Analyse data for improved product and service offerings in Namibia

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) recently embarked on the national population and housing census.

This cannot have escaped anyone’s attention, and across the breadth and length of the Land of the Brave, every inhabitant is being counted. The data collected, collated and analysed will form the basis for future socio-economic planning in Namibia and shape our country far into the future. Some questions asked may seem unimportant or irrelevant, but they are not. The data they can distil from the answers will build a complete picture of where Namibia stands and how its development is going.

This got me thinking that our businesses should look within their own data. Vast amounts of product, service and customer data and information are collected daily by corporations and organisations in Namibia. But what is done with this data? Is it just seen as a burden taking up space on servers, hard drives or in the cloud?

The census information collected gives planners, both inside and outside of government, an accurate picture of how many people live in the country, their living conditions, and their access to essential services. This will enable us to channel resources in terms of education, healthcare, housing, transport and so much more. Furthermore, census information assesses the national development plans and sustainable development goals.



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Namibian organisations should realise the digital gold they possess and start leveraging their data. The collected information can be analysed to improve products and services, the bottom line, or service delivery in governmental institutions. Understanding your clients' habits and needs makes it easier to cater to them.

A simple example: if a clothing shop knows that specific sizes sell out the quickest because most Namibians wear those size trousers or shirts, then more of those sizes need to be ordered. A shop can anticipate what will sell out and not be left with outsized or petite clothes that the average Namibian cannot fit into. This type of analysis of data works in financial institutions, insurance companies and healthcare companies. But Netflix and Amazon also use it.

The collective term for these activities is business intelligence (BI), or data analysis, and it is one of the primary drivers of most organisations across the globe.

Companies can offer their clients services and improved products by using algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), and simple number crunching. The data being stored can be put to good use and contribute to the bottom line or improved service delivery. This is still in its infancy in Namibia, and yet it is not only large institutions or organisations that should be embracing data analysis. A small bakery that knows which muffins sell out the quickest will start making more of those muffins to sell. This will positively influence the bakery’s bottom line.