Posts tagged with "big data"

In my previous post, Is Big Data Relevant for SMBs?, I looked at the underlying trends driving the buzz around big data, and why big data is relevant for SMBs. I also discussed why "big" is a relative term–relative to the amount of information that your organization needs to sift through to find the insights you need, when you need them, and the widening performance gap between businesses that can find the right needles in the data haystack, and those that can’t. But, charting the course from information overload to actionable business insights isn’t easy, especially for resource-constrained SMBs. In this ... READ MORE

There's no avoiding it. When you implement any kind of tracking software, especially the sort that collects data in real time, by nature you're going to be accumulating a ton of data. With all the different types of data a fleet tracking system logs--vehicle run time, amount of stops, idle time, mileage rates and routes progress to name a few--and the fact that many logistics fleets are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it follows that you're going to have a good amount of raw data on your hands before long. A lot of that material might not ... READ MORE

The ideas, concepts and themes around big data have matured over the past couple of years from a vague buzzword, to a must-know topic for management. It seems like everyone now is required to provide their own opinion, view or strategy on big data, regardless of whether big data is relevant to their business goals, or whether they actually understand it. There is no denying big data has become mainstream, or that it is now a ‘big deal’. What is perhaps most important is how it can generate value for specific markets and businesses – especially in the mid-market where business ... READ MORE

Most companies are now aware that analytics implementation on their websites is a good idea. But there are varying degrees of analytics that perhaps you have not considered yet. 1. Analytics Implementation: As I mentioned before, many decision-makers realize that this is an imperative part of their digital media strategy. Deciding on your analytics tools, from free Google Analytics to a more in-depth solution like Adobe’s Digital Marketing Suite, is the first step. Choosing a tool based on your needs and team’s ability are among factors to take into consideration as well. 2. Aggregating Intelligence: So you’ve begun tracking and analyzing initiatives, but now what? Remember, all this data is ... READ MORE

If you’ve been saying (and typing) the phrase “the problem with Big Data,” you’ve been looking at it all wrong. Sure, it may seem like a daunting task: harnessing, aggregating and organizing your data, then digging into mining + analysis. But don’t worry; there is plenty to love about Big Data. 5. Big Data is more than just an industry buzz word. So often we see new trends and they turn out to be basically nothing (remember Google Wave?). Big Data seems a little frightening (maybe because we’re capitalizing it as a proper noun all the time), but truly, it has the ... READ MORE

Think for moment about the amount of technological change we’ve all experienced in the last 25 years. I once listened to music with a clunky eight-track player. Now I have Spotify, which lets me instantly stream nearly any song from the cloud for free. I once booked trips with a travel agent, manually entered business contacts into a Rolodex, and physically carried important documents on a floppy disc. Now all those functions have been subsumed by my iPhone. A final example: decoding the first human genome began in 1990, took 10 years to complete, and cost $3 billion. Today it ... READ MORE

It would appear marketers the world over are collectively losing sleep over one thing: who will win the Oscar for Best Picture. I kid. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. No, what I am referring to is that two word phrase that is surely on the agenda of many a marketing meeting from sea to shining sea. A two-word phrase that marketers concern themselves with all the live-long day or at least a significant part of their day: Big Data. And depending on who you listen to and/or believe either marketers are handling their new found wealth of prodigious ... READ MORE

Why does everyone care so much about this BI thing so much? Intelligence is any snippet of significant information gleaned off a collection of raw data. For example: a 20,000-row spreadsheet of email addresses mined off registrants on your message board is data; a distribution chart of all the different domain names registrants host their email off of is intelligence. Therein lies the reason for much of the recent enthusiasm over business intelligence (BI) technology. While a lot of the marketing surrounding the products descends into gimmickry, the core functionality behind it doesn't. Who doesn't want more visibility on the reams of ... READ MORE

Think about the ways in which you use your email client, or any other service you access through the internet. Which tools or views do you access most often? Which ones do you avoid like the plague. More and more software developers are realizing this kind of data can let them personalize their customer service experience to a highly granular degree. We talked to Apptegic CEO Karl Wirth to find about how he and co-founder and CTO Greg Hinkle are converting that raw data into actionable intelligence. What was the inspiration for you and Greg [Hinkle] to start Apptegic? Greg and I ... READ MORE

Big data analytics is changing the way people run their businesses. Big data is in the process completely upending the way businesses make strategic and tactical decisions... We've all heard the familiar hype, haven't we? In some respects "big data analytics" and/or data science is just a new name for a solution organizations have been developing or wanting to develop for awhile: a way to get value out of the reams of data they've warehoused away over the years. It's important not to get misled by the hype, but it's equally important to not let the hype distract from the fact ... READ MORE