Ready to use data is much bigger than you think it is

With the globalization and decentralization of data collection and dispersal, big data has gone truly BIG. CMOs around the world that have been banging their heads against walls when they realize that their marketing efforts are going in vain and look around for solutions. Data has always been around but as with everything in business, making sense out of this data has always been a hassle. 

Big data is available, accessible but not usable. Data collection happens round the clock, through stores, sign up forms, interviews, questionnaires, landing pages and many more avenues. All of this data gets into some form of collection and storage. When you realize the potential that this data has, it’s a whole new world of opportunities that you see. Today, running email campaigns and their eventual success relies heavily on the quality of data that is available.

Ready to use data- data that you can use with just a click is the newest and smartest tool in the market today. You maximize your chances of a higher strike rate by using multiple marketing techniques. Info checkPoint has been providing ready to use data that integrates seamlessly into marketing automation systems. We understand that value that each and every contact has and ensure that this value is transferred to the end user.

To know more about how we do our data collection and restructuring, just fill out our contact form. 

Big Data Can Be a Big Deal, If It’s a Big Mess

We create 2.5 quintillion or 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data every day!

Data is available everywhere today, making it even more important to know:

• Why you need it, 
• How will it help, 
• Who will it help, 
• What it will cost to capture and analyze, 
• What return you can get out of it.

Big Data is invaluable information about your customers. This data is gathered from various sources such as social channels, ICT networks, videos, digital images, GPS signals, and basically any device or software customers use to interact with each other and brands. Big data is important as it provides an inside view of your target market, their preferences, behavior and opinions. 

There is no limit to the availability of information and harnessing huge volume of data can be a challenge. Creating a customer profile and goal based on every data source is surely not the way to go. The best way to tackle the beast is to set defined goals and objectives first. 

The mantra with Big Data is “If you don’t know what you are looking for, you will never find it.”

Make your business 

More Agile

More Flexible 

More in tune with your customers

With Big Data

Have 'Big Data' Sand Boxes Become Sand Traps?

Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM aptly stated that “data is the new natural resource.”

With 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data we create every day, has Big Data become a become mess? Have sand boxes turned into sand traps?

Big Data is still a vague concept for businesses, a concept they sort of understand. Most companies have either no idea or a partial understanding of what big data is and what it does, let alone managing and capitalizing on it.

Many organizations have initiated pilot projects to manage and utilize Big Data. However, in almost all cases, it hasn’t gone any further. While they begin with great energy, procure tools and create sand boxes to learn and understand how to make the most of unstructured data, they eventually lose their way, diminishing the value of the project. What’s missing is end-to-end data management to protect assets and enable compliance. Many companies fail to use the right processes and tools to manage huge volumes of data collected from various sources.

The solution as per the experts is to manage the beast of Big Data by harnessing its power, with a shift in culture, attitude and discipline. What is required is a combination of traditional and new and advanced data management capabilities.

While Big Data is a big market,

Let it not become a Big Mess,

Manage it before it manages your business!

Get to know how to integrate Big Data with your business goals

Why Big Data is the Big Boss from InfoCheckPoint

Look at “Big Data in a Human Context”

What story does your data narrate?

While most B2B organizations look at data visualization in the sense of infographics, there are innovative iterations of how we can visualize and draw stories from data. Here’s an interesting ‘did you know’ moment:

In the 9/11 Memorial, the names are inscribed not alphabetically or in a grid, they are streamed in what the architect, Michael Arad envisioned as “meaningful adjacencies”. The names were placed “according to where people were and who they were with when they died”. Jer Thorp (the artistic designer of the 9/11 Memorial Algorithm on for the placement of names) said it is a, “meaningful framework; one which allows the names of family and friends to exist together”.

With the question of “Is Big Data, the New Oil?”,  visualization can prove to be a great tool in engaging with characters in your data. Data visualization from Jer’s perspective is not about the result or outcome, it is about the process. By breaking down the process into 'sketches’, distinct characteristics can drive specific solutions, to make engagement efforts more relevant.

Data visualization should be considered more than an image, graphic, or substitution for a sentence. By putting pieces of ‘data in a human context’, you not only understand customer histories you build empathy for people in the system. And this in turn, as Jer says is, “it builds fundamental respect, which is missing in a large part of technology. And we start to deal with issues like privacy. They carry weight”

While we may not be ‘there’ yet, our process of drawing narratives through data visualization has only just begun. What about you?

Jer Thorp is a ‘Data Artist-in-Residence’ at The New York Times. Take some time out and watch how he puts data in a human context.

Start Small with Big Data, Don’t be ‘Data Rich and Intel Poor’!

Companies today are raising the stakes on big data. The growing relevance is apparent in the fact that big data and analytics were used to collect individual votes and analyze voter behavior in President Obama’s campaign!

Dan Wagner, Targeting Director of Democratic National Committee (DNC), who was responsible for assisting the committee connect with voters through phone and direct mail; used raw data to analyze voters’ preferences and attitudes. 

While his predictions may have slightly off, Organizing for America’s Director, Mitch Stewart, made a point that is very relevant to the essence of big data and how it is applied. He said, “…It is a proof point for a lot of people who don’t understand the math behind it but understand the value of what that math produces.”

Majority of marketers (68%) are now going beyond simple data collection and increasing investment in data analytics and application, according to MarketingProfs.  At the Forrester Research eBusiness Forum and DMA2012 Annual Conference in 2012, more than 700 marketers were interviewed. The survey produced interesting stats on how big data provides insights that are used in digital marketing initiatives, the increasing usage of data analytics and real time data.

While big data provides the big picture, staying focused on individual customer interactions and transactions should be the underlying objective. The power of big data needs to be harnessed, without getting distracted with the volume of information. It is evident that the availability of more data makes it more challenging to understand how to use it and what it signifies.

One of the best ways to begin tackling big data is to begin small. Rather than focusing on the number of data points and the complexity of metrics, emphasis should be given to the fact that big data relates to individual customer data. 

With the use of big data analytics and real-time data, marketers can improve KPIs, increase revenues and gain returns on ad spends (ROAS).

Don’t Be Rich in Data and Poor in Intel. Access This Cheat Sheet on Big Data!

Defeat Big Data with Bigger Business Goals!

Big Data is information about customers available through various sources and channels, from social and ICT networks, from videos and digital images, from sensors or GPS signals, to name a few. This data is something which can be invaluable for businesses.

There is no limit to the availability of online and offline data. Creating a customer profile and goal based on every data source possible will make harnessing data a challenge. Set defined goals and then use data that will materialize its objective. 

You have various data sources to play with, from the web, emails, social media, purchase and order history, customer service, buyer behavior and sales interactions. Create a structure wherein data intelligence becomes a linchpin to map goals with strategy. 

What marketers can gain out of Big Data is minute level of detail about customer interactions and behavior. Get to know what Big Data is, what it is not, the best practices and benefits through this cheat sheet:

B2B Big Data from InfoCheckPoint

Data is available everywhere today, therefore making it even more important to know why you need that data, how will it help, who will it help, what it will cost to capture and analyze, and what return will you get out of it.

The road to accelerating your marketing ROI begins with obtaining the best suited database. Get in touch with us to know how.

Big Data in Times Square Now?

The limelight is on Big Data today, literally!

No it was not a musical taking a ‘theatrical bow’, it’s just an advertisement.

Check it out as Editor, Michael Hickins / WSJ spotted it in Times Square!

According to IBM, we create 2.5 quintillion or 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data every day; and to think of it 90% of that data was created only in the past 2 years. So why all the buzz about Big Data? 

What marketers can gain out of Big Data is minute level of detail about customer interactions and behavior. Taking this information and integrating it with business goals is when it actually provides leverage.

Integrate Big Data into Business Goals

• Know Your Business Goals before You Know Data

• Know What Big Data Means to You

• Translate Big Data into Business Intelligence

• Join in on Your Customer's Journey

• Create an Integrated, Intelligent and Interactive Environment

CIOs or Chief Information Officers now have to transform themselves into new avatars of Chief ‘Innovation' Officers in order to translate Big Data into business intelligence. However, CIOs need not necessarily scramble to get a setup integrated with their Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW). The process here is to collect data first and then think about how it can be used. Although a data scheme needs to be set before capturing data. The best way is to create a big data repository, run an analysis on it and then explore different relationships possible from it. The basic process of Big Data management is to first capture data, store it, secure it and then analyze it.

With efficient planning and management, Big Data can be leveraged to a great extent in achieving business goals effectively. 

For us, Big Data is all about creating a customer centric approach to achieve business goals. 

Get a ticket on the Big Data train and know how you can Integrate Big Data With Your Business Goals. 

Don't let Big Data defeat you or your database!

Size Does Matter…With Big Data at Least!

Let us first clarify what ‘Big Data’ is and what the buzz around it is about.

Big Data is information about customers available through various sources and channels, from social and ICT networks, from videos and digital images, from sensors or GPS signals, to name a few. This data is something which can be invaluable for businesses. 

So why are people getting ‘buzzy’ about Big Data? 

Because it is the biggest source for marketers to gain real-time and in-depth insights into the preferences and behavior of their customers. 

How does Big Data help? 

It helps in creating targeted marketing campaigns. To give customers what they need more than what they want. While you may think this applies mainly to B2C companies you are mistaken, as B2B companies need to consider their clients’ businesses as individual personas as well.

Ask CMOs what defines a successful brand? And they will tell you it is primarily in using customer data to drive marketing decisions and ROI. What better way to obtain customer data than through social media channels. And yet, of around 85% of companies that use social media as a marketing tool, only 19% collect data from these channels! 

The best way to create brand awareness, build brand association and increase engagement is in conversing with customers, personally. Mass media marketing tactics for sure don’t work in social channels.

Your next marketing plan should go regional rather than national; it should go into sub verticals, into personas rather than demographics and focus on specific stages in the buying cycles. Your database of customers should be segmented to identify groups to enable targeted communication. 

This is where Info CheckPoint comes in by providing segmented databases that are socially integrated including LinkedIn profiles with every contact. 

So go get started, drill down, target, personalize and increase marketing ROI!

Psst - While size does matter, so does the quality of experience!