‘Big data’ is another one of those buzzwords that had reached the tipping point and is a topic that any business person worth their salt needs to be somewhat conversant on.
My clients have been asking me how big data fits in with their focus on understanding their customers using traditional tools like surveys and interviewing. As perplexing as the concept can appear to be, it’s really quite simple. Traditional tools still have a place in this new ‘big data’ world…
Understanding your customers’ needs and wants and getting inside their heads about what challenges they face so you can figure out how to be invaluable to them is hugely important to business success. This information is data, regardless of how you GET that data. Conducting your own surveys, interviewing your customers, or buying syndicated market data. Plain and simple, it’s just data.
Likewise, the information that can be collected about the transactions your customers conduct with your company is also data. Whether you mine your own databases for that information or ask your customers directly. It’s data.
Similarly, information you can get about the behaviors that your customers or target market exhibit BEYOND their interactions with your company and information about the environments/settings in which they do what they do is also data.
The farther you get away from your own interactions with your customers, the more likely it is that you will need to turn to other sources for the data, but it’s all just data.
‘Big data’ refers to data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using regular database management tools and applications that businesses would be using for their daily processes. There are specialized tools that programmers can use to basically wrestle down big data sets and find meaningful insights from.
But don’t get overwhelmed…again, data is data. And your approach to data shouldn’t change, regardless of how MUCH data you are dealing with. It’s very simple:
- Define WHY you are collecting data…what are you trying to learn?
- Decide what sources of data think will best address the ‘why’ (start small and expand later)
- Figure out where you will store the data (start small and get more sophisticated later)
- Set a plan for analyzing the data (how, who, how often, etc.)
- Decide who needs to be informed about what you’ve learned (think across the organization)
- Repeat…
The good thing about the focus on ‘big data’ is that it focuses businesses on HAVING data and using it to improve their business products and processes including marketing strategy, sales processes, customer support, product strategy, and more.
A recent Forrester report said that “To improve customer engagement, companies must invest in solutions to effectively manage big data.”
Businesses who look beyond producing cool products that customers ‘need’ and expand to a listening/collecting mode are always going to be more successful. It’s critical to constantly update your understanding of your customers and their world in order to stay relevant to them. If ‘big data’ gets businesses more aware of that fact, then ‘Viva le Big Data!”
Your thoughts?