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Data

Why Companies Need to Understand Digital Ubiquity

by Daria Steigman on April 25, 2013

SwitchboardIn his xPotomac remarks, Greg Verdino talked about hyperactivity and the fact that we are increasingly connected whenever we want and wherever we are. Laptops. Smartphones. Tablets. Smart screens on refrigerators (well, not my fridge). He called it “a state of and.”

In this environment, the device isn’t what’s relevant–it’s the connectivity. That we are connected, not how we are connected.

Digital ubiquity has consequences for business.

In this new environment, business needs to think differently. Verdino highlighted the need:

  • to focus on how goods can be delivered as services (e.g., BMW DriveNow).
  • to create strategies that are based on collaborative competitive advantage (Macrowikinomics is all about this).
  • to leverage Big Data (with better data, you can better compete in the marketplace).

Companies have a lot of work to do.

Case in point: I received a 3-month gift subscription to the New York Times. With my Times Digital Subscription:

“you now enjoy unlimited access to all the award-winning reporting, interactive multimedia, and innovations at NYTimes.com and our mobile apps.”

Except I don’t. The digital subscription specifically includes app access on smartphones but excludes access on tablets. That’s $5 more per month.

It makes no sense.

Digital ubiquity is device agnostic.

The New York Times has a product it can’t sell and a service that puts customers into digital silos.

We don’t live in digital silos.

Companies need to rethink their business models in ways that mesh with customer behavior. I might pay $30 a month for a digital subscription, but I won’t pay $15 +5 (smartphone) or $35 for Web/smartphone/tablet minus crossword puzzle (which is an additional $6.95 a month).

Have a headache yet?

Organizations that talk to, respond to, and design products and services for customers because they are connected will have a competitive edge. Everyone else is going to have to figure it out or be left behind.

How is your business preparing for digital ubiquity?

Photo by Brian Pennington (Flickr).

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Why Your Business Must Crack the Code on Big Data

by Daria Steigman on April 4, 2013

Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big DataIt’s official: data scientists are cool. And Big Data is the hottest trend in business.

But what is Big Data and why does it matter?

A new book, Too Big to Ignore, seeks to demystify Big Data and make the case for why companies cannot afford to ignore the massive amounts of unstructured information that’s being created every second. From baseball to potholes to car insurance, the better organizations can sift through, decipher, and predict trends in our text messages, emails, videos, posts, pages, and more, the more they will be able to deliver better products and services—and hold a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Author Phil Simon notes that Big Data allows organizations to do three things:

  • Better understand the past (what happened and why)
  • Better understand the present (what is happening and why)
  • Better understand the future (what will happen and why)

He walks through what Big Data really is (and is not), commonly used techniques for analyzing Big Data (statistical methodologies, data visualization, automation, semantics, and predictive analytics), and how companies are putting this data to use. The book also looks at a few of the data companies that are doing this work and points out that not all the models require Fortune-500-sized budgets. Finally, the book looks at both the challenges and potential of Big Data.

Writing a readable book about data isn’t easy, but Simon has done a terrific job of tackling a difficult topic with his eye on the prize. It’s not the data itself that matters, it’s what we do with it. It’s about how we can take the data and make it actionable. Or, as Simon writes, “Big Data is not a contest, and he who stores the most data doesn’t win. In a sense, Big Data is just another means toward solving business problems.” We would all do well to understand this and to start to think through how we can apply more of this analysis in our own ventures.

*Disclosure: I received a free copy of Too Big to Ignore in exchange for agreeing to review it–but without any restrictions on what I might say.

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The Challenge of Big Data

by Daria Steigman on March 29, 2013

Swirling Streams of ColorWhat is “Big Data” anyway?

Wikipedia describes big data as:

“a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications. The challenges include capture, curation, storage, search, sharing, analysis, and visualization.”

In practical terms, I call it “the stuff of us.”

In business terms, Big Data typically refers to the emails, photos, slide presentations, Web pages, tweets, Facebook threads, blog posts, videos, and other bytes of information that are not easily stored in old-fashioned rows and columns. It’s the contextual layer from which we can glean information about what people are saying they have done or are planning to do. It’s real-time, predictive analytics–if we can figure out how to manage it in real time.

The challenge of Big Data is to make it small.

The value of this data is going to be when companies can figure out how to sort it and use it to make informed business decisions. What if you could tap this data to help you define your company’s strategic direction? What if you could analyze people’s words and actions to improve customer experience? What if you could mine the data to develop better products or services or to help select new markets to invest in?

This data doesn’t lend itself to turf wars and departmental silos. To use it, and use it wisely, is going to require companies to rethink the way they operate. Yes, it’s going to require a culture change, plus new processes to encourage people across your organization to collaborate.

Companies need to prepare for this data revolution and this evolution into a social business. Are you ready to get started?

Photo by Jonathan McCabe (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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Whiteboards and Writing Upside Down

by Daria Steigman on November 5, 2012

Whiteboard Strategy SessionThere was a woman I knew in graduate school who could read upside down. Which is a pretty useful skill for a labor negotiator, especially in the days when a lot of the people assumed that the young woman across the table from them was “just a girl.”

Needless to say, she collected a lot of opposition strategy that way.

I was thinking about this the other day after I met with someone who had whiteboard-painted one wall in his office.

I love Dry-Erase boards. Maybe it’s the list maker in me. Or because I need a place to park random ideas for blog posts before they fade away. Or the mini-creative-me who wants to doodle away white spaces. Evernote is great, but it doesn’t stare back at you. (Yes, my to-do list is pretty long this morning.)

But here’s the problem: you don’t always want your strategy in plain sight.

It’s not really about the whiteboard, or the upside-down writing, or even the really clueless people who talk business on mobile phones in airports and coffee shops. Because I’m hyper-aware of this (and, as the daughter of a diplomat, I’m really good at keeping people’s secrets secret), I tend to point out when I see potential competitive intelligence staring at me.

For the record, there wasn’t anything like that on the whiteboard wall the other day. But what about your bulletin boards and whiteboard walls?

Photo by emdot (Flickr).

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Is “Big Data” Good for Business?

by Daria Steigman on August 20, 2012

Notebook Image All about DataDo you like “Big Data”?

McKinsey released an interesting report last year that does a good job of laying out the key ways data is being employed in a business environment. The report identifies five broad categories:

  • Transparency
  • Performance metrics
  • Customer segmentation
  • Decision making
  • Product development

While there is no question that businesses need to be data savvy, what does this mean for consumers?

I’m a fan of the personalization that smart use of data enables. From a business perspective, I like that there’s more data to make smarter business decisions. As a consumer, I like that the coupons the grocery store register spits out are increasingly tied to items that I purchase. I like that I can log onto Amazon and see relevant recommendations and execute one-click checkout. But any time I look up anything related to health care (in general or my own), I go into incognito mode. No cookies, no tracers, fewer direct ties to me.

Big Data is awesome, except when it is not.

I was talking with a colleague the other day who is creeped out by the amount of information that most companies know about you–especially online. It’s a familiar concern, and one that companies are going to have to address.

In What Larry Page Doesn’t Understand, blogger Maxwell Wessel writes about Google’s push forward with intentional search:

“Google wants to know everything about you with the intention of ‘improving’ your Internet experience. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, there’s something that Larry Page doesn’t seem to understand: delivering what he calls ‘Search Plus Your World’ is going to create some problems.”

Wessel does on to talk about a case study involving consumers and pharmacy data–as with Google, it’s about expectations and trust. His article offers lots of food for thought–and is well worth the read.

McKinsey’s big data report, meanwhile, notes that:

“In developing a privacy policy, organizations will need to thoughtfully consider what kind of legal agreements, and, more importantly, trust expectations, it wants to establish with its stakeholders. And it will need to communicate its policies clearly to its stakeholders, especially customers, as they become increasingly savvy and concerned about what is known about them and how that information can potentially be used.”

Obviously the question isn’t “Big Data or no Big Data?” And almost everyone likes the relevance and convenience that savvy use of most of this data affords. But the more refined and personalized the data, the more potential for us (as consumers) to be creeped out by how much companies know about us. I’m not sure how we manage this balancing act, but we’d better figure it out.

What say you?

Photo by Inha Leex Hale (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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