TECHNOLOGY F 344 or your venture to thrive, you need to know what's actually working and what isn't, so you can build on the positives, capitalise on what your customers really want, and drop failing ideas. The best way to do that is to delve into the data. Even the term 'data analytics' can be intimidating if you're not familiar with it or you're not a numbers person. However, all successful businesses collect, analyse and use data to get ahead of their competitors. This could mean getting insight into your customers' behaviour and shopping habits so you can analyse how effective your marketing strategies are and drive more sales; analysing workflow within your company to improve efficiency; or discovering how engaging your social media presence is to reach more potential customers. It takes the guesswork out of improving your business's efficiency and performance. There's no need to be put off by the technical aspects - there are consultants, companies and software that can do most of the heavy lifting for you. So don't leave success to chance - build it on cold, hard evidence by getting to grips with the data.