Data: The Not-So-Secret Secret

If I told you your company could use a “secret” strategy to leap-frog the competition and increase sales, I imagine you’d jump at the chance to learn more.

If I told you your company could easily tap into the same type of resource that’s bringing so much success to industry leaders like Apple, Ford and Netflix, I think you’d be intrigued.

Well, you can.

That same secret, that same wellspring, is available to your company, too.

It’s data.

Today’s data analytics solutions are taming data in new and powerful ways. Leading companies are already putting these solutions to work, and they’re paving the way forward. They’re using data analytics to find the insights needed to improve efficiencies, bolster compliance, cut costs, ramp up innovation and increase revenue growth. For example:

• As explained in this article, Cabela’s, the world’s foremost outfitter, understands that the power of data is only limited by how one thinks the market works –and that’s why the company began applying dynamic strategy thinking to its multi-channel data. Dynamic strategy, a test-and-learn toolkit that advances analytics-based decision-making, is emerging as a way for dealing with the chaos of today’s multi-channel environment, and Cabela’s is using it to decode its customers’ path to purchase.

“Currently, we’re using clickstream data to match the experience that people are having on the website with their experiences across other channels,” said Craig Bruner, Cabela’s data warehouse senior architect. “We can see if someone from the website purchases through the call center, or if they browse online and then go to a brick-and-mortar store to buy. We can tie everything together to identify which marketing touches influenced a purchase.”

• Global IT leader Cisco has developed a forecast generation process that combines advanced analytics applied to enterprise data on bookings and historical demand with a consensus process incorporating current insights from sales and marketing and finance.

As a result, Cisco can now generate “an unbiased view of the future, shielded from traditional marketing enthusiasm,” Anne Robinson, Sr. Manager, Information and Data Strategy, said. “This baseline provides an invaluable perspective for understanding the true direction and magnitude of demand,” she added.

• Even financial firms are capitalizing on the competitive advantage offered by data analytics. Case in point: Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), a leading banking group in Southeast Asia, is using data insights to overhaul its marketing strategy. Maybank is now focusing less on the products it can sell consumers and more on building and servicing customer relationships. Equipped with data analytics solutions, Maybank is slashing lead generation times from weeks to hours, improving conversion rates, driving business growth and boosting customer satisfaction.

How should your company leverage big data analytics to improve marketing performance and enhance the customer experience? I’d venture to guess you could be benefiting in numerous ways. After all, there is infinite value in the vast resources of exponential data –once you begin tapping into those resources, that is.

Get started today. There’s no secret to it, and the process of launching a big data strategy doesn’t have to overwhelm you –you just need to take it one step at a time.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/big-data/data-secret-secret-0606823?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=data-secret-secret