Month: June 2013

With more information readily available online, it is hard to find organizations that are not connected in some way. Even public schools have information online, which was the driving point behind Zynga co-founder Steve Schoettler starting Junyo.

According to a recent TechCrunch article, Junyo was created to solve many of the problems that K-12 schools face, such as being able to understand student performance. A new company product, EdLights, launched two weeks ago. The news source explained that it takes publicly available data points on schools and makes a simple user interface that schools and marketers can understand.

"All in all, this means EdTech companies and school suppliers have access to 650 district and school data points, which aim to help them identify market opportunities across 55 funding categories and 57 expenditure categories that break down where money is budgeted and spent," the article explained. "The new service also comes with mobile access in a web app customized for tablets and mobile devices."

Schoettler gave an example by saying that if a startup that created a math product and wanted to ensure it brought it to the right schools, the company could search for schools that have Title One funding and low math scores.

Furthermore, similar organizations that have had success with similar products could also be identified, helping the startup understand what needs to be done for both parties to benefit.

Companies that have the right custom database software can take mass amounts of information and organize it in a way that is easy to understand and is accessible for numerous users. With tools like FileMaker development, businesses can ensure that they are able to effectively use Big Data to their advantage.

When companies have the right custom database software they have the power to sift through a large amount of information and use it to their advantage. Big Data in marketing campaigns can be greatly beneficial, as businesses can find out exactly what their customers desire and create a unique way to bring it to them.

A contribution piece in Forbes explained that implementing Big Data successfully into marketing tactics is easier to say than to actually do. It is an intricate task, but when performed correctly it can reap extremely positive benefits for a company.

"And this starts with simple questions like: how did your last campaign perform?" the article suggests. "Which keywords drive conversions? What websites did my prospects visit before they came to my sites? Which social conversations are spurring the actions that lead to deeper engagement with your brand?"

Matt Ariker, COO of McKinsey, said in a blog post for his company that businesses should implement what he calls "destination thinking." According to Ariker, this involves companies finding an end goal and then creating the best path in which to reach it.

Jon Baron, co-founder and CEO of TagMan, wrote a contribution piece for The Guardian about marketing making sense of Big Data. Baron underlined the importance of companies turning their insights into the right actions. Having access to a lot of information can be helpful, but unless businesses can make sense of what it means, it will not do them any good.

Using a tool like FileMaker development programs can be helpful in this situation, as organizations will be able to make better sense of captured data and also apply it to their "destination."

This blog previously discussed how marketing campaigns have made the adjustment over the last few years to account for Big Data. With more information available to businesses creating the advertisements, they can create more specialized and fine-tuned pitches to customers.

The financial sector, though, is also integrating Big Data into normal operations, as banks can benefit from having a more thorough understanding of their clients. According to a Forbes contribution piece, more financial institutions are using the information to forge better customer relationships.

Forbes cited a report from the International Institute for Analytics, which said that interviews with Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Discover all yielded similar results.

"They are monitoring customer 'journeys' through the tangle of websites, call centers, tellers, and other branch personnel to understand the paths that customers follow through the bank, and how those paths affect attrition or the purchase of particular financial services," the report said.

Forbes explained that by looking at information such as website clicks, transaction records, bankers' notes and voice recordings from call centers, banks can better understand what a customer goes through in their financial journey. From there, organizations can make any necessary adjustments to improve the experiences.

For Bank of America specifically, the report explained that the company is taking in data to find customers who have a credit card or mortgage and might benefit from refinancing through a competitor. Then, BOA can make the consumer an appropriate offer when he or she calls the bank for more information.

Financial institutions can take custom database software and ensure that when they use Big Data, they are able to properly track the information in an organized fashion. FileMaker development programs can also assist companies in making sense of all captured data.

Just because the term is called "Big Data" does not mean that it is relegated to only large companies and organizations. With more information becoming available online and accessible from different computer systems, businesses can fine-tune their marketing approach or even improve inner office operations.

Steve King, a partner at Emergent Research, spoke with Forbes on how Big Data is influencing the business world.

"The growth of the internet, wireless networks, smartphones, social media, sensors and other digital technology is fueling a big data revolution," he said. "Big data was the exclusive domain of statisticians and large corporations but not anymore."

King added that small businesses can also benefit from Big Data. For example, when a company is able to bring sales and staffing data together it can help the organization achieve more cost-effective processes. Scheduling and tracking supplies can be streamlined and a business could cut costs.

Additionally, digital marketing can help companies find the best ways to reach current and potential customers. For example, a study by Catalina found that 53 percent of a brand's sales volume comes from outside its demographic target. The report looked at 10 different types of brands that tried to cater most ads to women ages 25 to 54.    

Specifically, when it came to mayonnaise and frozen dinners, 60 percent of those sales came from customers outside the demographic target.

With custom database software, businesses of all sizes can take advantage of the Big Data trend. Taking in large amounts of information doesn't have to be overwhelming, and can in fact, help companies find more efficient ways to reach out to customers and improve daily operations.

Custom database software is becoming more prevalent in the business world across numerous industries. As companies further integrate themselves into the digital age, it is more necessary to have a strong solution to help them sift through large amounts of information.

This blog previously discussed how books can be affected by the influx of Big Data, with libraries needing an organized way to filter through the information that must be managed. However, e-readers could also soon play a part in this trend.

According to the company website, Authorgraph is a service designed to enable authors and readers to connect through digital books. Authors can personally autograph material that is on Kindle and EPUB books. Originally called Kindlegraph, the business is an ideal option for readers to still get an autographed book, even if not in the same location as their favorite author.

"The company is starting to mine into its big data and is able to tap into popular trends of hot genres, authors, and a myriad of other factors," explained a Good e-Reader article.

Currently, over 7,000 authors are part of the digital community, and sign many books each day.

Authorgraph CEO Evan Jacobs told the news source that when it comes to requests for a particular author or genre, many customer trends seem to be seasonal, but some book categories being more popular than others are more difficult to predict. 

For example, May saw Travel increase by 83 percent but Religion and Spirituality decreased by 57 percent.

Within the next month, Authorgraph hopes to create a predictive analysis of emerging authors and the genres that are on the rise. Not only can this be beneficial in offering customers what they want, it can also help hopeful authors find a genre that will be profitable.

As technology continues to evolve at a break-neck pace, businesses must remain current to ensure that they can advertise to their customers. Recent research shows though, that old ad campaign approaches will no longer have the same effect, and companies need to fine-tune their marketing to reach as many consumers as possible.

"Standard ad messaging and conventional creative executions and placement are rapidly becoming outmoded," Jeffrey Rayport, managing partner of the digital strategy firm MarketspaceNext, wrote in a Harvard Business Review contribution piece. "To win consumers' attention and trust, marketers must think less about what advertising says to its targets and more about what it does for them."

Rayport added that strong ad campaigns need more than just a beginning, middle and end. The offerings that are promoted must be able to have a rewarding presence in consumers' lives.

Furthermore, a survey conducted for BtoB (Business to Business) Magazine by Oracle's Eloqua division found that new marketing skill sets must include a knowledge of marketing technology — including customer relationship management systems — and analytics, among others.

Marketers must find the right balance between creativity and being technologically savvy. Understanding systems and data analysis is becoming more important, according to a Tennessean article that discussed the Eloqua study.

This is where a custom database software system can be highly beneficial. Companies that want to reach a wider consumer base, and ensure that they are being properly advertised to, will likely need to sift through a large amount of information.

Tools like FileMaker development can assist businesses in developing software programs that can handle a large amount of data and keep it organized. Then, ad campaigns can be designed to cater to whatever type of customer a company needs to reach out to.

Without a custom database software system, businesses attempting to manage a large amount of information could have difficulty. In the age of Big Data, it is becoming more imperative for companies to have strong, reliable options in which to process mass quantities of data.

This is where tools like FileMaker development can come into play, ensuring that organizations across numerous industries are able to successfully handle all necessary information.

According to research and analyst firm Gartner, business-intelligence spending has decreased over the years because more companies are confused by Big Data.

"Business intelligence managed to grow by a reasonable seven percent in 2012, despite difficult macro conditions, being on the tail of a spending cycle, and confusion related to emerging technology terms causing a hold on purse strings," Dan Sommer, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a statement.

Sommer added that even though cloud-based buying accounts for a smaller portion of the business-intelligence market, it is still having substantial growth.

Specifically, Gartner found that the growth in investment in business intelligence, corporate performance management and analytics apps fell back to 6.8 percent for 2012 over the previous year. This is in stark contrast to the 17 percent growth between 2011 and 2012.

Overall, business intelligence spending for 2012 reached $13.1 billion, compared to the $12.3 billion for 2011. 

Back in February, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Debra Logan had similar things to say about Big Data and its future. According to Logan, many organizations are just in the exploratory phases of crunching large amounts of information, and that it's a necessity for these firms to get the right tools and expertise on hand to help them through the changes.

Several weeks ago, the U.S. government announced that it was launching an open source data management system, designed to comply with the open data policy executive order that President Barack Obama signed at the beginning of May.

The government released a statement that said it would also be releasing tools to assist agencies in implementing the open data policy. Many companies must take large amounts of data and put it in an orderly fashion to use it properly. Libraries are one such institution, and the new Big Data policy is being met with positive feedback thus far.

Debbie Rabina, an associate professor who teaches government information courses in Pratt Institute's library science program, told the Library Journal that the memo was well-received by the library community. According to Rabina, many of the challenges librarians face can be traced back to the large amounts of information they manage.

"Concerns about managing privacy were addressed directly, my concerns are more in the areas of expertise for access and collection management," she said. "The kind of expertise needed to manage data [is] just beginning to emerge from within our ranks. I would like to see LIS education graduate students who have not only the technological skills, but, more important, the policy perspective that views data as a collection."

Organizations that need to be able to sift through and manage a large amount of information can greatly benefit from a custom database software system. FileMaker development can be a key resource to assist companies in being able to collect data and use it in a way that is efficient and reliable.

Apple's iPhone is certainly one of the most popular mobile devices in the world, but is the company doing everything it can to promote it?

In the age of big data, businesses have a wealth of information at their disposal that they can use to enhance their marketing strategies by narrowing their approach toward a specific target market. Apple has been able to successfully market its products to legions of loyal customers, but in the post-Steve Jobs era, it may be time for Apple to adjust its approach.

An article in Fast Company recently pointed to Apple's less-than-desirable earnings numbers and indicated that the latest iPhone didn't sell as well as it should have. The piece suggested that the company may need to incorporate modern tactics, particularly by implementing the use of big data.

Dan Neely, the author of the article, indicated that solely relying on the word of Steve Jobs may not be best practice in today's era of Apple.

"There was the Steve Jobs model, where a highly influential leader imposed his taste on the public at large," Neely wrote. "These kinds of organizations are rarely successful and sustainable even less frequently. The ongoing criticisms of Tim Cook's leadership make this clear."

Apple can use its own solutions to enhance its efforts. Building a custom database software system in FileMaker can give Apple the resource it needs to effectively monitor customer data and adjust its marketing practices accordingly. 

This is a model other businesses should strive to emulate. With FileMaker development, all businesses can improve the way they collect information and utilize it to improve their marketing initiatives.

The Chief Information Officer's role is changing in the era of big data. While these executives will still be relied upon to manage business technology and information systems, the way businesses as a whole are using their information is shifting, which means the CIO has to adjust his or her own responsibilities accordingly.

This has become an even bigger issue recently as technology has evolved to a point where many systems don't necessarily require management from an executive. Cloud computing, for example, is typically managed by a third party provider and many other solutions are self sufficient and streamlined, which has led some analysts to question exactly what the CIO does now. 

An article in the online publication Smart Data Collective suggests the CIO has an opportunity now to adjust his or her title as he or she become less about managing systems and more about evaluating the data collected in these systems.

"The best way Chief Information Officers (or CIOs) can regain past glory of their role is to adopt and grow with changing technology and evolve to become Chief Insights Officers," the article says.

But making these key insights to benefit the organization requires help. If the CIO is to be relied on to evaluate company data and make smart decisions based on its contents, there must be a system in place to cater to this need. FileMaker development can help build custom database software systems that give users easy access to information. The CIO will be able to use this information to better his or her own responsibilities.