Big Data

This article originally appeared in the Nov. 2012 issue of CUSTOMER

Telephone and cable TV companies have long been in the business of moving information. Now many of these network operators are bringing to market solutions to help marketing folks at the businesses they serve more effectively leverage information to reach and upsell customers.

For example, Verizon Wireless (News - Alert) this fall introduced what it called Precision Market Insights. Verizon explains that this new initiative will provide markets with “access to timely insights to help them understand and engage with their customers in more efficient, precise and profitable ways.”

The first Precision deliverables are aimed at helping outdoor media companies, sport venues, and other marketers understand the characteristics of their target customers so they can better cater to their needs and desires. Verizon will provide that information by leveraging the information in its own mobile network, combining it with demographic data, and analyzing all of it together. New up from Precision will be a service to help brands tailor the type of advertising customers see on their mobile phones 

Telefónica Digital is also moving to take advantage in business clients’ interest in big data and analytics via its launch of Telefónica Dynamic Insights.

The first product from Telefónica Dynamic Insights is called Smart Steps. This service leverages anonymous and aggregated mobile network data to allow organizations to measure, compare, and understand what factors influence the number of people visiting a location at any time.

“These insights will help retailers tailor local offerings for existing stores and determine the best locations and most appropriate formats for new stores,” according to the Telefónica blog. “A number of retailers are already helping with product development by providing user feedback. Smart Steps will also be able to help town councils measure how many more people visit their high street after the introduction of free car parking, farmers markets, or late night shopping.”

As part of the effort, Telefónica has forged a strategic partnership with market research company GfK, which will work with Dynamic Insights on product development – initially in Brazil, Germany, the U.K.

“Big data is one of the key building blocks of the digital economy,” saysStephen Shurrock, chief commercial officer at Telefónica Digital. “Approached in a smart and responsible way it has the potential to transform every part of business and society – providing economic growth and improving people’s lives. Smart Steps will help retailers better understand and meet their customers’ needs, reduce costs through improved efficiency, and make better informed decisions.”

Cox Business (News - Alert) is also attempting to position itself as a source that businesses can go to for guidance related to lead generation, marketing and social media. However, in this case, the service provider is doing that by providing small businesses with a website offering advice, best practices and other tips on the above-noted topics.

Earlier this year Cox Business announced the site called BLUE, at which small businesses can access such information. And just last month Cox Business announced a mobile version of BLUE.

Ken Kraft, vice president of Cox Business marketing, explains: “Our objective is to provide small businesses with tools – whether its technology or educational content - that help them successfully compete in the marketplace. With BLUE Mobile, those tools are more accessible.” 

Oracle Talks Big Data Overload, Impact

“From Overload to Impact: An Industry Scorecard on Big Data Business Challenges,” a new study from Oracle, reports that 94 percent of C-level executives say their organization is collecting and managing more business information today than two years ago, by an average of 86 percent more. Respondents note they see the biggest data growth areas coming from customer information (48 percent), operations (34 percent) and sales and marketing (33 percent). However, 29 percent of executives give their organization a “D” or “F” in preparedness to manage the data deluge, and 93 percent believe their organization is losing revenue opportunities – representing on average, 14 percent of revenue – by not being able to fully leverage the information they collect.  On average, private-sector organizations with revenues of $1 billion or more say they are losing approximately 13 percent of their annual revenue as a result of not being able to fully leverage their information. That translates to $130 million each year for a $1 billion organization.  Only 8 percent of executives give their organization an “A” in preparedness.

Contact Centers are Base Camp for Big Data

Ryan Hollenbeck, senior vice president, marketing at Verint (News - Alert) Systems, says thatcontact centers may represent businesses’ greatest volume of capturedunstructured information (in the form of recorded phone calls, e-mails, web chats,social media, free-form survey remarks and more). “The key to becoming an intelligent enterprise via the pathway of big data is knowing where and when to start, according to Verint, which says the place to start is the contact center.

Three Tips to Keep Marketing on Target (News - Alert)

Scott Bailey, executive vice president of strategy and analytics at Target Data Corp., suggests marketers attend to the important signals, process using heuristics, and seek out the advice of experts when it comes to big data. “If you want to increase your chances of finding insights about your customers that you can apply today - know what you are looking for,” he says. “The key performance indicators that drive your business have not changed just because more data has become available. Work your way back from these key metrics to uncover the customer behaviors that are ‘closest in’. This will allow you to focus on a smaller subset of the big data available – either by limiting the segments of customers you analyze and/or the set of their behaviors - and thus help you selectively focus.”

Alteryx Updates Analytics Solution

Alteryx Inc. has come out with a new release of its big data analytics solution. Alteryx Strategic Analytics 8.0 includes the Alteryx Analytics Gallery, which enables users to access, share, and curate collections of applications. This, the company says, makes it easier for decision makers to engage in advanced analysis with five new drag-and-drop predictive analytics tools focused on Time Series functions. The gallery will initially include more than 30 free analytic applications. The new release also allows for fast, single-click publishing to public or private clouds, and a new scheduler. And a new Salesforce.com (News - Alert) connector available with Alteryx Strategic Analytics 8.0 allows for deeper customer insight by integrating cloud application data with big data, spreadsheets, databases, packaged content, and social media sources, the company says.