Structured data analysis set to play bigger role

As tech breakthroughs gain strong momentum in China's economic growth, companies are seeking a more structured data analysis adopted in their product development, marketing and even daily operations to achieve higher growth.

A more structured data analysis, according to data expert Zhang Ximeng, requires a systematic evaluation of user experience, user viscosity, and other core indexes.

"Decision-makers need to know when to launch viral marketing and when they can make real money out of their audience base," said Zhang, founder and CEO of data service company GrowingIO Corp Ltd, at an open forum held by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) on Saturday.

"And an effective selection of core indexes and their evaluation using big data can reflect whether your product fits the market," Zhang added, citing the North Star Metric.

The North Star Metric, a concept from Silicon Valley that helps companies to achieve long-term sustainable growth, highlights product development and brand value delivery.

"The key is to discover what matters to your customer and make it true at the lowest costs," said Zhang. "Therefore core index selection becomes of vital importance for companies to move beyond service-level growth."

Zhang said that a systematic data evaluation is just the first step. The second is to use the analysis to set up a baseline. For instance, how many users would like to buy products and how many would like to recommend to their friends.

"The last is to calculate your ROI (or return on investment, a measure to evaluate profit that a company generates from certain movements) using evaluations and baselines you get," said Zhang.

As China's fast business growth drives tech breakthroughs, tech adaptation such as data analysis, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence in various sectors like production and manufacturing has led to an industrial upgrade.

According to a report released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, big data industry in China was valued at 470 billion yuan by 2017, up 30 percent year on year.

The report also said China's digital economy has achieved an estimated value of 27.2 trillion yuan.

"In addition to tech adaptation, businesses also need good products and operations to achieve high growth," said Zhang.