If you think databases are confined to large multinational tech companies, then you’d be wrong. Even low-tech operations like restaurants, small service providers, farms and tradesmen are leveraging them to improve their capabilities. The purpose of this post is to run through some examples of how this is happening in real-time. We look at how what was once the preserve of big tech teams is now accessible by the cloud and usable by even the smaller companies with an internet connection.
Hybrid transactional and analytical processing
One of the biggest trends right now is the development of Hybrid Transactional and Analytical Processing (HTAP). The idea is to use databases to handle day-to-day transactions and then use the same systems for complex analytical reporting. Once transaction patterns are understood and mined, companies can then gain insights into how customers are interacting with them and when payments become most likely.
A simple example is what happens in the restaurant trade. Restaurants can monitor how and when people are paying for specific restaurant items, so they know when to advertise them. There may be patterns throughout the day when certain items are bought more often than others or even days during the week. Understanding this knowledge allows menus to be rearranged to prioritize the revenue drivers, especially digital menus that can be adjusted easily on a computer or by AI.
Facilitating online commerce
Databases are also being used by brick-and-mortar businesses and tradespeople to facilitate online commerce. More stores are becoming available that can capture customer data online and then use this in the real world. The idea is to bridge physical and digital worlds, allowing artisans to sell both locally and globally. A similar thing is happening in domestic service businesses. For example, companies that collect dumpster rental leads are now able to provide tradespeople with more targeted services than ever before.
Whereas they would have had to collect these leads in-house previously, there are now databases that they can tap into, compiled by third parties that tell them who their most likely prospective customers are.
Once this information is known, it can enable these smaller firms to expand rapidly.
Enhancing security and compliance
Databases are also being used to enhance security and compliance of smaller brands and firms. Databases are useful for backups and access controls and for providing audit trails. The granular level of detail makes it easier to follow up on things that have happened and comply with data privacy laws. Previously, a lot of smaller firms were dealing with scattered files and didn’t have professional-grade protection, but modern data brace approaches changed this dynamic significantly. They enable improved file storage and tracking, allowing all network access points to be monitored simultaneously.
Integrating with automation tools
No matter how simple a business is, it still requires its staff to complete tasks. Again, databases are being used in this context. Many companies are leveraging them to integrate with automation tools to enhance existing capabilities.
For example, email marketing is now being integrated with databases. Information that’s being collected by CRMs is being fed into systems that can automate outreach campaigns. These can target customers based on the parameters that are known to them by the company, to improve personalisation. Another example is POS systems. Databases are collecting information from these systems to analyse when payments occur and then feeding them into other tools that improve reporting at firms. This is also being integrated directly with accounting software, reducing middleware which can sometimes cause bloat on local company networks.
Supporting scalable growth
Many databases are also being leveraged to support scalable growth at smaller companies. While many businesses, like restaurant chains and tool suppliers, may be simple in concept, they still face general business problems like the need to grow from one location to many or scale growing data volumes through their online sales channels. Historically, this was challenging, but the growth and development of databases is making this easier.
Average databases scale horizontally without overhauls. That means that companies can continue to expand them with more locations without significantly increasing their overhead once the initial investment is complete. Running with these systems has low marginal cost. Furthermore, cloud solutions and open-source systems can handle data volumes more cost-effectively. Therefore, the price per unit of data tends to decline significantly over time, with many firms paying pennies per gigabyte.
What this means is that ambitious firms can grow quickly without technology bottlenecks. It means that the real constraints are firmly moved back into the physical world, just as was the case before the computing revolution in the 1990s.
Unlocking data-driven insights
Small businesses can also benefit from another database perk — the ability to unlock data-driven insights. Even simple businesses still need to make decisions, which is why databases are so critical for them. Cloud databases are particularly valuable because they often have built-in analytics. These allow owners to query basic items (often with the help of AI) and get measurable statistics out the other end.
For example, sales data might be indicating a downturn in volume. When this happens, owners will sometimes panic and try to change things, like the price. But with a proper database populated with the right type of data, it’s often possible to cross-correlate the true factors impacting sales levels. Once these are known, better decisions can be made and the business can move forward.
Replacing spreadsheets
Finally, perhaps the biggest benefits of databases for simple and straightforward businesses is their ability to replace spreadsheets. These were always an administrative burden for many companies, even those with very straightforward business models. Excel was used for everything – tracking sales, customers, and inventory. Now, though a lot of this technology is moving to the cloud, this allows data centralization to eliminate chaos and also enable multi-user access. With multiple stakeholders cross-checking and referencing data, there’s a single source of truth now in many firms, improving decision making considerably.
So, if you run a simple business, will you consider using databases to improve it?
