictions about customer behavior, offer better products, and grow your business in any meaningful way without analytics?

Think of your data not just as a series of numbers and graphs and spreadsheets, but as something that tells a story. Those numbers tell the story of your business, as do your visuals, audio and video recordings, and any other data that you come across. Not only do they paint a picture of members’ behavior, but they’ll tell you precisely where you should be focusing your attention next. 

Myth 4: Data analytics tools are hard to work with.

If you’ve experienced analytics tools in the past, they can feel a bit like fitting a square peg into a round hole. Many of the tools on the market expect you to work around them, and contort your business model to what they’re offering. If you want to break the mould at all, or change things even slightly, it can cost you time and delays.

That’s why we’ve built Gemineye specifically to be customizable. We know that your business is unique, and so are we. We’re here to help make your business better, not change things that are already working well. We’ll work with you, instead of against you, to shape our data analytics tool in a way that works for you.

Myth 5: A data analytics tool will take forever to get up and running.

This one makes us chuckle. We’re not sure what our competitors are doing, but we’re trying to make sure you’re not spending months on end playing ‘the waiting game.’

We can’t guarantee our timing specifically since it will ultimately depend on your needs, but we can usually get Gemineye up and running in your business within a few weeks, if not even a matter of days. Don’t stress out that you’re spending months waiting for something that may never come. We’re here today to help you get started.