One future area that SMB owners and executives should know about is data science. For your convenience, we have presented  here a simple understanding of the topic. Enabling you to understand the topic without being bombarded with jargon and also avoid being overwhelmed with unnecessary technical details.

Data science is an area where things such as programming, domain expertise, statistics and mathematics, etc, are brought together, for the purpose of arriving at relevant interpretations from the data. In fact, data science involves the application of algorithms of machine learning to images, text, video and audio, to generate AI (artificial intelligence) systems.

The above systems execute tasks more effectively than that possible for the normal human intellect. To be clearer, the outcomes that these systems deliver render yeoman services to business entities, in coming out with strategies contributing to profitability in no uncertain terms. It is in no way an exaggeration to maintain that, for organizations to withstand the fierce competition of modern-day markets, data science is indispensable.

Unquestionably, this is the era of big data! Businesses continuously receive huge volumes of data from diverse sources like social media, sensors in shopping outlets, e-commerce portals, etc. But unless and until companies are aware of the methods of using the data, it will be of no help. It’s in this respect that the significance of data science gets enhanced.

When an organization is meticulous on incorporating data science into its day-to-day operations, it will stand to gain in numerous ways. These are some of the advantages:

• There’ll be a substantial decline in operational costs, over a period of time.
• Making an entry into unexplored markets shall no longer be a complex issue.
• An accurate assessment can be made as to whether or not a promotional activity served the purpose.
• There literally would be no risk, when the business introduces its latest product/service.

Here, it will be worthwhile to take a glimpse of a few of the ways in which data science can be utilized by organizations.

• Predictive analysis: Data science facilitates businesses to conduct predictive analysis where the present and past data is used to foretell the future trend. For instance, when giving money on credit is considered, data science, by analyzing the payment record, is able to tell whether or not a client shall make prompt payments.
• Prescriptive analysis: Though this particular facet of data science is in the early stages, it still is gaining a lot of prominence and understandably so. The prescriptive analysis does not stop at predicting things; it comes out with several relevant suggestions for the business, too. In this context, the self-driven car of Google is one of the best real-life examples. Here, the automobile can automatically learn a few things including to increase or decrease speed, taking turns, deciding on the right roads to travel.
• Machine learning: The algorithms of machine learning are of great value to organizations that are entailed to anticipate the upcoming trends. Machine learning is also extremely helpful when the business has to identify patterns that are concealed inside a data set.

It is quite easy to project that data science is a sphere that will expand rapidly. When well-executed, data science can offer immense opportunities for even small and mid-sized businesses to leverage data science to gain a competitive advantage in the market place.