This is a pressing issue in the UK, where small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and startups form the backbone of the economy, contributing to three-fifths of employment and roughly half of the private sector’s turnover. However, these businesses often lack the financial and technical capacity to build robust data teams, typically relying on one or two overburdened analysts to manage a flood of data requests.

The situation is worsened by the UK’s ongoing shortage of technical skills. The country recently ranked 45th worldwide in technology and business skills proficiency, revealing a deep skills gap that hampers business growth. While the government has made moves to address this issue, such as launching Skills England to close the gap, progress has been slow, and the rapid expansion of the data and AI sectors continues to outpace the availability of skilled workers. As the digital landscape evolves, businesses of all sizes need efficient access to their data, but for many SMBs, this remains a daunting challenge.

What Makes Digital Analytics So Difficult for SMBs?

Digital analytics holds the potential to drive significant business gains, but for many SMBs, it’s proven too complex and too expensive. Setting up an analytics system often requires starting from scratch, consuming significant engineering resources to build data pipelines and track user events. This process can take weeks and often becomes even more time-consuming when errors in data taxonomy require teams to start over.

Once the system is in place, the real challenge begins: generating actionable insights from the data. This often requires asking the right questions – something only experienced data experts are equipped to do. It’s little wonder then that, while 94% of IT leaders trust their data, over half express frustration with accessing and using it. For many organisations, the pressure falls on small data teams that are already stretched thin, leading to bottlenecks that prevent other key departments – such as marketing and sales – from accessing the insights they need to fuel growth. This issue is even more pronounced in smaller businesses, where employees are expected to juggle multiple roles, leaving little time for in-depth analytics work.

Training new analysts could be a solution, but it’s a lengthy and costly process. SMBs simply don’t have the luxury of waiting for the next wave of data specialists to be trained. They need immediate solutions.

Simplifying Digital Analytics for SMBs

The key to resolving this issue lies in making digital analytics platforms more user-friendly and accessible to both technical and non-technical staff. The concept of democratising analytics has gained traction in recent years as a way to bridge the skills gap and empower businesses to make better use of their data.

Recognising this need, Amplitude revamped its platform with the launch of Amplitude Made Easy, aiming to remove the steep learning curve associated with digital analytics. With just a single line of code, businesses can now set up analytics systems, drastically cutting down on both time and resources. The platform also offers AI-powered tools that assist in generating insights, making data analysis more accessible to employees who may not have specialised technical skills. By simplifying the entire process, Amplitude has made it easier for businesses to get set up, extract meaningful insights, and ultimately drive value from their data, regardless of their size or resources.

“The value of data, and the importance of data analytics, is permeating every department of modern organisations – from sales, to marketing, to product,” said Lee Edwards, EMEA VP, Amplitude. “As platforms get easier to use, and the use of handy tech like low-code/no-code grows in prevalence, we’re moving towards a future where anyone, regardless of technical know-how, will be able to get valuable insights from data.”