The shop that knew
A corner shop owner notices something. Every afternoon at four o'clock, students come in. They buy crisps and energy drinks. So at three o'clock the owner puts both on the front shelf and adds a small discount for the pair.
Sales go up. The owner did not guess. The owner used data. Here are five ways organisations use data.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Something that happens again and again in the data. | Crisps sell most at 4 pm |
| Database | An organised store of data that a program can search. | The shop's sales list |
| Load | How much work a system is doing right now. | 500 people on a website |
| Outage | A time when a system does not work. | The website was down for an hour |
| Throughput | How much work a system finishes in a set time. | 40 orders each minute |
| Status | A short answer to: is the system working right now? | Green or red |
| Competitor | Another company that sells the same things. | The shop across the road |
| Upselling | Offering a bigger or better thing than the customer first chose. | Add a drink for 50p more |
| Compliance | Following the rules and the law. | Keeping customer data as the law says |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
1. Find patterns
A pattern is something that repeats. Analysis means looking closely at data to find patterns.
A shop finds that milk sells every morning. A bus company finds that route 42 is full at 8:30 in the morning. Patterns help an organisation plan.
2. Check how the system performs
A system, such as a website, makes data about itself. Teams watch four things.
Load: how busy it is. Outage: when it stops working. Throughput: how many jobs it finishes. Status: is it working right now? It shows green or red.
3. Monitor users
Many systems record when a user logs in and logs out. They also record what the user opens.
A college uses this to see who needs help. A bank uses it to find a thief. A thief logs in at night from another country. The pattern looks wrong.
Quick check: which use?
Have a go
Quick check: which use?
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
4. Targeted marketing
A company uses your data to send you offers that fit you. This is targeted marketing.
You buy trainers (sports shoes). The shop sends you a discount on socks.
Then the shop offers you a better pair of trainers for £10 more. This is upselling.
5. Threats and opportunities
data-callouts.note.label
Data also warns an organisation. A competitor with lower prices is a threat. A rise in failed logins is a security threat. A new law that the company must follow (compliance) is a threat too. A new trend in sales can be an opportunity.