funded with support from the European Commission. The author is solely responsible for this publication (communication) and the Commission accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. The objective of this module is to gain an overview how you can use the data you already have available to improve your business. Upon completion of this module you will: - Learn the tips of how take advantage of the existing data you already have - Be able to locate where internal data already lies within your company - Recognize the importance of implementing data enrichment into your big data projects - See how data can help you to build your brand Duration of the module: approximately 1 – 2 hours Module 2: Improving current business with own data
Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how This programme has been funded with support from the European Commission. The author is solely responsible for this publication (communication) and the Commission accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. – Sources of Data – Sources of Internal Data Data Collection – Why Data Enrichment is a must – How does it work? – The Steps of Integration – The Principles of Data Enrichment – Why is Smart Data smart? – How to turn your Data into Competitve Advantage? Using Data to build your Brand 4 – How can Data help you build your Business – The Benefits of using Internal Data in Marketing
how well you use it. Big Data could potentially be just a big a problem. Smart Data is a solution that changes the game of marketing, and how we deliver better solutions for customers from this point forward. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how
• Smart in how data is stored, managed, operated and used • Smart in taking actions based on results of data analysis including organisation structures, roles, devolution and delegation of decision- making, processes and automation • Smart in being realistic, pragmatic and even sceptical about what can be achieved and knowing what value can be derived and how to maximise value obtained • Smart in defining achievable, benefits-lead strategy integrated with the needs business and in its implementation • Smart in selecting the channels and interactions to include smart data use cases More focussed investment in achieving better business and organisation results Greater confidence by the business and organisation in justifying and approving investment and resource allocation Quick delivery of results WHY IS SMART DATA SMART? SMART DATA MEANS BEING... Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how
is "business". It will necessarily involve human expertise to enrich the data and get it to "speak". When turning big into smart, be aware of next tips! HOW TO TURN YOUR DATA INTO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Big Data is a project, not a tool! Ask the right questions Start with internal data Enrich and cross-reference existing data Enrich the models with external data Involve business experts Do not presume what the outcome will be Remain agnostic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
many companies or it is possibly not even currently collected. With a relatively small effort, that data could be collected, analysed and put in use to improve marketing and user experience. As an example, a website could be personalised to create better service experience to users by collecting and using general website visitor data. Building new processes in a company always requires investment, for example skills, appropriate technologies, and awareness of what to do.
fields of study including physical and social sciences, humanities, business, etc. The goal for all data collection is to capture quality evidence so as to translate into rich data analysis. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how DATA COLLECTION Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated research questions and evaluate outcomes. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how Need of Data Collection • To get information for analysis • To get idea about real time situation • To compate between two situations Factors to be considered before collection of Data • Scope of the enquiry • Sources of information • Quantitive expression • Techniques of data collection • Unit of collection
or Own Data is information created by the operation of an organization that includes sales, purchase orders, and transactions in inventory instead of the data being created by an independent study or database. Many businesses and departments have information about their regular functions, for their own internal purpose. In this way, internal data is the information that the business already has on hand, has control of and currently owns, including details contained within the company’s own computer systems and cloud environments.
for external sources, it’s critical to ensure that all of a business’s internal data sources are mined, analyzed and leveraged for the good of the company. While external data can offer a range of benefits, internal data sources are typically easier to collect and can be more relevant for the company’s own purposes and insights. There are a number of impactful, internal places that companies can look to mine data. These include: TRANSACTIONAL DATA AND POS INFORMATION CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENET SYSTEM INTERNAL DOCUMENTS ARCHIVES OTHER BUSINESS APPLICATIONS DEVICE SENSORS
www.smartdata.how One of the most powerful sources of data resides within a firm’s financial and transactional systems. Here, companies can mine both current and historical data relating to their own business purchases, as well as information relating to the shopping trends of their customers. From these details, an organization can glean important insights, including ways to reduce their own spending and remain on budget, as well as crucial patterns pertaining to their customers’ buying habits and shopping preferences.
www.smartdata.how In addition to their purchasing and shopping data, businesses can also mine data within their own CRM systems. Information like clients’ company affiliations, locations and other regional or geographical details can paint a detailed picture about where customers are located. When combined with their transactional information, these CRM details become even more powerful. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENET SYSTEM
www.smartdata.how Especially now within the age of cloud computing, a company’s own internal documents are becoming more valuable than ever. Digitized copies of internal forms can provide a robust source of information, particularly when it comes to the business’s activities, policies and processes. Emails, Word documents, PDF, XML and a range of other internal docs can be mined for big data. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENET SYSTEM INTERNAL DOCUMENTS
www.smartdata.how When it comes to internal information, businesses shouldn’t limit themselves to only the most current information. Historical data can be very telling as well, which is why it is recommended to look into the company’s archived documents and data streams as well. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENET SYSTEM INTERNAL DOCUMENTS ARCHIVES
www.smartdata.how While CRM is one of the most robust internal sources of big data, this doesn’t mean that other internal applications cannot be mined. Other platforms that employee users leverage, including project management, marketing, productivity, enterprise resource management, human resources, expense management as well as automation apps can be incredibly beneficial as well. When mining these sources, it’s in a company’s best interest to let the nature of their big data initiative drive their decisions surrounding which sources to utilize. For example, if an organization is looking to gain insight about the current budget, sources like expense tracking and resource management will be the most helpful. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENET SYSTEM INTERNAL DOCUMENTS ARCHIVES OTHER BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
www.smartdata.how The Internet of Things is growing every day, and providing additional and increasingly unique data for analysis. Companies that utilize devices that are equipped with sensors and network connectivity can leverage these for data as well. These include IoT items that the business uses in its own office, or those that it provides for its customers. For instance, car sensors on an enterprise’s fleet of vehicles can offer a wealth of data about usage, mileage, gas and traveling expenses. Companies that offer fitness or other health sensors can gather, anonymize and analyze these sources as well. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENET SYSTEM INTERNAL DOCUMENTS ARCHIVES OTHER BUSINESS APPLICATIONS DEVICE SENSORS
for today’s businesses. Not only are these sources incredibly telling and relevant, but they’re free of cost to the company, as this is information that the organization already owns. In this way, enterprises can launch an array of big data initiatives without ever looking beyond their own walls. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how
is information that is not currently owned by the company, and can include unstructured, public data as well as information gathered by other organizations. More about external data and how use it to benefit your business you can read in Module 3: Improving your business with external data.
steps: extract, transform, and load (ETL). Putting aside the often-discussed order of their execution, "extract" is pulling data out of a source system, "transform" means validating the source data and converting it to the desired standard (e.g. yards to meters), and load means storing the data at the destination. An additional step, data "enrichment", has emerged, offering significant improvement in business value of integrated data. Applying it effectively requires a foundation of sound data management practices. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how DATA ENRICHMENT Data enrichment refers to processes used to enhance, refine or otherwise improve raw data. This idea and other similar concepts contribute to making data a valuable asset for almost any modern business or enterprise. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how WHY DATA ENRICHMENTS IS A MUST 25% 74% 88% 36% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 of the average B2B marketer's database contains critical data errors of companies do not have a sophisticated approach to data quality of records analyzed lack firmographic data of marketers say that data quality is the biggest obstacle to marketing automation success
source to target unchanged. It's as if ETL developers were movers who prided themselves on putting your furniture in the new place unbroken. Businesses today are asking the movers to repair and improve the furniture before landing it in the new house. The most obvious enrichment example is address correction. When you enter your address on some e- commerce sites, the site corrects it by standardizing street, city, and state fields, and adding the last four digits of the zip code. ETL vendors tout many possibilities beyond address correction. The types of information that can be added, or "augmented„ to a demographics database: GEOGRAPHIC • Such as post code, county name, longitude and latitude, and political district BEHAVIORAL • Including purchases, credit risk and preferred communication channels DEMOGRAPHIC • Such as income, marital status, education, age and number of children PSYCHOGRAPHIC • Ranging from hobbies and interests to political affiliation CENSUS •Household and community data Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how
internal or external data sources to information already used in the organization. This process increases the analytic value to the existing information. One example of the data enrichment process is to associate the current customer records in the current database with buying behaviors and demographical information from other sources. For customers targeting purpose, income classification is used to assign the income level to the customers. First Last Income John Smith 32,000 $ Henry White 88,000 $ Andy Brown 120,000 $ Steve Brook 54,000 $ Income L Income U Target 20000 39999 A 40000 59999 B 60000 79999 C 80000 99999 D 100000 119999 E 120000 139999 F First Last Income Target John Smith 32,000 $ A Henry White 88,000 $ D Andy Brown 120,000 $ F Steve Brook 54,000 $ B Example
definition of rules that integrate into the ETL stream for any data source. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how MATCHING incoming records with existing data, like identifying to which insured member a claim applies CORRECTING invalid data based on other data in the record, like correcting an out- of-bounds hand- entered measurements based on an independent automated data feed INTERPOLATING missing values based on other available data. So while loading a pregnancy related claim the system might fill in a missing value for gender. THE STEPS OF INTEGRATION
or interpolate data values operate with some "confidence" level, meaning that sometimes they are wrong. That means that hundreds of thousands of matches may have been incorrect - not necessarily an issue for the particular application involved, but something for those implementing enrichment to consider. By following these three guiding principles, organizations can ensure that they deploy enrichment processes that enhance business value of integrated data while minimizing risk and maximizing flexibility as requirements evolve. The business should drive and manage enrichment definition: Data stewards who understand the incoming data and the intended use must be the key drivers of what data is enriched, how it is done, and test of the enrichment outcomes. Enriched data must be identifiable and audit-able in the target database: Any integration target database should feature complete lineage metadata: where is this data element from, when was it loaded, and what happened to it along the way. This is even more true for data added by interpolating from, augmenting, matching, or correcting source data. Analysts must know which data came directly from the source, which was generated, and the confidence level of the latter. Data replaced by enrichment must be available alongside the enriched data: Enrichment processes must store modified or added data in such a way that analysts have access to the "raw" source data. Analysts should be able to independently test enrichment processes and suggest improvements if needed. If, for whatever reason, enrichment doesn't meet specific analysis needs, then they should be able to fall back to the original source data. 1 3 2 Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how
big players like Google or Facebook, this doesn’t mean big data is off limits. In fact, in many ways, big data is more suited to small businesses because they’re generally more agile and able to act more quickly on data-driven insights. Let’s look at some of the ways small businesses can make use of big data. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how HOW CAN DATA HELP YOU BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
small businesses can get a fuller picture of their customers – what makes them tick, why they buy, how they prefer to shop, why they switch, what they’ll buy next, and what factors lead them to recommend a company to others. Companies can also better interact and engage with customers by analyzing customer feedback in order to improve a product or service. Useful data sources include traditional in-house data (like sales data and customer service logs), social media, browser logs, text analytics, and large, public data sets (such as census data). Social media has become a particularly valuable source of data, making activities such as identifying niche markets and analyzing customer feedback much easier and cheaper. Twitter – where almost all conversations are effectively held in public – is easier to mine than most platforms. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how 1
to take a stab at predicting where things are heading, how demand for our products or services will change over time, and what will prompt that change. Until recently, trend analysis and prediction often came down to ‘gut instinct’. Now, big data is taking a lot of the guesswork out of that process. Trending topics flash across Facebook and Twitter every day, making it easier than ever before to work out what people want. Services such as Trendera and Trend Hunter collate trend data and use it to answer specific questions for businesses. In retail, online and offline customer behavior can be measured to microscopic detail – even down to how someone moves around the physical and online store. That data can be compared with external data, such as the time of the year, economic conditions and even the weather, to build up a detailed picture of what people are likely to buy, and when. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how 2
was limited to industry gossip or looking around rivals’ websites or shops. Some might go as far as pretending to be customers in order to find out more about a competitor’s service or product. These days though, you hardly need to leave your desk to find out what the competition is up to; financial data is readily available, Google Trends can offer insights on the popularity of a brand or product, and social media analysis can illustrate popularity (i.e., how often a company is mentioned) and show what customers are saying. Again, Twitter is a particularly transparent place to start. All the information you gather can be compared with your own brand; for example, does your competitor get more mentions on Twitter? How do their Twitter conversations with customers compare with yours? Keep in mind that it’s also easy for your competitors to glean more information on your business than ever before. There’s no way around this, but you can stay one step ahead by keeping up-to-date on the latest big data technologies and uses. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how 3
business processes and everyday operations. With any business process that generates data, you can use that data to make improvements and generate efficiencies. For manufacturing or industrial companies, machines, vehicles and tools can be made ‘smart’, which means they can be connected, data-enabled, and constantly reporting their status to each other. By analyzing this data, organizations can gain real-time visibility into their operations and look for ways to increase efficiency. Retail companies are able to optimize their stock keeping based on predictions generated from social media data, web search trends, and weather forecasts. This allows stores to stock up on the most popular items, ensuring they don’t miss out on sales and reducing the amount of unwanted stock lying around. Supply chain or delivery route optimization is another business process that is benefitting heavily from big data analytics. Here, GPS and sensors are used to track goods or delivery vehicles and optimize routes by integrating live traffic data, and so on. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how 4
most successful candidates, identify the best recruitment channels, and help to better engage existing employees. Most businesses already generate a wealth of HR-related data: absenteeism figures, productivity data, personal development reviews, and staff satisfaction data. As well as this, companies can now access so much more data that wasn’t available before: data from recruitment sites, information from sensors in ID badges, social media data, etc. All this information can be analyzed to gain insights that were never available before. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how 5
of your business model, leading to exciting new ways to generate revenue. Facebook, for example, is free to users but has historically generated income from advertising. Now the company is capitalizing on the huge amount of data it has on its users, by making certain data available to businesses. Some of this data is available for free but some of it you have to pay for, creating a new income stream for Facebook. There are many opportunities now for small businesses to monetize the data they are generating by providing value added services or selling data to customers or third parties. Smart Data Smart Region | www.smartdata.how 6
data is exclusive to a brand. It’s information that is not available anywhere else. This is just one of the reasons why this data is so perfect for brand storytelling. Content based on original data attracts attention and comes with several other benefits. THE BENEFITS OF USING INTERNAL DATA IN MARKETING
saying in their content, sharing your company data allows you to present something unique. By opening the kimono and sharing your internal data, you’re offering something that can’t be found anywhere else which is extremly attractive to your consumers. 1 EXAMPLE: SPOTIFY Spotify, a streaming music service app, collects data all day every day. As listeners select songs, playlists, and artists, the music app collects information on the user’s musical choices as well as their location and demographics. Spotify has unique access to listeners’ habits and traits; this allows it to create original, unique content that isn’t available anywhere else. The company shares the information and trends it uncovers in its data on the Spotify Insights blog. ORIGINALITY It even created a world “Musical Map” that shows the listening habits and preferences of people in cities around the world. By tapping into its resource of internal data that no other brand or organization has access to, Spotify creates original stories and insights that can’t be found anywhere else.
they haven’t see before. By using internal data, you can create valuable content that educates, introduces new ideas, and/or provides support for existing ideas. 2 EXAMPLE: INDEED With thousands upon thousands of job listings posted on its website, Indeed.com can collect data on job trends across the world. Instead of keeping this data to itself, Indeed shares the data on its Job Trends page. The Job Trends page shares information on a job’s number of postings over time. It also shares postings per capita, job market competition across the country, and growth and decline rates of major employment industries. The graphs and charts provide valuable information for both job seekers and employees. By providing useful insights, Indeed can help its audience while attracting users to the platform and growing its brand recognition.
brands they love. Opening up your organization and sharing insider information is a way to give customers an inside look into your brand. 3 EXAMPLE: GROOVE Groove is a help-desk software solution for small businesses. Groove’s clients rely on it for providing vital support to their business. So to display to its clients how it helps, Groove uses data and transparency to show how it supports its own business. On the Groove blog, team members regularly share statistics and data from its operations. In the “Startup Journey” section of the blog, they reveal “everything on our journey to $500k in monthly revenue.” In the post, “How We Measure and Optimize Customer Success Metrics in Our Saas Startup,” they dig deep into its internal metrics and share onboarding, conversion, churn, and active user data. By peeling back the layers of its business and opening it up for the world to see, Groove is using data to be transparent, show its authority, and build trust with an audience who it hopes will turn into customers.
brands. When you share internal data and an inside look at your business or operations, it shows that your company values openness. This lets your customers know you have nothing to hide, which builds trust and lasting consumer-brand relationships. 4 EXAMPLE: HUBSPOT HubSpot is a leading inbound marketing software that also acts as a leading inbound marketing resource. The company provides both software and educational content to help its clients achieve success. HubSpot shows that it is a reliable resource in its industry by using content to build trust. It shares free content marketing information through dozens of ebooks, white papers, blog posts, and its annual State of Inbound Report. The State of Inbound is an in-depth resource that includes results from HubSpot’s annual survey of marketers. The report shows that HubSpot knows what it is talking about and that it has access to leading information in the industry. By sharing a deep resource of marketing knowledge and insights, HubSpot shows customers why they should turn to it and trust its products and knowledge when they have content marketing needs.
difficult. It’s hard to stand out. But original, internal data allows you to cut through the noise and get your brand in front of a larger audience. Audiences are introduced to your brand and left with an impression that will allow them to recognize and remember your brand. 5 EXAMPLE: JAWBONE Jawbone is a wearable technology company that builds “products and software platforms powered by data science.” As its mission statement expresses, Jawbone is a company rooted in data. The company uses data to improve its products, help its customers, and spread awareness about its brand. The Jawbone blog regularly features stories with trends in data collected by Jawbone’s wearable devices. By using information that is exclusive to its database, Jawbone can gain brand exposure by sharing content that is relevant to a large audience. By pulling interesting and unique stories from its data, Jawbone can catch the attention of online audiences, spread awareness about its brand, and build brand recognition with each data- focused blog post.
brand and showing its value. You can use your internal data to show how your products or services benefit your customers. The data can show how you differ and stand out from competitors, putting your brand in a position to resonate with potential customers. 6 EXAMPLE: KASPERSKY With more than 400 million users across the world, Kaspersky is a large antivirus and internet security software provider with access to tons of information on cyber threats. Kaspersky doesn’t keep this deep pool of data to itself. Instead, it shares the data to help its clients and show the value of its products. By highlighting stats on cybersecurity risks, it shares an insider look at its industry while educating customers on why they need antivirus software. The antivirus company has a blog, Kaspersky Labs, that is filled with resources on digital security tips, studies, products, and trends. It also created the Cyberthreat Real-Time Map, an interactive website that allows audiences to see what type of digital threats are happening around the world. By sharing findings from its database on cyber security, Kaspersky can expose the problem that its brand solves. This shows its value to its customers while educating them on an interesting topic.
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