Operationalizing Small-Business Big Data

This unit integrates diverse data sources, analytics, and communication practices to turn insights into operational change for small businesses. Students learn to collect and combine social, financial, sensor, and public datasets; produce user-friendly reports; pilot operational changes; and mitigate common technical and organizational pitfalls.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze and integrate heterogeneous data sources (social media, transaction, financial, sensor, weather, maps, and public economic datasets) to answer defined small-business strategic questions and produce a documented, analysis-ready dataset
• Apply appropriate analytics and visualization techniques to create clear, user-centered reports and dashboards that translate data findings into actionable recommendations for non-technical stakeholders
• Demonstrate the ability to design and run pilot tests and operational experiments that implement data-driven recommendations, including establishing infrastructure, KPIs, measurement protocols, and feedback loops
• Evaluate common technical and organizational risks and pitfalls (e.g., misaligned questions, stakeholder exclusion, underinvestment, poor reporting) and develop a mitigation and incorporation plan to embed learning into business operations