PROACTIVE ADOPTER SERIES:
Turning big data into
business insights
In today’s new technology landscape, what separates
proactive adopters from other small and midsize businesses
(SMBs)? It all comes down to how they’ve approached
cutting-edge technologies, such as security, mobility, big
data, and cloud. We’re covering all four of these trends in our
proactive adopter series, including the different motivators
and objectives that are driving businesses to adopt. Security,
for example, is vital to protecting data and preventing
harmful breaches; mobility allows employees to access
data and work from anywhere, on any device, at any time;
and new cloud-based solutions and strategies assist in
storing, managing, and backing up any and all
collected data. Clearly, data—and specifically
big data—is interconnected with all three of
these factors. But what exactly is big data?
How can you collect and harness it, and how
can using the proper tools to analyze this data
impact your business?
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It’s easy to think that if you knew just one vital piece of information or followed
a particular path, then you could better compete in the market, acquire and
retain more customers, and increase productivity, essentially becoming a leader
in technology trends in your industry. This makes sense in theory, but simply
having the right information when you need it is more difficult than it sounds.
Understanding what that data means and how to use it can be even trickier.
PRIORITIES OF PROACTIVE ADOPTERS
45%
Innovate
to stay ahead of the
competition
44%
Respond
quickly to changing
business requirements
43%
Manage company growth
43%
Launch
new products/services
or move into new markets
Mining big data isn’t a luxury reserved for large businesses with the budgets and
teams to match its scale. Today, small and midsize businesses can also benefit
from big data and data-driven decision-making, and they can do so without
having deep pockets.
Big data analysis allows a data-driven business to capture and use information
to make decisions, enabling it to grow and accomplish the goals of any forwardthinking business. A proactive adopter, like most organizations, desires greater
IT alignment with their business and better outcomes leading to improved
profitability and lower IT costs, and big data analysis can help achieve these goals.
A recent Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) survey, fielded by Coleman Parkes, asked
1,500 SMB decision-makers around the world about how they’re implementing big
data in their organizations. The respondents were broken down into three adopter
profiles: basic, moderate, and proactive. While each profile has its own motivators
and objectives when it comes to adoption, the top three motivators driving
proactive adopters to implement big data initiatives include:
1. Improving profitability
2. Aligning IT with business units
3. Focusing on better business outcomes
In turn, the key business outcomes proactive adopters expect to get from
big data include innovating to stay ahead of the competition (45 percent),
responding quickly to changing business requirements (44 percent), managing
company growth (43 percent), and launching new products/services or moving
into new markets (43 percent).
Over half of the responding organizations were already engaged with big data
in one way or another. The most proactive among these organizations tend to
embrace change and strive for growth. Proactive small and midsize businesses
almost immediately recognize that business data, business intelligence tools,
and big data insights can help them compete in the market and improve
profitability. For instance, one survey respondent reported an improved ability
to use data to form specific strategies to develop their business.
Of course, this is exactly what data-driven organizations do all the time.
3 PROACTIVE ADOPTER SERIES: TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Defining the “big” in big data
So, what is big data? First, “big” doesn’t refer to the size of businesses that
can use it; it refers to the number of sources producing and generating data
and the many multifaceted means for delivering business outcomes. The
other side of the equation, “data,” is about capturing and using the right data,
whatever its size, to advance your business. We’re not talking about terabytes
or petabytes of information. Gigabytes, and even megabytes of data, can
deliver valuable business insights.
Data can come from both in-house and external sources.
Surprisingly, the most valuable data you have may be
sitting right under your nose: your own data within your
own systems. One survey respondent reported using
primarily internal data, which led them to combining
traditional data sources, such as resource planning
management and customer engagement management,
with other data to find new insights. Don’t stop there
though, as there is a lot of data easily available and free
outside the business, including government census data,
industry and trade association information, colleges and
university research studies, and more.
Wherever your data comes from, it will likely have three attributes, considered
the three Vs of big data: volume, variety, and velocity. The three Vs refer to
different ways to characterize the “big” in big data. From the standpoint of
SMBs, the emphasis should be less on the bigness of the data and more on
the quality of the data—what it is, what insights you can extract from it, and
how you can use it to advance your business goals.
Volume refers to the amount of data. Whether it’s a great volume of data
or a decidedly small amount, it’s important to remember that it’s not the
sheer volume of data that matters, but the insights and valuable information
derived. SMBs don’t usually encounter extremely high volumes of data, but
it is possible. For instance, if you’re incorporating weather data as part of a
4 PROACTIVE ADOPTER SERIES: TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS INSIGHTS
supply change management application, then you could easily encounter a high
volume of data, in the range of terabytes to even a petabyte or more. In that
case, you want to have the network and server capacity to handle it.
BIG DATA ANALYSIS ADOPTION RATE
Proactive
55%
fully adopted
Moderate
19%
fully adopted
Basic
2%
fully adopted
Variety refers to the different types of data, including structured or unstructured.
Almost anything digital—including email, docs, log files, spreadsheets, tweets,
social media posts, call center records, or almost anything captured on a digital
device—can count as a different variety of data. Just think about the types of
data that might go into a customer relationship management (CRM) application.
It could include transaction data as it captures a history of the customer’s
transactions, but it might also include maps to the customer’s various locations,
unstructured text data culled from different social media sites capturing
comments and opinions about your brand, and even your call center logs
capturing the customer’s support sessions handled by the call center. Looking at
it all, you’ll notice it presents a surprising variety of different data and data types.
Velocity refers to the speed at which data arrives. You need to know the speed
of the data to understand what it means and what to do with it for the best
business results. Looking back at the previous two examples, you’ll notice
opportunities for weather data that may stream in at real time and for social
media data that can arrive in near real time. Meanwhile, conventional structured
data from your various transaction and management systems will arrive at their
normal pace, maybe within a few hours or possibly overnight, following a batch
processing run. Notice that not all data arrives immediately. Still, you need to
recognize the velocity at which each data set arrives so you can plan your data
analytics appropriately. Remember, it’s through those analytics that you get the
payback from big data.
Some people add a fourth factor for veracity, referring to the accuracy of the
data. Data-driven businesses truly appreciate the principle of garbage in, garbage
out (GIGO). Clean, accurate data should be the starting point for any data-driven
strategy. Unlike the previous three Vs of big data, veracity does not address
any aspect of “big” in big data; it really addresses the accuracy aspect of the
data’s quality, which is paramount if the results of any data analysis are to be
worthwhile.
No matter which factor you’re talking about, improving profitability is a
prime motivator among the majority of small and midsize businesses for
implementing a data-driven strategy. According to the HPE survey, respondents
varied regarding how they’re embracing data initiatives. Sixty percent of SMBs
have fully or partially adopted data-driven initiatives, and one-quarter are
planning to adopt in the next year. Alternatively, 16 percent of small and midsize
businesses are following a slower adoption timetable or have no plans to pursue
a data-driven strategy.
5 PROACTIVE ADOPTER SERIES: TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Turning data into business insights
“Data analysis enabled
us to really understand
the popularity of certain
products, so we knew where
to focus efforts.”
IT DECISION-MAKER, MANUFACTURING,
EMEA REGION
TOP MOTIVATORS FOR ADOPTERS
1. Improve business profitibility
2. Better align IT with business units
3. Better business outcomes
Capturing and collecting data is just the start. Next, you need to turn it into
useful business information and insights. There are a variety of analytical
tools and techniques that can help transform your data into insights to drive
competitive advantage. But before you can reap the rewards of a data-driven
strategy, you will need to be ready to act on the insights you turn up, and the
organization needs to be prepared to change, if necessary.
Forward-thinking small and midsize businesses are reporting great success
with this type of data-driven approach. One survey respondent noted they are
now able to collect data from client campaigns and directly compare them
with previous campaigns and competitors. This helps support future customer
engagement by delivering credible business insights. Another organization said
big data lets them analyze market trends to respond faster and better.
Big data motivators and objectives
As previously noted, the top three motivators propelling proactive small and
midsize businesses to adopt big data initiatives are to improve profitability,
better align IT with business units, and focus on better business outcomes.
In addition, the HPE survey found the main drivers for all SMBs are customer
insights, product improvement, and customer retention. Implementing big
data insights can lead to positive outcomes that address these motivators.
For example, by identifying customers’ and prospects’ needs, businesses can
deliver products attuned to their customers’ interests by creating innovative
solutions and accurately focusing their efforts at the same time. The upshot?
More sales, greater business growth, and clearer competitive advantages. As one
proactive IT decision-maker in manufacturing from the Europe, Middle East, and
Africa (EMEA) region noted, “Data analysis enabled us to really understand the
popularity of certain products, so we knew where to focus efforts.”
For other survey respondents, one desired outcome of big data is to improve
profitability, mainly by focusing on the areas and activities with the best potential.
It might seem obvious, but without having the data and analysis to corroborate
your gut impulses, those areas of potential may not be apparent. As one business
stated, “We are able to analyze a lot of stock keeping units to determine the
optimal prices to maximize profits and minimize inventory, and adding this gives
our business a competitive edge, reduces costs, and improves our bottom line.”
6 PROACTIVE ADOPTER SERIES: TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Start by asking questions
Analytical technologies help
to transform big data into a
competitive advantage.
PROACTIVE ADOPTERS
• Leading visionaries who
embrace change
• Agile and innovative
• Willing to take risks to grow
and stay ahead of competition
MODERATE ADOPTERS
• Implement when the business
is ready
• Thoughtful and conservative
with IT investments
• Address growth tactically
vs. strategically
The key to success is putting big data and analytics at the heart of your business,
and to do this, you’ll need to make it part of every business decision and strategy.
Look beyond the hype; it’s not only about data, analytics, and technology, but
about fostering innovation and understanding your customers and their buying
habits. This requires finding what differentiates you from other companies, and
big data provides the key. Here are a few steps to get started:
• Start by asking a basic business question. It can be as simple as what problems
the sales or support teams are encountering with a new product, or who are
your customers? What are they looking to buy and why?
• From there, form a hypothesis as to the answer. For example, maybe a new
feature set is confusing sales reps or customers, preventing them from using
the site with ease to purchase what they want, when they want.
• Next, create a plan to prove or disprove your hypothesis. This typically revolves
around what data you will need to confirm or disprove your hypothesis. Should
your hypothesis be disproved, formulate a new one.
• At this point, begin to collect and review the data, starting with what you
already have in-house and augmenting as necessary with outside data. Now
you’re ready to generate insights based on what you see in the data. In most
cases, this entails nothing more elaborate than classifying, comparing, sifting,
and correlating the data. Look for patterns or elements that seem out of place
compared to the rest of the data.
• Finally, make specific action recommendations based on the insights gleaned.
For example, if the problem is confusion around a complicated new feature
set, your recommendation may involve ways to better clarify or present the
new features. If your sales reps or customers report the changes to be helpful
and that they allow them to conveniently buy what they want, the solutions
proposed were successful. If not, reevaluate and start from the beginning.
BASIC ADOPTERS
• Cautiously consider IT decisions
• Rely on guidance from service
providers
• Risk averse, react to specific
needs as they arise
Today, everyone can have a share of the big data pie, and
you, too, can have these kinds of results. By approaching
data as a business decision that can benefit your
organization in numerous ways, you can begin harnessing
the power of information and establishing a competitive
advantage in your industry.
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