Businesses have more data available to them than ever before, and the retail industry is among the leaders in adopting analytics solutions to help them improve every aspect of their operations, from customer service to project planning. According to the latest FutureScape report by International Data Corporation (IDC), the market is going to grow exponentially over the next three years.

Researchers predict that by 2017, three times as many retail organizations will depend on third-platform technology to assist in their business operations. Companies are trending toward adoption of Omni-channel Retailing solutions, which help them provide more seamless service across their brick-and-mortar locations and online platforms. These systems have the additional benefit of providing additional data points to gather more information about customer bases.

“The most successful retailers will find opportunities by putting mobility, analytics, cloud, and social to work in their customer and operations strategies, adopting Omni-channel integration technologies and IT governance, unifying customer engagement for hyper-personalized loyalty, adopting product intelligence for marketing and competitive insight, employing location-based services via analytics-driven agile engagement and operations, utilize socially-networked on-demand delivery services, and gain share with private label merchandise,” said IDC vice president Leslie Hand.

The use of analytics will soon become an inextricable part of any retailer’s expansion or relocation plans. While companies’ own business intelligence dashboards are aimed more toward customer service, a growing number are turning to third-party providers for broader demographic and consumer insights. This information guides major projects, allowing retailers to make more informed overarching business decisions that have major impacts on the entire organization’s finances.