FeedJournal feedjournal.com11/25/2010 - 4/12/2013

5 Key Tech Trends driving Social CRMby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 6/18/2011 4:54:15 PM

One year ago(June 15 th, 2010 to beprecise), I wrote a post titled SocialMedia: The New Front End of CRMSystem in which I highlighted that inspite of undergoing a fascinatingtechnological transformation over thelast decade, Customer RelationshipM a n a g e m e n t ( C R M )s y s t e m s   e s s e n t i a l l y r e c o r dtransactional information using pre-determined fields on the screen (front-end) and store that information indatabase. This customer transactiondata repository is essentially at theheart of any CRM system. In “Social” age, customers areempowered like never before as theycan share their experiences andopinions about brands/products onSocial Media channels and marketershave no control over what customersare saying about their brands/products. This discussion is visible toal l including other customers,potential customers and competitors. The best any marketer can do is toL i s t en and Learn f rom wha tcustomers are saying and Engagethem in meaningful conversations. Inother words, Social Media channelsare the new front-end of CRM systemand CRM system should be designedin such a way that it captures allrelevant information from SocialMedia channels and uses PredictiveA n a l y t i c s a n d K n o w l e d g eManagement tools to derive insightsand help in decision making. Here’s how five key technologicaltrends are driving evolution of CRMinto next generation Social CRMsystems: 1) Cloud Computing/SaaS CRM: Social Media channels (like Twitterand Facebook) generate tremendous

volume of user generated contentcreated by millions of users. Notpossible for CRM system to import/store the data “locally”. This is unlike“traditional” CRM, where data wasgenerated by few users and stored in“local” database. SaaS Model makesit possible to store information in the“cloud” (shared space) and access itfrom (Social) CRM application “on-demand” Social Media space is changing andevolving rapidly. Very difficult, if notimpossible, for any CRM vendor toincorporate all new channels andfeeds “locally” for every installationof CRM system. Under the SaaSmodel, it is not difficult to add newSocial Media channels/feeds to the“hosted” (Social) CRM applicationand make it available to users “on-demand” 2) Service Oriented Architecture(SOA): Service Oriented Architecture andCloud Computing not only make iteasy to integrate applications, but alsofacilitate “plug and play” modulesand add-ons that can dramaticallyreduce time and cost involved inextending functionali ty of theapplication. SOA design is of greathelp in Social CRM as new socialmedia tools and functionality can bea d d e d w i t h o u t e x p e n s i v ecustomization or upgrades as was thecase in traditional CRM systems. 3) Real Time “In Process” Analytics: Predictive analytics has made itpossible not only to analyze pastcustomer behavior, but predict futurebehavior too based on statisticalmodels. Predictive analytics logic/modules can be “embedded” in SocialCRM work-flows to analyse andpredict customer behavior from “real-time” social network data feed andtake corrective action by triggeringappropriate work-flows based on pre-defined business rules. For example,

i f a customer (or a group ofcus tomers ) twee t about the i rdissatisfaction with a product orservice, predictive analytics can helpin identifying who among them aremost likely to defect so that companycan take corrective action before it istoo late. Better still, if they happen tobe customer(s) of a competitor,company can make an attractive offerand win them over. And thanks toSaaS model and SOA, this level ofreal-time “In Process” analyticsfunctionality is available to small andmedium sized companies with nolarge scale investment requirementsupfront. 4) Smart Phones and Tablet PCs: Mobile phones have evolved from“simple” telephones to mobile multi-media communication hub connectedto internet via “always on” wirelessbroadband connection. This is goingto be one of the big stories over thenext couple of years that will fuelexponential increase in SocialNetworking Sites and their user base.It is estimated that currently morethan 650 million people worldwide,or 13.4% of mobile subscribers, usethe Web via a mobile device at leastonce a month(see this link). Thisnumber is all set to skyrocket asinexpensive smart phones continue toflood the market. Similarly, Tablet PCs, given theirlarge hi-resolution screen with multi-touch input, Accelerometer sensor forUI, touch-sensitive controls and highspeed internet access via 3G/4G orWifi/WiMax have the potential tochange the way we use Social Mediatools and take Social Networking to awhole new level. Current Social Media tools such asTwitter or Facebook are “text” or“web-page” UI based. NextGenSocial Media tools will leverage fullrange of functionality available inTab le t PCs and make med ia

consumption for information &entertainment or playing onlinegames a truly Social experience. 5) Enterprise Application and DataMashups: In any large or medium enterprise,we have a d ive r se r ange o fapplications such as “on premise”CRM or SaaS CRM, BPM, MDM,ERP etc. to name just a few. AddingSocial Networks to EnterpriseApplication landscape increasescomplexity of integrat ing andmanaging al l the appl icat ionsexponentially not only because ofamount of data generated by users onSocial Networks but also the need tomoni tor and respond in “realtime”. Enterprise Application andData Mashups can solve this problemby combining data or functionalityfrom multiple applications andpresenting information in the requiredformat in a seamless manner. In a Social CRM system forexample, Enterprise Application andData Mashups can be used tocombine data/functionality frommultiple applications such as CRM,MDM, ERP etc. and new services canbe created “on the fly” or specificwork-flows can be triggered based onpre-defined business rules in a userfriendly way. All the five tech trends discussedabove, namely Cloud Computing/SaaS CRM, Serv ice Or ien tedArchitecture (SOA), Real Time “InProcess” Analytics, Smart Phones/T a b l e t P C s a n d E n t e r p r i s eApplication/Data Mashups are nowconverging and are set to transformh o w m a r k e t e r s e n g a g e t h e i rcustomers through social media withgoal of building trust and brandloyalty! What do you think? Please do shareyour thoughts and opinion:

Wanna see Social CRM ROI? Here it is!by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 1/7/2011 2:47:34 AM

In one of my previous post titledHow to measure Social CRM ROI, Iexplained that Social CRM ROIdepends on how well Social Mediatools are used for achieving the goalof building trust or loyalty and whyROI is associated with how well the

goal has been achieved and resultantbusiness benefits and not with toolsPer se.  I received lot of greatfeedback and comments about thispost, including some that asked whereis the proof? or show me the ROI?Well, here it is! Royal Dutch Airlines KLM hadlaunched a pilot program called KLMSurprise. For customers checking inusing Foursquare at one of KLM’svenues at Amsterdam Schipol

Airport, KLM employees collectedinformation from their Social Mediaaccounts like Twitter, Facebook andFoursquare, selected an individualgift for the customers, located him orher in the airport terminal, deliveredthe surprise gift to them and sharedthis information on KLM’s Facebookpage and Twitter account (for more,read my earlier post titled KLMSurprise: Is it Social CRM?) You may ask what is the connection

between Social CRM ROI and KLMSurprise? Watch the following videoof KLM Surprise in action andobserve the surprise and smile oncustomers’ face. Now think aboutKLM’s investment in this pilotproject and resultant businessbenefits, not only in terms of loyalty,but customer advocacy and buzz thishas generated on Social Mediachannels. Isn’t this a priceless proofof Social CRM ROI?

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Looming Talent Crunch in Social CRMby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 4/16/2011 10:42:36 PM

Talk to senior or middle levelexecutives in Marketing or IT aboutSocial Media or Enterprise 2.0 andyou will see their face light upimmediately with excitement fromperceived opportunity and with fearfrom perceived threat – all at once.Most executives will tell you thatthey want to leverage Social Mediaand Enterpr i se 2 .0 too ls andtechnology for engaging theircustomers and employees but don’tknow what to do or how to go aboutit. There is real shortage of “talented”people who understand both – SocialMedia/Enterprise 2.0 AND existingmarketing and IT systems/processeslike CRM and ERP. Don’t get me wrong. I am not sayingthat there is a shortage of SocialMedia consultants or self proclaimed“experts”. They are dime a dozen (orshould I say tweet a dozen). What Iam saying is that we have a shortageof people who really understand thepower and potential of Social Media/Enterprise 2.0 tools AND can relatethese tools to existing marketing/ITprocesses. Just ask any self-proclaimed SocialMedia “expert” or Social CRM“guru” how many years’ experiencethey have implementing CRM

solutions and for which companieshave they implemented CRM, ERP,BPM, MDM or similar solutions?How many CRM “As Is” and “ToBe” process flows have they mappedor how many Use Cases have theywritten? For how many clients havethey documented CRM businessrequirements (BRs), FunctionalRequirements (FRs) or have designedthe CRM system? What are theirthoughts on integrating CRM systemwith mult iple other enterpriseinformation systems like Billing,Finance, HR? Can they describecurrent best practices when it comesto Data Migration or MDM? (heck,ask them what MDM stands for?)You can judge expertise of self-proclaimed gurus based on responseto these questions. It is easy tobrowse internet, collect few talkingpoints, prepare a sleek presentationand lecture unsuspecting audienceabout Social CRM, but when it comesto real life Social CRM, these are thequestions we need to ask and there isa shortage of people who are good atboth, Social Media AND EnterpriseSolutions. In the past few months, we have seena shift in attitude among seniormarketing and IT executives in favorof using Social Media and Enterprise2.0 tools for engaging customers/employees and resources are beingbudgeted for Social Media initiatives.Spending on Social CRM solutions is

likely to rise exponentially during2011-2013 time-frame and in just 24months from now, Social CRM willaccount for a major chunk of CRM(and Enterprise Solutions) market. Unfortunately, we don’t have supplyof talented people in enough numbersto match this demand in Social CRMspace. Real bottleneck to growth inSocial CRM is lack of competentpeople to drive sCRM initiatives.Unless you have the right peopleguiding your Social CRM initiatives,you are likely to go wrong and as weknow, failure is not an option when itcomes to Social Media. Given my experience implementingCRM Solutions for more than adecade, having successfully managedmany large and complex CRMprojects for Fortune 500 companies inthe US, here’s my suggestion:Identify people in your organizationwho “get” Social Media and knowabout existing marketing/IT systemsand processes. Empower them todrive your Social CRM initiatives. And since there are so few goodconsultants available for recruitmentwhen it comes to Social CRM,Management Consulting and ITServices companies should identifyconsultants in their organization who“get” Social Media, are active onSocial Media channels and entrustthem task of building Social Media/Social CRM competency withspecific focus on industry verticals

(like Banking, Insurance, Retail,Pharma and Health Care, Travel &Hospitality to name just a few). Sooner they do this, better for themas only those consulting and ITservices companies who can bringright thought leaders and talentedteams to the table for addressinggrowing demand in Social CRMspace are likely to emerge as winnersand can expect to corner a lions shareof the market. This is all the moreimportant given importance of SocialCRM to senior marketing and ITexecutives in client organizations.Although s ize of Social CRMprojects (in terms of revenue or teamsize) may be small as compared tolarge ERP or CRM projects, given thecriticality and visibility of SocialCRM initiatives, a successful sCRMsolution implementation can opend o o r s f o r m a n y l a r g e“transformational” projects involvingSocial Media and Enterprise 2.0. It isabsolutely vital that ManagementConsulting and IT services companieshave r ight talent in place forleveraging Social CRM opportunity. What do you think? Do you agreethat we are facing a talent crunchwhen it comes to Social CRM? Whatis your experience. Look forward tohearing your thoughts on the subject…..

5 Ways Big Data Are Fundamentally ChangingInformation Systemsby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/24/2013 12:38:09 PM

A lot has been said and written latelyabout whether Big Data revolution isfor real or it is one more hype thatwill die down soon as tech worldmoves on to the next fad. In my opinion, Big Data  is a gamechanging revolut ion that wi l lf u n d a m e n t a l l y c h a n g e h o winformation is collected, stored,managed and consumed therebytransforming the way we work, liveand play. Given below are five reasons whyBig Data will change informationsystems and corporate IT: 1. Move away for traditionalRDBMS: Ever since electronic storage andprocessing of data began as ac e n t r a l i z e d c o r p o r a t efunction(remember good old EDP orE l e c t r o n i c D a t a P r o c e s s i n gDepartment!), Relational DatabaseManagement System or RDBMS inshort is fundamental to most of thecomputerized corporate informationsystems. Even today, most of the

information systems such as ERP orCRM are supported by RDBMS. This is about to change in a big way,thanks to three Vs of Big Datanamely, Data Volume, Data Varietyand Data Velocity. Traditional datastorage and retrieval methods, such asRDBMS are no longer going to workand would necessitate NoSQL(shortfor “Not only SQL”) database insteadof RDBMS. Unlike SQL data orRDBMS which places data insidewell defined structures or tables usingmeta data, NoSQL is designed tocapture all data without categorizingand parsing upon entry into thesystem. This will fundamentallychange the architecture of corporateinformation systems. 2. Unstructured data handlingcapability: Capabi l i ty of handl ing both,structured and unstructured data isanother important way informationsys tems a re go ing to changefundamentally thanks to Big Data. Asnoted above, Big Data has threedefining attributes – Data Volume,Data Variety and Data Velocity andt o g e t h e r t h e y c o n s t i t u t e acomprehensive definition of BigData.

Data Variety implies that Big Data isnot just about text or numbers(alphanumeric fields), but alsounstructured data. Informationsystems in future will have to bedesigned with capability of handlingboth structured and unstructured data. 3. Real Time Data Processing: Given the Velocity or speed withwhich Big Data is being generated,information systems in future willrequire capability of processingmassive volume of data in real time.Even “near real time”, a phrase oftenused with current generation ofinformation systems, is not goodenough. A good example of real time dataprocessing is the ability to processsocial media or sensor data as theyare being generated and takenecessary action immediately, such asresponding to a tweet or Facebookposting. Batch processing, nightly orweekly updates and even near realtime data processing are not goodenough because of high DataVelocity as is the case with Big Data. 4. Predictive analytics and inmemory analytics: If data is being generated in a varietyo f f o r m a t s ( s t r u c t u r e d a n d

unstructued), in high volume and at ahigh velocity, only way it can be usedeffectively for decision making isthrough the use of Predict iveAnalytics and in memory dataanalytics. Information systems infuture will have to be designedkeeping this aspect in mind. 5. Most data are either user ormachine  generated: And lastly but not the least, most ofBig Data are either generated by endusers/customers (such as social mediadata) or by machines/sensors outsidethe confines or firewall of a company.This is unlike in the past, when mostof the data were generated within thefirewall of a corporation (such astransaction data, inventory data orfactory production data) with verylittle coming from outside. This willf u n d a m e n t a l l y t r a n s f o r m t h earchitecture of information systems infuture. What do you think? Do you agreethat Big Data will fundamentallychange information systems andcorporate IT? Please do share yourthoughts: About the author: View Harish Kotadia, Ph.D.’s profile

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Social CRM and Customer Advocacy Programs:Case Studyby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 11/25/2010 9:07:10 PM

In my previous post titled LoyaltyPrograms are Passé, how aboutCustomer Advocacy Program?, Ihighlighted the importance oft r a c k i n g o u t b o u n d W o r d O fMouth(WOM) on Social Networkingsites and designing programs forrewarding Customer Advocacybehaviors like WOM. In this post, Iwant to elaborate more on the topicand explain how Customer AdvocacyProgram can be integrated into SocialCRM initiative and system. In order to motivate customers to doso, marketers can award points oroffer other rewards like discount onproducts/services. Step 1: Collecting Social MediaProfiles: First step in tracking outboundWOM on Social Networking sites isto obtain Social Media profiles or IDs(like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquareor LinkedIn ID) from customers andprospects. This is easier said thandone given reluctance of customers insharing their Social Media profileswith business because of privacyconcerns. In order to motivatecustomers to do so, marketers canaward points or offer other rewards

like discount on products/services.Once marketers have Social Mediaprofiles or IDs of customers, it isimportant to store this informationwith other Customer Profile data likeemail ID and phone number in theCRM system. Last but not the least,enough care should in taken inhandling this info and customers’privacy should always be respected. Step 2: Monitoring Social MediaFeed: Once marketers have Social Mediaprofiles of their customers/prospects,next step is to monitor Social Mediafeed (like Twitter or Facebook feed)for any mention of brands or keywords the marketer is interested inmonitoring. For example, if there areany tweets or Facebook postings thatmention brands or key words thatmarketer is interested in, those tweetsor Facebook postings should beidentified and imported/stored inSocial Media Monitoring or the CRMsystem clearly identifying name ofthe customer, Social Media ID thatwas used by customer and howinfluential that customer is on SocialMedia channels (like number ofTwitter Followers or FacebookFriends). Marketers should reward customer orprospects for each mention of brandon Socia l Media channels byawarding points/reward for each

mention. Step 3: Calculate Rewards or Points: Marketers should reward customer orprospects for each mention of brandon Socia l Media channels byawarding points/reward for eachmention. This can be tailored specificto each Social Media channel likeTwitter, Facebook, Foursquare orLinkedIn and should take intoconsideration how influential acustomer is i.e. more points should beawarded i f cus tomer i s moreinf luent ia l . Points so earned should be shared onthat Customer’s social network in real-time. Meaning if a customer earns100 points by checking into aFoursquare location, Social Mediamonitoring or CRM system used totrack social media channels shouldshare this with friends or followers ofthat customer using his/her SocialMedia prof i le l ike Twit ter orFacebook ID. One can argue that this sounds easyin theory but what about practice?Are there any real life case studies ofa b u s i n e s s o r b r a n d h a v i n gsuccessfully implemented such asolution? A great customer advocacy programwill not only engage customersthrough Social Media channels, butreward them for their advocacy onSocial Networks.

Answer is yes and you’ll besurprised to learn name of that brand.It is Tasti D Lite, a frozen dessertchain (and my favourite when I wasl i v i n g i n N e w Y o r k c i t y ) .TastiRewards is a program thatrewards customers for associatingtheir Twitter and Foursquare accountswith their Tasti D-Lite membershipcards and for sharing their experiencewith friends and followers(for more,read this Mashable.com post titledTwitter and Foursquare Become theNew Loyalty Program at Tasti D-Lite). In one of my earlier post s, I havedefined and explained Social CRM asthe business strategy of engagingcustomers through Social Media withgoal of building trust and brandloyalty. A great customer advocacyprogram will not only engagecustomers through Social Mediachannels, but reward them for theiradvocacy on Social Networks. TastiD Lite is a great case study worthemulating by other brands andbusiness. What do you think about SocialCRM and Customer AdvocacyPrograms? Please do share yourthoughts and comments:

Big Data and Rise of Predictive Analyticsby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/31/2013 10:43:11 PM

Back in mid 1990s, when I was aPh.D. student,  one of the professorsasked me what my career goal wasand I said:“To help clients serve theircustomers better through use ofI n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y a n dA n a l y t i c s “ . After completing my Ph.D. inNovember of 1998, when the ITrevolution in Enterprise Solutionswas about to take off and large andmedium companies had startedinvesting in ERP or CRM systems ina major way, I thought it was just amatter of time before PredictiveAnalytics goes main stream. Back then, Siebel ’98 and Vantivewere the ‘ hottest‘ new tools in themarket and Dot Com boom was on itsway. I expected that in a year or two(or may be three), predictive analyticswould become part and partial of allenterprise information systems anduse of statistical techniques such asRegression Analysis, Factor Analysisand Multi-Dimensional Scaling

would be common while analyzingand reporting information collectedusing ERP or CRM systems. Looking back, I think I was overoptimistic as this did not happenaround 2001-2002 time frame as Iexpected. Most of the ERP and CRMapplications had bare bones reportingfunctionality with just frequency (%)and advanced analytics was notleveraged. If an application manager wantedanything more than frequency or %information, he/she had to invest inBusiness Intelligence (BI) or DataWarehouse (DW) solution. But again,BI or DW solutions analyze pastinformation and are not “predictive”in nature the way high end statisticaltools can be. Yes, one could invest in SAS basedanalytics solution, but that wasexpensive, time consuming and out ofreach of most companies – evenFortune 500 ones. As a result, use ofPredictive Analytics was limited to ahandful of use cases such as frauddetection in banks or customer churnmanagement in telecom companiesfor example, where one could justifythe investment in terms of time, effort

and costs. But for a majority of ERPor CRM applications, data collectedwas never analyzed using PredictiveAnalytics and as a result investmentsin ERP or CRM systems did notdeliver expected return on investment(ROI). Things started to change around2008-2009 with advent of socialmedia tools. Again, I thought that itwas just a matter of 12-18 monthsbefore Predictive Analytics goes mainstream as large organizations will berequired to use analytics tool toengage their customers on socialmedia channels. In a blog post titledSocial Media: The New Front End ofCRM System published three yearsago, I wrote that“the best anymarketer can do is to Listen andLearn from what customers ares a y i n g a n d E n g a g e t h e m i nmeaningful conversations. In otherwords, treat Social Media channels asthe front-end of CRM system, captureall relevant information from SocialMedia channels in the database anduse Pred ic t ive Analy t ics andKnowledge Management tools toderive insights and help in decisionmaking”. Again it turned out to be a

case of over optimism as advancedanalytics did not go mainstream in2009-2010 as I expected. Finally, yes, I say FINALLY afterwaiting for fifteen years, I am happyto say that Predictive Analytics (orAdvanced Analytics as some wouldprefer to say) is going main stream in2013, thanks to Big Data. It is not toodifficult to understand why given thethree Vs of Big Data, namelyVolume, Variety and Velocity. Onlyway one can derive full benefits outof Big Data is by using predictiveanalytics and this is forcing large andm e d i u m c o m p a n i e s t o m a k enecessary investments in buildinganalytics infrastructure and reportingcapabilities. And this is excellentnews fo r t hose in Ana ly t i c sprofession or technology companies/service providers who help clientsderive insights from mountains of(big) data. What do you think? Do you agreethat Predictive Analytics is goingmain stream in 2013 or is it a case ofover optimism? Would love to hearyour thoughts:

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Move over Customer Support, it’stime for Customer Engagementby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/4/2011 11:07:35 PM

Very few times in human historyhave we witnessed an inflection pointin technology that fundamentallychanges the way we live and work.Invention of electricity, telephone,TV & radio, computers and mostrecent ly, the internet are fewexamples of transformative powers oftechnology. Just imagine life withoutelectricity, TV & Radio or internet.We can’ t l i ve wi thou t thesetechnological wonders even for fewhours, let alone few days! Such istheir influence on how we live andwork. Social Networking technologyis one such inflection point in historyof human evolution and we are inmidst of a Social Media revolutionthat will fundamentally change howwe live, work and play. In this post, I want to discuss howSocial Networking technology andSocial Media tools are transformingcustomer support function. For manydecades, marketers have beenproviding service to their customersover phone, and over email/chat afterspread of internet. Both, phone andemail/chat are private and one-to-onein nature. For any support, customershave to cal l a phone number(normally a 1-800 toll-free numberhere in the US) and wait for aCustomer Support agent to answerthe phone and resolve any issues or

provide any necessary help. Duringthe whole support process, marketersare in total control of the interactionto the extent that agents use “scripts”or pre-defined workflow during mostcustomer support calls. This alsohighlights the fact that customersupport personnel are just working as“ a g e n t s ” a n d a r e n o t r e a l l yempowered to solve customers’problem and have to adhere to theirscripts during the call. How manytimes have we heard the phrase“sorry, my system won’t allow me tod o t h a t ”   i n r e s p o n s e t o arequest  dur ing a support ca l l . I am happy to note that thanks torapid expansion of reach andeffect iveness of Social Mediachannels, this is about to change.Social Media have empoweredcustomers like never before as theycan express their opinions/feelingsabout brands on Social Mediachannels, including commentingabout poor customer service or waitt imes for some one to answercustomer service calls. Marketershave no control over what customersare saying about their brands or poorservice. Given this scenario, beststrategy for a business is to engagecustomers on Social Media channelsif customers prefer that option,especially when wait time for phone,email or web based support is toolong for the customers. As more and more customers airtheir grievances on social mediachannels, it is important for marketers

to engage them and not wait for themto call customer support phonen u m b e r s . S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n gtechnology provides great tools for“engaging” customers . Unl iketraditional media channels, Socialmedia communication is not only two-way, one-to-one, but customer is anactive participant and “owns” theconversation. Moreover, conversations over SocialMedia channels are public – visible toall. And customers and potentialcustomers are discussing aboutproducts and brands on Social Mediachannels, including poor customersupport whether the marketer isparticipating in the discussion or not.This is why it is utmost important formarketer to have a Social CRMstrategy and invest in Social Mediatools for effect ively engagingcustomers and prospects. Gone arethe days of “scripted” customersupport calls. Level of customer engagement willdetermine mind-share and market-share for a brand. Those marketerswho e f fec t ive ly engage the i rcustomers and prospects will emergeas winners and those who are notgood in customer engagement willlose market share. What do you think? Is it time forCustomer Support to move over andCustomer Engagement to take itsplace? Please do share your thoughtson the implications for business.

Social CRM Market Size Undervalued?by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 9/7/2011 7:59:27 PM

Gar tne r , Inc . ,   the S tamford ,Connecticut based IT research andadvisory firm recently reiterated itsguidance that “market for SocialCRM is on Pace to Surpass $1 Billionin Revenue by Year-End 2012 (formore, see this). I have seen similarestimates regarding size of SocialCRM market from other research andanalyst firms in recent past. Such crystal gazing for estimatingmarket potential for Social CRMsoftware and services reminds meof the story of two shoe salesmen inAfrica trying to assess size of themarket for shoes. One salesmanreported that there is no potential forselling shoes as no one wears them.Second salesman reported that thereis tremendous potential for sellingshoes as no one wears them. It’s all inthe perspective! In my opinion, the magic revenuenumber of $ 1 Billion for SocialCRM is an under-estimate and true

size of the market or potential forSocial CRM software and services ismuch higher than ‘just’ a billiondollar. This is because Social CRM isan indispensable part of any CRMsystem due to the fact that SocialMedia has empowered customers likenever before, they can discuss aboutbrands/products on Social Mediachannels and companies have nocontrol over what customers aresaying about their brands/products.This discussion is visible to allincluding other customers, potentialcustomers and competitors. The best any marketer can do is toL i s t en and Learn f rom wha tcustomers are saying and Engagethem in meaningful conversations. Inother words, marketers have to treatSocial Media channels as the front-end of CRM system, capture allrelevant information from SocialMedia channels in the database anduse Pred ic t ive Analy t ics andKnowledge Management tools toderive insights and help in decisionmaking. As a result, CRM ain’t CRMif it isn’t Social! And if CRM ain’t CRM if it isn’t

Social, size of Social CRM market isequivalent to the size of CRM marketin terms of number of installations(this includes large/enterprise classand SME/Small and Medium sizedinstallations of CRM system). Interms of dollar amount, size of SocialCRM market is equivalent to asubstantial % of CRM market (atleast25% of CRM market in my opinion).There is tremendous pent up demandfor Social CRM software andservices, not only among largeenterprises but also small andmedium ones. The only reason why itis not manifesting in terms of $$$ orrevenue for Social CRM vendors isthat software/services offered byexisting vendors don’t address thepent up demand for Social CRM. In other words, most Social CRMvendors don’t have a good product/service offering to address thisdemand. The moment any SocialCRM software/services vendor offersa comprehensive solution for thispent up demand, marketers are goingto lap it up the way customers lap upApple’s iPad or iPhone for example.What I am trying to highlight here is

that underlying demand for SocialCRM software and services is verystrong, but software vendors andservice providers have not risen to theoccasion to meet that demand andhence haven’t been able to tap into it.Hence to say that “market for SocialCRM is on Pace to Surpass $1 Billionin Revenue by Year-End 2012 doesnot truly reflect the size of SocialCRM market. It is substantially morethan $1 Billion in my opinion, in factmany times more than that. What do you think? Do you agreewith Gartner that “market for SocialCRM is on Pace to Surpass $1 Billionin Revenue by Year-End 2012 or you,like me think that it is substantiallymore than $1 Billion? Please take thefollowing survey and share youropinion. (in case if survey questionbox is not visible below, you canClick here to take survey Create your free online surveys withSurveyMonkey, the world’s leadingquestionnaire tool.

Infographic: BigData and PredictiveAnalyticsby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 4/3/2013 12:38:01 AM

I published a blog post titled BigData and Rise of Predictive Analyticsa couple of days back in which Ihighlighted that“ I am happy to saytha t Pred ic t ive Analy t ics (o rAdvanced Analytics as some wouldprefer to say) is going main stream in2013, thanks to Big Data. It is not toodifficult to understand why given thethree Vs of Big Data, namelyVolume, Variety and Velocity. Onlyway one can derive full benefits outof Big Data is by using predictiveanalytics and this is forcing large andm e d i u m c o m p a n i e s t o m a k enecessary investments in buildinganalytics infrastructure and reportingcapabilities. And this is excellentnews fo r t hose in Ana ly t i c sprofession or technology companies/service providers who help clientsderive insights from mountains of(big) data.“ Good to see that major enterprisesoftware vendors have startedfocusing their attention on predictiveanalytics. Here’s a very goodinfographic on Predictive Analyticspublished by SAP Blog(infographicembedded below): Predictive Analytics Infographicfrom SAP Analytics

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Why ‘Social’ will drive growth in2012by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/21/2011 1:36:38 PM

Time flies! Here we are just a fewdays before Christmas and lookingback at 2011, I cannot help butwonder at the amazing speed withwhich the year flew by! 2011 will beremembered for the effective roleSocial Media played in activistmovements across the globe. Looking at the future, one can seedark clouds on economic horizongiven the debt and deficit crisis inE u r o p e a n d N o r t h A m e r i c a .Consumer spending, which hasdriven economic growth for pasts e v e r a l d e c a d e s g i v e n e a s yavailability of inexpensive credit, isdrying up as consumers are reluctantto spend given the economic andpolitical uncertainty. As a result,economic growth is almost 0% if notnegative and with rising inflation,there is real risk of dreaded ‘stagflation‘ (economic stagnationwith high inflation resulting instubborn high unemployment). In this scenario, companies arefighting hard for share of customers’wallet/spend to meet their top line/revenue growth targets at the cost ofbottom line/profits. As a proof of this,just note the amount of discountslarge retailers and leading brandsoffered to customers this holidayseason. And this is not just limited tobudget brands for value consciouscustomers but also includes luxurybrands  targeted at affluent customers. So how can companies not onlysurvive, but thrive in an economicenvironment charac ter ized by

stagnation, high unemployment,eroding purchasing power because ofinflation and when customers areunwilling to spend because ofeconomic uncertainty? In economicparlance, this is a perfect storm and itrequires some out of the box thinkingon the part of companies. Companies need to use emergingtechnological tools such as SocialMedia, Mobile and Cloud computingto drive down cost of doing businessand at the same time, maximize valuedelivered to customers. Remember, itis not about price of a product orservice but value perceived by thecustomer and price he/she is willingto pay for the perceived value of theproduct or service. As I highlighted in one of myprevious post titled Why IndustrialEra Marketing Won’t Work in theAge of Social Media, not involvingcustomers during product/servicecreation and delivery, and verylimited after-sale support via phone is

not going to work any more .Companies need to use social mediachannels and collaborate with theircustomers at every step of product orservice creation and delivery. To survive and grow in the age ofsocial media, companies will have tore-engineer their product design,manufacturing, delivery and supportprocesses , and not jus t the i rmarketing processes, in order toinvolve customers at every stage ofp roduc t / s e rv i ce c r ea t i on anddelivery. Companies that succeed ininvolving customers at every step ofproduct/service creation and deliverywill thrive and grow in this tougheconomic climate. My suggestion to senior executives isthat instead of viewing this tougheconomic climate as a challenge or aproblem to overcome, why not viewit as an opportunity for change by re-engineering business processes tot a k e a d v a n t a g e o f e m e r g i n gtechnological tools such as socialmedia and involve or engagecustomers at every stage of product orservice creation and delivery. It canbe as simple as a factory managerposting a YouTube video on how theproduct is made or a hotel employeetweeting about new mattress in allrooms in the hotel. By engagingcustomers on Social Media channels,companies can win greater mind-share of customers and as we allknow, mind-share results in purchaseand greater share of the wallet! And before I end my post, I want towish readers of this blog MerryChristmas and Happy Holidays.(Picture courtesy: The well li tChristmas tree that you see above isfrom my apartment in Dallas, Texas)

Why CRM ain’t CRM if it isn’t Socialby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/5/2011 8:09:43 PM

Almost a year back, I wrote abouthow four independent trends, namelySocial Media, Smart Phones/PortableDevices, Cloud Computing/ SaaS andPredictive Analytics were convergingand brining about a Paradigm Shift inCRM(for more, see my post titledCRM Paradigm Shift). Between then and now, we have seena lot happen due to this convergence.Customers empowered by SocialMedia tools such as Twi t te r ,Facebook and YouTube have startedconnecting and sharing like neverbefore right from their mobile devicesand are asserting their influence, be itfor venting their feeling towards abrand or their anger and frustration attheir rulers. This has even led todownfall of many a dictatorialregimes, in power for decades, in justa matter of days – something

unthinkable even a few monthsago. The biggest lesson business canlearn from recent events is that SocialMedia is the new front end of CRMsystem and CRM ain’t CRM if it isn’tSocial. Here’s why: Social Media has empoweredcustomers like never before as theycan discuss about brands/products onSocial Media channels and companieshave no control over what customersare saying about their brands/products. This discussion is visible toal l including other customers,potential customers and competitors. The best any marketer can do is toL i s t en and Learn f rom wha tcustomers are saying and Engagethem in meaningful conversations. Inother words, treat Social Mediachannels as the front-end of CRMs y s t e m , c a p t u r e a l l r e l e v a n tinformation from Social Mediachannels in the database and usePredictive Analytics and KnowledgeManagement tools to derive insightsand help in decision making.

What is important to note here is that“Social” is not a middle-ware oranother layer in the architecture ofCRM systems, but is the front-end ofCRM system, where customersdecide the format and content ofinformation. It is responsibility of thecompany to record and store allrelevant information from SocialMedia channels and derive valuefrom it by using Predictive Analyticsand Knowledge Management toolsfor effectively engaging customers. Companies must also leverageunique characteristics of SocialNetworks and re-engineer their CRMbusiness processes to derive fullbenefits from it, rather than trying tofit “Social” engine to their existingCRM carriage or merely treatingSocial Media as another 1-1 channellike phone and email, albeit public! This requires fresh outside the boxthinking. For example, instead oftrying to respond to each and everytweet or Facebook posting bycustomers, something not practical

for a medium or large business, theemphasis should be on creatingadvocacy and building trust amongcustomers, keeping in mind the“Social Context” of the medium. No where this is more evident than insupport communities, where brandadvocates/loyal customers help othercustomers out by answering theirquestions or suggesting solution,rather than company Reps trying toanswer all the question. As a part oftheir CRM initiative, marketingmanagers should design programs totrack and reward Customer Advocacybehaviors on Social Networking sites.This will not only help in brandpromotion on Social Media channelsbut will also help in building trust andloyalty among target audience. As you can see from my explanation,CRM ain’t CRM if it is not Social,thanks to ‘Social’ Customers! What do you think? Would love tohear from you. Please do share yourthoughts on the subject:

Master DataManagement (MDM):Key to Big DataSuccessby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 4/7/2013 7:30:44 PM

With the hype surrounding Big Dataand current focus on tools andtechnology such as Hadoop, it is easyto forget that success of anytechnology project rests more onstrategy and less on technology/tools.That’s true even in the case of BigData solutions. A r c h i t e c t s a n d m a n a g e r simplementing Big Data solutionswould do well to remember that inorder to truly leverage and deriveinsights from Big Data, it is importantto have a Master Data Management(MDM) solution in place with ar e p o s i t o r y o f r e l e v a n t   n o n -transactional data entities (alsoknown as master data). For example, if an organizationwants to leverage social media datafor bet ter sales , market ing orcustomer support, it is important thata master database of all customersand prospects is in place withinformation on social media profiles/handles for each customer. MasterD a t a M a n a g e m e n t( M D M )   ” c o m p r i s e s a s e t o fprocesses, governance, policies,standards and tools that consistentlydefines and manages the master dataof an organization”(for more, seethis). Trying to implement a Big Datasolution without a repository ofrelevant master data is a recipe fordisaster in my opinion. What to youthink? Do you agree that MDM is keyto Big Data success? Please shareyour thoughts:

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Why Big Data Analytics is TheNext Big Opportunity forOutsourcing Companiesby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 1/8/2012 10:18:48 PM

Big Data Analytics is making bigheadlines these days. Just check out afew from recent past:• Big Data — Big Money Says It IsA Paradigm Buster- Forbes.com• For Start-Ups That Aim at Giants,Sorting the Data Cloud Is the NextBig Thing- The New York Times• Accel Makes Big Commitment ToBig Data With $100M Fund- TheWall Street Journal• Five startup predictions for 2012-c|net• Big Data: Investments Flow intothe Next Big Thing- a great post byDick Weisinger

So what is Big Data and why it is inthe news so much these days? According to Phil ip Russom,Director of TDWI Research, Big Datahas three defining attributes – threeVs as he calls them. They are DataVolume, Data Variety and DataVelocity and together they constitutea comprehensive definition of BigData. So Big Data is not just aboutData Volume, but also the variety ofdata (mostly unstructured) and thevelocity with which the data isg e n e r a t e d a n d n e e d t o b eanalyzed.(for more, check outfollowing posts by Philip Russom and

the TDWI Best Practices Report titledBig Data Analytics):• Big Data Analytics: FrequentlyAsked Questions (FAQ)• The Three Vs of Big DataAnalytics: VOLUME• The Three Vs of Big DataAnalytics: VARIETY• The Three Vs of Big DataAnalytics: VELOCITY

Given three Vs of Big Data,‘traditional’ data storage, retrievaland analytics methodologies are nolonger going to work . CloudComputing is going to play a key rolew h e n i t c o m e s t o B i g D a t aManagement and Analytics. And herei n l i e s t h e o p p o r t u n i t y f o rO u t s o u r c i n g c o m p a n i e s . Traditionally, data collected byorganizations is ‘safely’ stored inmassive relational database accessibleto only few within the organizationand requires elaborate infrastructureboth in terms of hardware andsoftware for storage, retrieval andreporting/analytics. In such anenvironment, it is not possible toeasily outsource Data Analyticsfunction/processes alone given theheavy investments made in terms ofhardware and software. Because of the business requirementof analyzing vast amount of everchanging structured and unstructuredBig Data almost instantaneously,companies will be hard pressed to do

this on their own. But given the factthat Big Data stored in cloud can beaccessed from anywhere the internetis available and can be analysedalmost instantaneously by third partyservice providers,  outsourcingcompanies can offer to their clientsvalue added services in the area ofBig Data analytics without heavyinvestments on the part of clients inspecialized hardware and software aswas the case with ‘traditional’ dataanalytics. This will bring downsignificantly costs (especially fixedcosts) associated with building andmaintaining analytics infrastructureand solution center. Just to give an example in the area ofSocial CRM, Social Media hasempowered customers like neverbefore as they can discuss aboutbrands/products on Social Mediachannels. The best any marketer cando is to Listen, Learn and Engagecustomers. Given the three Vs of Big‘Social’ data and the fact that most ofthe user generated content resides inthe cloud, outsourcing companies canoffer cost effective analytics solutionto their clients to enable themeffectively engage their customers/prospects in real time. What do you think? Do you agreethat Big Data Analytics is The NextBig Opportunity for OutsourcingCompanies? Look forward to hearingyour thoughts and comments:

Why Industrial Era Marketing Won’t Work inthe Age of Social Mediaby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 10/16/2011 12:06:41 AM

In the industrial age, companies massproduced goods and promoted theirproducts and services through massmedia in order to se l l them.Customers had little involvement inp roduc t c r ea t ion (o the r t hanoccasional feedback they providedthrough marketing research). And ifcustomers had any problem, theycontacted a support agent via mail ortelephone. Social media have radically changedthis equation between companies andtheir customers by empoweringcus tomers l ike never be fo re .Customers can discuss about productson social media channels andcompanies have no control over whatcustomers are saying about theirbrands.

But instead of engaging customerson social media, most companies stillrely on marketing the old fashionedway – a vestige from the industrialage! Marketing processes beingfollowed today by most companiesare still very similar to what was donein the industrial age. Companies need to realize that whenit comes to creation and delivery ofproducts and services, expectation of“Social” customers are vast lydifferent from that of customers inindustrial age. “Social” customersexpect companies to “listen” to themand take appropriate action on theircomments regarding products andservices they purchase and pay for. Social media have provided tools forcustomers to express their opinionand customers are using Twitter andFacebook for the purpose. We seecomments about brands/products onTwitter and Facebook all the time.For example, delayed flight or bad

experience at a restaurant. But insteadof listening to customers’ feedbackon Social Media channels andengaging them, companies stillexpect them to call or write to them ifthey need any help. In a nut shell,companies are still living in theindustrial age when customers havemoved on into the social age. In fact, I wrote about this almost twoyears’ back in a blog post titled “How Customer Engagement willdetermine winning brands in SocialEra” In this post, I explained thatlevel of customer engagement willdetermine mind-share and market-share for a brand. ONLY thosecompanies that effectively engagetheir customers and prospects willemerge as winners and those that arenot good in customer engagementwill lose market share. Unlike in industrial age, notinvolving customers during product/service creation and delivery, and

very limited after-sale support viaphone is not going to work any more.Companies need to use social mediachannels and collaborate with theircustomers at every step of product orservice creation and delivery. To survive and grow in the age ofsocial media, companies will have tore-engineer their product design,manufacturing, delivery and supportprocesses , and not jus t the i rmarketing processes, in order toinvolve customers at every stage ofproduct/service creation and delivery. Companies that succeed in involvingcustomers at every step of product/service creation and delivery willthrive and grow. Rest will becomehistory. Question is how many seniorexecutive realize the challenge that isin front of them and are prepared tomake this transition?

Big Data: Wherethe OpportunitiesAre!by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/17/2013 12:03:19 AM

I am often asked the question as towhich industries offer the bestpotential for application of a Big Datasolution and I have always said thatBanking and Financial Services,I n s u r a n c e , T e l e c o m , M e d i a /I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e s a n dManufacturing offer the best promiseto begin with. And I have based myjudgement not only on the potentialimpact of a Big Data solution on thetop and bottom-line numbers but alsoon “relative” ease with which BigData can be used for reducing costsor improving productivity. My thinking on this subject wasvalidated recently when I came acrossfollowing excellent visualization onopportunities for Big Data acrossseveral industries prepared by BrettS h e p p a r d b a s e d o n G a r t n e rIntelligence. According to Brett, thisvisualization is based on “Gartner’scomparison of eleven industriesacross seven dimensions using datafrom Gartner forecasts, marketstatistics and input from dozens ofvertical industry experts”.(Source: See this)

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Why Social CRM? Because “TheConsumer Isn’t a Moron; She isYour Wife”by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/12/2011 7:41:00 PM

David Ogilvy, popularly referred toas the father of modern advertising,once said “ The consumer isn’t amoron; she is your wife. You insulther intelligence if you assume that amere s logan and a few vapidadjectives will persuade her to buyany th ing . She wan t s a l l t h einformation you can give her“(formore , see Confess ions of anAdvertising Man, p. 96, BallantineBooks: quoted here). In these days of gender equality, wecan rephrase this quote as “Theconsumer isn’t a moron; he/she isyour spouse”, but the fact remainsthat a customer is the most importantperson for any business, more so in ac o m p e t i t i v e e c o n o m y w h e r ecustomers have many choices. Youmay ask what that has got to do withSocial CRM? Let me explain: The sole reason any business, be amom and pop store serving a smallcommunity or a multi-nationalcorporation (MNC) having tens ofthousands of employees across

several countries with thousands ofproducts and millions of customers,exists is to serve its customers. Allbusiness decisions and actionsundertaken by every employee areaimed at satisfying needs and wantsof customers, starting right fromunderstanding customers’ needs/w a n t s , d e s i g n i n g a p r o d u c t ,m a n u f a c t u r i n g t h e p r o d u c t ,distributing and marketing theproduct and post sales support. Anyaction not aimed at making customershappy is fruitless or is counter-productive. Heavy up-front investments aremade (fixed costs incurred) in theprocess of creation and delivery of aproduct or a service with theassumption that the customer will likewhat is being offered and willpurchase the product. Any activecustomer involvement in productdesign, manufacture and deliveryprocess is ‘minimal’ at the bestthrough market research. This resultsnot only in costly product failures/increased risk for the business butalso higher sales and support costs. In ‘Social Age’, it is not onlypossible, but incredibly easy andi n e x p e n s i v e f o r b u s i n e s s t o

collaborate with customers and worktogether irrespective of physicallocation and other barriers. Thanks tosocial networking technology,business has an opportunity to engagecustomer and prospects in ‘real-time’at every stage of product design,manufacture and delivery process inorder to minimize risks and maximizevalue delivered to customers. Question is not how business canafford to engage customer on socialmedia, it is how business cannotafford NOT to engage customers onSocial Media channels. Social CRM,which has been defined as thebusiness s t rategy of engagingcustomers through Social Media withgoal of building trust and brandloyalty is the way to go for business(for more, see this). To quote David Ogilvy again, “theconsumer isn’t a moron; she is yourwife”. Wouldn’t you want to engageyour spouse or significant other(customers in this case) on anongoing basis? And we all know thecosts if we don’t engage significantpeople in our life, don’t we?

Big Data and Rise of PredictiveEnterprise Solutionsby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/10/2012 7:46:01 PM

Given the three Vs of Big Data,namely Volume, Var ie ty andVeloc i ty( read th is for more) ,challenge before large and mediumsized companies is how to unlock thep o t e n t i a l o f B i g D a t a a n dproductively leverage its value inrunning the business. In “traditional” Data Analytics orBusiness Intelligence, focus is moreon ana lys i s and repor t ing of“historic” or past data stored in thedatabase. Take for example how mostorganizations use data from theirCRM or ERP applications. Almost allthe reports that are generated pertainto past or “historic” information.Running a business based on“historic” or past data is like driving acar looking in the rear view mirrorand is not going to work. Instead, companies must analyze allthe available information in real time,apply statistical modeling techniquesto available information in order topredict future outcomes and take

action/run the business based onpredicted outcome rather thananalysis of historic data as is beingdone currently. Since Big Data is characterized bynot only Volume, but also Velocityand Variety, it is very important thatBig Data is used for analysis in real-time to predict the future and takecorrective action based on thatanalysis. How about using CausalPath analysis on Social Media data(like Twitter and Facebook) to predictChurn or Customer Attrition inTe lecom indus t ry and tak ingcorrective action to prevent Churn/Attrition rather than analyzing“historic” attrition rate, call volumesor average response time as beingdone currently. The real value is inusing predictive analytics and takingcorrective action before it is too late,rather than just reporting historicalinformation. Techniques like Multiple-regressionanalysis coupled with Factor analysis,Cluster analysis and Causal Pathanalysis can be used very effectivelywith Big data – now that we havemany va r i ab les and mul t ip leobservation for each variable at a

c u s t o m e r l e v e l t o g e n e r a t estatistically significant difference inanalysis. In future, no ERP or CRM systemwill be complete without PredictiveAnalytics functionality that willenable companies take preventivesteps (rather than reactive) in realtime. For example, rather thananalyzing “historic” attrition rates,Predictive CRM application willmake it possible for companies toidentify critical incidents leading tocustomer attrition so that steps can betaken to retain the customer before he/she defects. And thanks to Predictive Analytics,ERP or CRM applications will nolonger be just a repository of“historical” information but will bet ransformed into a Predic t iveKnowledge base or Engine drivingbusiness decisions looking forwardand not backwards/in the rear viewmirror of “historic” information. What do you think? Do you agreethat Big Data will result in rise ofPredictive Enterprise Solutions?Please do share your thoughts.

Predictive Analytics:A Force Multiplierfor Big Databy Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 4/5/2013 9:51:24 PM

Force Multiplier, a noun, meanssomething that increases effect of theforce. In military usage, forcemultiplication refers to “an attributeor a combination of attributes whichmake a given force more effectivethan that same force would bewithout it”(for more, see this). Big Data, which is characterizedby three Vs, namely Volume, Varietyand Velocity can be a major forcein running of any large or mediums i z e d b u s i n e s s a s a s i t a d d stremendous value by improvingquality of decision making. Thanks toBig Data revolution, it is possible toprocess large volumes of structuredand unstructured data in real time andderive insights from large data sets.This by itself is a huge improvementover pre-Big Data era. What’s even better is that predictiveanalytics makes it possible not only toanalyze the past, but predict thefuture too with high degree ofconfidence level. For example, socialmedia data can enrich risk modelingand help auto insurance companiesprepare much better risk profile of anindividual. Car sensor data can helpauto insurance companies betterassess risk posed by a driver’s habits(like speeding, fast acceleration orbraking) and come up with autoinsurance policy tailored to thatspecific individual with individuallevel premium (not at a zip code or acity level). Another good example is assessmentof customer life time value (CLV).Using big data, companies can comeup with much better assessment ofcustomer life time value. What makesit even better is that predictivemodeling can be used on social mediaor sensor data in arriving at a muchbetter estimation of CLV so thatcompanies can better target customerswith high CLV. This has been veryeffectively used in Travel andHospitality industry. Point I want to highlight here is thatBig data is a revolution in itself as itenables organizations identify, store,process and analyze data sets fromoutside the organizations in a waywhich was not possible thus far. Addpredictive analytics to this mix and itpushes Big Data capability to a wholenew level – a true force multiplier.Don’t you agree? Question is how many large andmedium sized companies are in aposition to take advantage of not onlyBig Data revolut ion, but alsoeffectively leverage PredictiveAnalytics for driving better insightsand decision making. Not too manyin my opinion. What do you think?Please do share your opinion:

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Why future of Retail is Social(VIDEO)by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 1/12/2011 6:40:09 PM

How many times have you purchasedsomething or scored a good deal andfelt the immediate urge to announce itto all your family members andfriends? or how many times have yousought opinion from your friendsbefore buying something? Well, mostof us do it all the time, albeit offline. Thanks to Social Networkingtechnology, now it is quite easy toconnect online with not only familyand friends, but with other likeminded “s t rangers”(whom wewouldn’t know otherwise) andexchange information, opinion andviews, such that it is visible to all inour network. In other words, sharingand exchange of information oropinion about products or services istruly social in nature. S ta r tups l ike Groupon haveleveraged not only the innate urge ofpeople to share information aboutgood deals with family and friendsusing online social networks, but also

the potential of Social Media forcollaboration among “ strangers” forgroup buying discounts. Contrast this with the fact thatestablished retailers, both online andbrick & mortar, have been slow inembracing Social Media despite therealization that it has the potential todisrupt traditional retailing model (for more, see my earlier post titledHow Social Media will disrupt thetraditional “Retailing” Model). Mostinitiatives so far by retailers werelimited to either offering socialsharing options on their websites orlimited shopping cart functionality ontheir Facebook page. J.C. Penny, the Plano, Texas basedretailing giant took a great stride inthis direction by moving their entireproduct ca ta log to Facebook,meaning one can buy all theirproducts from their Facebook pagejust as on their website(for more, seethis and this). Imagine number ofclicks or free publicity this is likely togenerate through Facebook sharing. Iexpect other retailers to follow J.C.Penny’s example in this direction. Retailing industry as a whole has

suffered over the past few yearsbecause of global recession. One ofthe ways retailers can improve theirperformance and make up for lostoppor tun i ty i s to s ta r t us ingtechnology in innovative waysleveraging full potential of socialmedia, location based tools, smartphones with high speed internetaccess and social gaming. Only thoseretailers who are successful in thiswill see their sales and margin growat the cost of retailers who are slow toadopt new technological tools. Inother words, success of retailers willbe determined by their effectivenessin using new tech tools such as SocialNetworking. I want to end this post by sharing thisCNN video from National RetailFederation’s annual event, the NRF100th Annual Convention & Expothat concluded earlier today in NewYork. Note the emphasis on SocialMedia in this year’s event. Enjoy the video and do share yourthoughts and comments:

4 Excellent Big Data Case Studiesby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/22/2012 4:02:23 PM

In response to my previous posttitled Big Data: The Coming SensorData Driven Productivity Revolution,some one asked me if I had few goodcase studies that highlight effectiveuse of Big Data. I would like to sharefollowing four excellent Big Datacase studies that shows how largecorporations have started leveragingBig Data for driving productivity andincreasing ROI: TXU Energy – Smart ElectricMeters: In my blog quoted above, I indicatedthat“Because of smart meters ,electricity providers can read themeter once every 15 minutes ratherthan once a month. This not onlyeliminates the need to send some onefor meter reading, but as the meter isread once every fifteen minutes,electricity can be priced differentlyfor peak and off-peak hours. Pricingcan be used to shape the demand

curve during peak hours, eliminatingthe need for creating additionalgenerating capacity just to meet peakdemand, saving electricity providersmi l l ions o f do l l a r s wor th o finvestment in generating capacity andplant maintenance costs.” Well, I have a smart electric meter inmy home and one of the electricityproviders in my area (TXU Energy) isusing the smart meter technology toshape the demand curve by offering“Free Night time Energy Charges —All Night. Every Night. All YearLong.” (See this for more). In fact, they promote their service as“Do your laundry or run thedishwasher at night, and pay nothingf o r y o u r E n e r g y C h a r g e s ” .What TXU Energy is trying to dohere is to re-shape energy demandusing pricing so as to manage peak-time demand resulting in savings forboth, TXU and customers. Thiswouldn’t have been possible withoutSmart Electric meters. T-Mobile USA has integrated BigData across multiple IT systems tocombine customer transaction and

interactions data in order to betterpredict customer defections. Byleveraging social media data (BigData) along with transaction datafrom CRM and Billing systems, T-Mobile USA has been able to “cutcustomer defections in half in a singlequarter”. US Xpress, provider of a widevariety of transportation solutionscollects about a thousand dataelements ranging from fuel usage tot ire condit ion to truck engineoperations to GPS information, anduses this data for optimal fleetmanagement and to drive productivitysaving millions of dollars in operatingcosts. McLaren’s Formula One racing teamuses real-time car sensor data duringcar races, identifies issues with itsracing cars using predictive analyticsand takes corrective actions pro-actively before it’s too late!(for moreon T-Mobile USA, US Xpress andMcLaren’s F1 case studies refer tothis article on FT.com)

Wanna Save onCustomer SupportCosts? Outsource it toYour Customers!by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/9/2011 1:25:20 PM

In these tough economic times, whencompanies often cut costs at theexpense of product quali ty orcustomer service (or both!), what if Itold you that there is a way marketerscan reduce customer support costsAND improve customer satisfactionand loyalty at the same time. Betterstill, this can done quickly and in acost effective manner. Sounds toogood to be true. Isn’t it? Read on forhow this can be done … Here’s how – set up a branded andmoderated customer communityfocusing not only on product usagebut a l so under ly ing pass ionssurrounding usage of your product(s)and let product enthusiasts and brandadvocates help other customers out inresolving any issues. CommunityModerators (company appointedrepresentatives similar to customersupport agents) need to step in onlywhen required and provide necessaryinfo or resolve an issue. For example,if you are marketing cameras, have acustomer community on photographyand travel (underlying passions) andnot on cameras, where customers canshare pics and tips, and help eachother out on how to take great pics,which SLR lens to use or what shouldbe the shutter timing/ISO setting etc.Who better to assist customers thanother customers who use the producto n a d a i l y b a s i s . C o m p a n yrepresentatives (moderators) can chipin where required. This will not only reduce callvolumes (and costs associated with it)to other support channels like phoneand email, but will also empowercustomers share their expertise andexperience and be recognized in their“communi ty” o f l ike mindedindividuals – something that is at theheart of Social Media revolution. Besides setting up a branded andmanaged community, marketersshould also integrate their CRMsystem to the community platform, sothat activities of customers on thecommunity can be monitored andi n d i v i d u a l c u s t o m e r c a n b erecognized/rewarded on the basis oftheir contribution to the community. Customer Support communitiesdel iver ROI not only throughreduction of call volume (andassociated costs) to other supportchannels, but also can be a greatsource of new product or marketingideas and drive customer loyaltythrough empowerment. You can’t gowrong with that one. Can you? What do you think? Please do shareyour thoughts on the subject:

Big Data Ecosystemby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/11/2013 11:51:05 PM

Here’s a very good chart of big dataeco-system prepared by Matt Turckand Shivon Zilis(see this link formore). Like the way they have

classified major big data playersacross Infrastructure, Analytics,Applications and Data Sources. My take on this ecosystem is that weare going to see a lot of action on bigdata analytics front as it is theanalytics layer where major valueaddition happens in Big Data stack –others , namely Infras t ructure ,

Application and Data Sources aregeared for collection and storage ofinformation that is used by Analyticslayer for deriving insights fordecision making. Big data landscape version 2.0 fromMatt Turck

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Netflix’s self-made CRM crisis andhow Social CRM can helpby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 9/24/2011 3:35:32 PM

Netflix, Inc., the provider of onlinevideo streaming and DVD by mailservice, has fallen from customers’grace hard and fast. Once a darling ofits customers, Netflix managementseems to have misjudged the negativeimpact of price increase and otherservice changes they announced“unilaterally” this summer and as aresult have lost many customers. Netflix’s CRM fiasco underscoresthe importance of not taking yourcustomers for granted, especially inthis day and age of Social Media.Dissatisfied customers can not onlytake their business elsewhere, but canalso leverage Social Media tools toexpress their disapproval in a waythat can have big impact on othercustomers and towards the brand. Justsee the impact of Social Mediafirestorm generated by this CRMfiasco on Netflix stock for example (

see this link). Social media has empoweredcustomers like never before toconnect and communicate with otherlike minded individuals ‘publicly’and the last thing any marketer shouldbe doing in this Social Media age isto take important decisions impactingcustomers unilaterally and withoutexplaining the rationale or motivesbehind such decisions. In otherwords, customers expect to beinvolved in such decision making oratleast expect a rationale explanationbefore any changes are made. So what can Netflix do to recoverfrom self-made CRM crisis. Answeris to fight fire with fire, that is useSocial Media channels to engagecustomers and build (should I sayregain) trust and loyalty (for more,see definition of Social CRM here). For example, how about usingYoutube to explain why thesechanges were made in the first place.How about using Facebook and blogpostings to respond to customers’crit icism about price hike and

services changes already announced.Key is taking customers’ intoconfidence in such a way that theyfeel that they have been involved int a k i n g i m p o r t a n t d e c i s i o n sconcerning the service they receiveand pay for. Netflix doesn’t have torespond to comments from each andevery customer, but if they respond tofew cus tomers in a fa i r andtransparent way, other customerswould appreciate and would be muchmore supportive of Netflix’s position. Netflix can use this CRM crisis andturn it into a Social CRM successregaining its past glory (and stockprice) if they can engage theircustomers on Social Media to(re)build Trust and Loyalty. I want to end this post by sharingwith you this excellent Bloombergvideo on Netflix and profile of ReedHastings, co-founder and chiefexecutive officer of Netflix Inc. Incase if you don’t see embedded videobelow, please click on this link for thevideo.

Forget Black Friday, how about“Social Media Saturday”?by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 10/19/2011 11:56:30 PM

Halloween is just a few days awayand before we know, it will beThanksgiving and more importantlyfor business, Black Friday and CyberMonday(for those not familiar withthe term Black Friday, see this). But on the economic front, all seemsto be ‘g loom and doom’ and‘economic’ forecast for this holidayseason seems to be dark, damp andcloudy with possibilities of storms –some severe. Question is can socialmedia help marketers cheer up theirhol iday sa les th is season? orspecifically, how can social mediahelp boost sales on Thanksgivingweekend, which traditionally is thestart of the Christmas shoppingseason. Answer is yes, social media can beused very effectively for promotingsale of merchandise this holiday

season. For example, how aboutannouncing deals on company’s orstore’s Facebook page rather thannewspaper adve r t i semen t s o rpromotional flyers? And to get thedeal, customers will have to “Like”the deal. Better still, a customer canavail of the deal only if few of of his/her Facebook friends buy the product.More the number of Facebook friendswho buy a product, higher thediscount a customer get. Just imaginethe excitement this will generate onSocial Media and resultant freepublicity. And most online stores have optionof Gift Shipping but what abouthaving similar options on Facebookpage of the company or the store,where a customer can select whatitems he/she want as Christmas Giftand this wil l be displayed onCustomer’s Facebook profile lettingfriends and family know so that theycan buy the desired gifts rather thansomething that is not going to be usedor even worse, is going to be returned

to store for refund/exchange – a bigproblem for retailers. As I wrote in one of my previouspost titled Social CRM: ThinkingOutside the “Call Center” Box, weneed fresh outside the box thinking tot a k e a d v a n t a g e o f u n i q u echaracteristics of Social Media andSocial Networks. Companies mustleverage unique characteristics ofSocial Networks and re-engineer theirbusiness processes to derive fullbenefits from it. If used properly Social Media candrive sales to such an extent thatvolume of sale on Social MediaSaturday will be far greater thanvolume of sale on ‘traditional’ BlackFriday with promotion only throughflyers and advertisements. What do you think? Do you agreethat Social Media can help marketerscheer up their holiday sales thisseason? Please do share yourthoughts. Would love to hear fromyou:

Big Data: Are YouReady for MultimediaInformation Systems?by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/29/2012 12:31:21 AM

If you take a look at EnterpriseInformat ion Sys tems tha t a recurrently in use, you will notice thatthey are very restrictive in nature inthe sense that it is quite difficult tohandle data types other than text ornumbers. Moreover, text and numbersare handled using pre-defined (textand numbers) fields only in thedatabase. It is extremely difficult tostore/retrieve files of other data typelike image or sound. This can beattributed to the fact that although wehave seen remarkable changes incomputing power, storage capacityand network speed/reach, theunderlying database technologyhasn’t changed much in the past twodecades. Current generation of EnterpriseInformation Systems use RelationalDatabase Management Systems(orRDBMS for short). RDBMS is aDatabase Management System inwhich not only data is stored intables, but relationships among thedata are also stored in tables.RDBMS use Structured QueryLanguage(or SQL) for managing dataand SQL places data in well definedstructures using meta data. Given three Vs of Big Data, namelyData Volume, Data Variety and DataVelocity, traditional data storage,r e t r i eva l and ana lys i s t oo l s /technology like RDBMS and SQL are no longer going to work and weare going to leap frog into a newgeneration of technology that willfundamentally change the way data isstored, retrieved and analyzed. Big Data revolution has resulted inthe development of a whole host ofnew tools and technology that canmeet the challenge posed by three Vsof Big Data. For example, Not OnlySQL(or NoSQL for short) doesn’tadhere to RDBMS model and isdesigned to capture all data withoutcategorizing and parsing upon entryinto the system. Using NoSQL andother tools such as HBase, Hive etc.,it is possible to store, retrieve, andanalyze very large data sets ofmultiple data types not just text andnumbers. As a result, we are about toenter into an era of multimediaenterprise information systems notonly capable of handling very largedata sets in real time but also capableof handling multiple data types likesound, video etc. Question is how many large andmedium enterprises are ready forMultimedia Information (ERP orCRM) Systems? Not many in myopinion. What do you think?

Organizational Challenge:Where to Start in Big Data?by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/24/2013 6:35:33 PM

Have ever wondered what is a goodstarting point for an organization as itembarks upon its Big Data voyage? If

yes, here’s a good YouTube video onthe subject by Stacy Leidwinger,Product Manager, IBM Big Data. Hope you find this video not onlyinteresting but also educative: About the author: View Harish Kotadia, Ph.D.’s profile

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3 New Year’s Resolutions thatshould be on Every CEOs List for2012by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/30/2011 10:06:21 PM

“ After Outcry, Verizon Abandons $2Fee” screams a headline from today’sonline edition of the New YorkTimes. And the article makes it veryclear that Social Media played nosmall role in telecom giant’s hastyretreat from levying a new $2 fee onbill payments. This story is aharbinger of things to come in 2012and CEO and CMO of every largeand medium sized company shouldpay attention to it. As I explained in my previous posttitled 2012: Year of Empowered andAssertive Digital Customer, thanks toMobile, Tablet computing and SocialNetworking revolutions, customersare empowered like never before andthey are leveraging technology notonly for shopping online, but also forhighlighting poor customer service

experiences. This growing trend ofempowered and assertive customersleveraging technology for connectingwith other like minded individuals toshare their experience about productsand services will be the big story of2012. In order to make sure that 2012doesn’t become a year of SocialMedia disasters or  Social CRMcrises, CEOs and CMOs of large andmedium sized companies shouldinclude following three new yearresolutions on their 2012 list: 1. Improve collaboration within theenterprise and invest in collaborationtools 2. Listen to what customers/prospects are saying on Social Mediachannels and learn from it 3. Empower employees to engagecustomers/prospects on social mediachannels and invest in customercollaboration platform How important are these to thesurvival and growth of business? In

my opinion, these are as important asresolving to lose weight for someonewho may suffer a heart attack if he/she doesn’t lose weight, or asimportant as bringing debt/expensesunder control for someone who mayface financial ruin or bankruptcyotherwise. One may argue that these doesn’tapply to leading companies or brandsthat enjoy dominant position in theirmarket. Well, think again. It doesn’ttake long for assertive customers,empowered by social media to drivehome their point of view. If you wantproof, look no further than Netflix orGoDaddy in this regard. So as I said,better to lose weight than suffer aheart attack and better to controlexpenses/debt than face financialruin. Dear CEOs and CMOs, are youlistening? Wouldn’t you include thesethree New Year’s resolutions to your2012 list?

Big Data: $16.9 Billion opportunityfor IT Services and ConsultingIndustryby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/24/2012 6:14:40 PM

International Data Corporationrecently released its “ Big Datatechnology and services forecast”predicting that Big Data market willgrow from $3.2 billion in 2010 to$16.9 billion in 2015, a compoundedannual growth rate of 40% and“growth of individual segments from27.3% for servers and 34.2% forsoftware to 61.4% for storage”. Sowhat is driving this growth in BigData and how can IT Services andConsulting companies tap into thisphenomenal growth opportunity of40% CAGR, which according to IDCis “about 7 times that of the overallinformation and communicationstechnology (ICT) market”? As I indicated in one of my previouspost titled Why Big Data Mining/Analytics is the New Gold Rush, Big

Data is a key enabler for SocialBusiness and without Big DataMining/Analytics, a large or mediumsized company can neither makesense of all the user generated contentonline nor can collaborate with customers, suppliers and partnerseffectively on Social Media channels.And both these activities, namelygaining insights from user generatedcontent online and collaborating withcustomers and partners are critical forsuccess in the age of Social Media.Big Data provides the cri t icalbackbone for Social Businessleveraging advances in CloudComputing, Mobile Platforms, SocialMedia , Ubiqui tous broadbandinternet, Gaming technology andData Storage and Analysis. Because of the business requirementof analyzing vast amount of everchanging structured and unstructuredBig Data almost instantaneously,companies will be hard pressed to dothis on their own. But given the fact

that Big Data stored in cloud can beaccessed from anywhere the internetis available and can be analysedalmost instantaneously by third partyservice providers,  outsourcingcompanies can offer to their clientsvalue added services in the area ofBig Data analytics without heavyinvestments on the part of clients inspecialized hardware and software aswas the case with ‘traditional’ dataanalytics. This will bring downsignificantly costs (especially fixedcosts) associated with building andmaintaining analytics infrastructureand solution center. I expect all majorI T S e r v i c e s a n d C o n s u l t i n gcompanies to invest heavily inbuilding delivery capability in thearea of Big Data/Analytics to tap intothis opportunity. Do you agree that Big Data is a greatopportunity for IT Services andConsulting companies? Please doshare your thoughts:

10 great Enterprise2.0 presentationsto ring out 2010by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/31/2010 12:31:09 AM

This is my last post of the year 2010.Looking back, what a year it was. Istarted the year with a post titled2010: Year of Social CRM, publishedon January 2nd, 2010, which becameone of the most popular post onSocial CRM during the year withthousands of page views. As I discussed in this post, wewitnessed growing acceptance ofSocial Media tools and technology bybusiness, large and small , forcustomer engagement during the yearand thanks to this, we are a stepcloser (or should I say several stepscloser) to achieving the goals ofEnterprise 2.0. So what be t ter subjec t thanEnterprise 2.0 for my last blog post of2010. Here’s compilation of 10 greatS l i d e S h a r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o nEnterprise 2.0. Collectively they offergreat insights into what Enterprise 2.0is and its potential. Learn from thisgreat presos and Enjoy. Before I end this post, I want tothank you, my dear readers, verymuch for your support during 2010and wish you and your loved onesprosperous new year. May all yourdreams come true. Happy 2011! WhatDoes Corporate America Think of2.0? View more presentations fromamcafee. The Potential of Enterprise2.0 View more presentations fromrossdawson. Enterprise 2.0 Overview View more presentations from BillyCripe. Enterprise 2.0 – EfficientCol laborat ion and KnowledgeExchange View more presentations fromAcando Consulting. Enterprise 2.0 –A new Age of Aquarius? View more presentations fromStephen Collins. What if PeterDrucker Taught Enterprise 2.0Strategy? View more presentations from MarkFidelman. Enterprise 2.0 : Leveragingcollaboration platforms to fosterk n o w l e d g e , i n n o v a t i o n a n dp r o d u c t i v i t y View more presentations from CecilDijoux. Enterprise 2.0 = KnowledgeManagement 2.0? View more presentations from DanKeldsen. Cloud and E2.0: Connectingthe Dots – OSCON Cloud Summit –2010 View more presentations from DionHinchcliffe. Value Creation inEnterprise 2.0 View more presentations from ToddStephens.

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Key to Social CRM success: GoLocal!by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 10/13/2011 4:02:19 PM

Marketing is never a zero sum game.Companies don’t have to lose forcustomers to win and customers don’thave to lose for companies to win. Infact, marketing is the art and scienceof finding a win-win approach tobusiness transactions in which boththe company and customers win. Social Media can play a major role infinding this “win-win” equationbetween companies and customers,by he lp ing compan ies be t t e runderstand their customers’ needs(not wants or desires) and customerscan better collaborate with companiesusing social media channels to designand co-create products or servicesthat fulfill their needs. One keychallenge facing all large andmedium sized companies in thisregard is how to engage tens of

thousands of customers across theworld on social media channels. Well, solutions to this problem is to“Go Local”. Meaning, companiesmust engage their customers on socialmedia channels at a “local” level. Soif a company segments or classifiescustomers “geographically” or at a“store” level, they should engagetheir customers on social mediachannels at a store level. This meansthat companies need to have a SocialCRM team for engaging customers atevery local unit (like geography orstore). Unlike traditional CRM, which wasall about centralization of informationinto a database for decision making atthe top, Social CRM is all aboutengaging customers at a “local” leveland empowering front-line managersfor decision making where it mattersthe most – at the local level in ad e c e n t r a l i z e d w a y . B e c a u s ecompanies cannot collaborate withthousands o f cus tomers in a

centralized way. Here’s an example of this approach:Retail giant, Walmart recentlyannounced that any one of Walmart’sfacebook fans can get informationfrom their “local” store by clicking onthe Local Walmart tab on theWalmart’s Facebook page. “Liking” alocal store will enable customers seelocal promotions for that particularstore and a map of the store withexac t l oca t i on o f adve r t i s edspecials(for more, see this and this). This strategy of “Going Local wheni t comes to Soc ia l CRM” i sapplicable to companies across allindustries, be it retailers, restaurantsor banks. Companies need to formSocial CRM teams at a “local” levelto engage customers and build win-win relationship with them. What do you think? Do you agreethat key to Social CRM success isGoing Local?

2012: Year of Empowered andAssertive Digital Customerby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/28/2011 8:51:10 PM

As 2011 comes to an end and as welook forward to celebrating New Year2012, one thing that strikes mostlooking back is the massive increasei n o w n e r s h i p a n d u s a g e o fSmartphones and Tablet computers. Just consider following headlines inthe last few days:“On Christmas day alone, a total of6.8 million iOS and Android devicesgot activated around the world, a353% increase from Christmas2010(for more, see this link)“Consumers have spent a record $35billion online shopping this holidayseason”(for more, see this link)“Apple’s iOS accounted for awhopping 13.4% of Online Sales onChristmas Day”(for more, see thislink)“According to a recent report,Facebook reached more than half ofglobal audience in October 2011 andaccounted for 1 in every 7 minutesspent online around the world and 3in every 4 socia l ne tworkingminutes”(for more, see this link) These are just a few headlines I cameacross during last few day of 2011.And they all points to the fact thatthanks to Mobile, Tablet computingand Social Networking revolutions,customers are empowered like neverbefore and they are leveragingtechnology not only for shopping

online or scoring great bargains, butalso for highlighting poor customerservice experiences. This growing trend of empoweredand assertive customers leveragingtechnology for connecting with otherlike minded individuals to share theirpurchase intentions and experiencesabout products and services will bethe big story of 2012. Questions is how many companiesare listening to customers, learningfrom it and engaging them? Notmany. So if 2012 is going to be theyear of Empowered and AssertiveDigital Customer and if companiesare not ready for it, we can also saythat 2012 is going to be the year of

Social Media disasters and SocialCRM crises, and many companieswill learn the Social CRM lesson hardway. And that will spur investmentnot only in Social CRM, but alsoEnterprise Collaboration Platforms,Mobile engagement platforms andData Analytics. What do you think? Do you agreethat 2012 is going to be the year ofSocial Media disasters and SocialCRM crises? Please do share yourthoughts:(Picture courtesy: Beautiful sunset inDallas, Texas as seen from myapartment)

Missing Wood forTrees, Why Big DataIsn’t About the BigDataby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/8/2012 12:45:29 PM

Big Data is a hot topic of discussionthese days and is on top of “To Do”list of senior executives of large andmedium sized companies, many ofwhom have started investing inrequired infrastructure for leveragingBig Data. While this is a good start, it isimportant to remember that Big Dataisn’t about the Big Data. Yes, youread that correctly – Big Data isn’tabout the Big Data, rather it is allabout making bet ter bus inessdecisions using the insights gainedfrom analyzing structured andunstructured data that is available. Ifone focuses solely on “Big Data” andforgets the business context/how thedata is going to be used, one is likelyto miss wood for trees. Instead of focusing on Big Data perse, how about starting with businessproblems that we are trying to solve,for example reducing customerdefection/churn or improving cross-sell/upsell rates in CRM context orreducing inventory carrying costs inERP context. Once you have identified theproblem to be solved, identify whatstructured and unstructured data arerequired for making better businessdecisions. This may include SocialMedia data for example besides‘internal’ CRM data. Once you haveiden t i f i ed the s t ruc tured andunstructured data, internal andex te rna l to the o rgan iza t ion ,formulate a strategy on how the datais going to be used or analyzed and atwhat level of granularity. Only afterthis should one decide on what toolsto use and make required investmentsin Big Data infrastructure and notother way around. So don’t invest in Big Datainfrastructure first not knowing what,why and how, and put cart before thehorse. Rather identify a businessproblem to solve first, identify whatstructured and unstructured data arerequired for making better businessdecisions, develop a use case for BigData, run a  successful pilot projectand then invest in required Big Datainfrastructure. What do you think? Do you agreethat Big Data Isn’t About the BigData, rather it is all about makingbetter business decisions using theinsights gained from analyzings t r u c t u r e d a n d u n s t r u c t u r e ddata? Look forward to hearing yourthoughts and comments:

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Big Data: Will Open SourceSoftware Challenge BI & AnalyticsSoftware Vendorsby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/3/2012 7:44:27 PM

Predictive Analytics has been billedas the next big thing for almostfifteen years, but hasn’t gained massacceptance so far the way ERP andCRM solutions have. One of the mainreason for this is the high upfrontinvestment required in Software,H a r d w a r e a n d T a l e n t f o rimplementing a Predictive Analyticssolution. As a result, only a handful of verylarge enterprises such as mega banksor top telecom companies have madethe required investments and havebenefited from power of PredictiveModeling and advanced Statisticaltechniques that are in existence forwell over five decades. Most of theother companies have not been able

to levarage power of businessanalytics as they cannot affordinvesting in specialized harware,database and BI/Analytics softwareapplications being marketed byenterprise software vendors such asSAS and Teradata. Well, this is about to change – thanksto technologies such as ApacheHadoop(which supports Big Datadistributed applications under a freelicense), HBase(an open source, non-relational/distributed database) andthe freely available R programminglanguage(which is part of the GNUproject) . Using R, HBase andHadoop, it is possible to build cost-effective and scalable Big DataAnalytics solutions that match oreven exceed the functionality offeredby costly proprietary solutions fromleading BI/Analyt ics sof twarevendors at a fraction of the cost. Andsince R programming language is a

f ree ly avai lable Open SourceSoftware, users can leverage workdone by others for specific analyticsfunctionality and don’t have to re-invent wheel by rewriting the code.This reduces cost of developinganalytics solution significantly. Established BI and Analyticssoftware vendors have no optionother than offering their solutionunder SaaS (Software as a Service)model so that it is cost effective forthei r cus tomers to implementanalytics solution without requiringlarge upfront investment. This is allthe more important for Big Data asthe field is evolving rapidly. And ifany BI or Analytics software vendorfails to adapt to this changingtechnological environment, they risklosing their market share.

Big Data: The Coming Sensor DataDriven Productivity Revolutionby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 7/21/2012 9:21:25 PM

When it comes to Big Data, we oftenthink of user (human) generatedsocial media data. But sensor(machine) generated data is a muchbigger story as sensor data will drivethe next wave of productivity growthand innovation. Consider this forexample, “Boeing jet engines canproduce 10 terabytes of operationalinformation for every 30 minutes theyturn. A four engine jumbo jet cancreate 640 terabytes of data on justone Atlantic crossing, multiply thatby the more than 25,000 flights flowneach day”(Source: InformationManagement). Almost all of this datais lost on completion of the flight, butthis is about to change.

Thanks to Big Data tools andtechnology, we can identify, store,retrieve and analyze this data in a costeffective and timely manner. Thinkabout the possibilities this opens up inthe area of preventive maintenanceand fault prevention – resulting inr e d u c e d f l i g h t d e l a y s a n dcancellations because of technicalissues with the plane. And given thecost effectiveness of Big Data toolsand technology, vast amount ofsensor data can be analyzed in almostreal time in a wide array of fields, notjust in aircraft maintenance. Smart electric meters are anothergood example of sensors generatingvast amount of data that can be usedto drive productivity. Because ofsmart meters, electricity providerscan read the meter once every 15minutes rather than once a month.This not only eliminates the need to

send some one for meter reading, butas the meter is read once every fifteenminutes, electricity can be priceddifferently for peak and off-peakhours. Pricing can be used to shapethe demand curve during peak hours,eliminating the need for creatingadditional generating capacity just tomeet peak demand, saving electricityproviders millions of dollars worth ofinvestment in generating capacity andplant maintenance costs. These are just two examples. Nowimagine the possibilities of what canbe done with a vast array of sensordata that is analyzed and used inindustrial/business processes in real-time. In my opinion, we are on thecusp of a major sensor data drivenproductivity revolution that willfundamentally change the way we dobusiness, for the better!

RememberingSteve Jobs(1955-2011)by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 10/7/2011 4:33:00 PM

Life of Steven Paul Jobs(popularlycalled Steve Jobs), the co-founder,former Chairman and CEO of AppleComputers, who died recently hasbeen described in glorious terms. Inthe past few days, much has beenwritten about his life and legacy, andI don’t think I can add anything newto what has already been said. But I will definitely add this, SteveJobs was more than an innovator anda visionary. He was not ThomasEdison of our times as many havesaid. I think he was an artist – aMichelangelo or a Leonardo da Vinciof our times. Technology was hiscanvas and iMac, iPod, iPhone andIPad his masterpieces. He approachedtechnology with an artist’s “open”mindset rather than a technologist’sor scientist’s “Do’s and Don’ts”conditioned approach. As a result,what he achieved is truly breathtakinga n d h i s c r e a t i o n s s p e a k f o rthemselves. I don’t think we aregoing to see any one similar to him inour life-time. It is often said thatthose whom the gods love die young.This surely seems to be true in casefor Steve Jobs. During Stanford Universi ty’scommencement speech in 2005, hesaid that “You can’t connect the dotslooking forward; you can onlyconnect them looking backward. Soyou have to trust that the dots willsomehow connect in your future. Youhave to trust in something — yourgut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.This approach has never let me down,and it has made all the difference inmy life.” So true. If only we can finda little bit of Steve Jobs within ourheart and soul, our life will be somuch richer and fulfilling! Finally, to end this post I want toshare this Bloomberg video on lifeand work of Steve Jobs. I am sureyou will find it informative andinspiring. In case if you don’t seeembedded video below, please clickon this link for the video. Rest in Peace Steve, you will bemissed! You made it possible for meto video chat with my friends andfamily members on the other side ofworld at push of a button from adevice that a 3 year old or a 85 yearold person, and all age groups inbetween, find it not only easy to use,but also enjoy using it.

Case Study: How Smartphonetechnology is changing Retailingby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 6/24/2011 8:32:20 PM

Here’s an excellent case study ofhow Smart Phones are changing theway we shop. TESCO Home plus is aSouth Korean retail chain with 113stores in South Korea. In order toreach out to their time-strapped

customers, TESCO Home plusdesigned a “virtual store” to enableshoppers use their camera equippedsmart phone and shop “virtually” byscanning QR codes of merchandise. And what’s even more interesting isthat the virtual store is located onplatform of a subway train station sothat customers can shop while theywait for their train. How convenientis that!

And don’t forget the ROI this candeliver because of not only savings incost of operating stores (Real Estate,Utilities, Employee salary etc..), butalso due to reduction in inventorycosts as this is a virtual store. You can’t beat that. Can you? Watch the following video and seefor yourself how it works:

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KLM Surprise: Is it Social CRM?by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 11/27/2010 12:44:51 AM

Here’s a great Social MediaCustomer Engagement Case Study –Royal Dutch Airlines KLM. KLMhas launched a pilot program calledKLM Surprise to surprise theirc u s t o m e r s w h o c h e c k i n o nFoursquare at one of KLM’s venuesat Amsterdam Schipol Airport with acustomized gift based on informationcustomers have shared previously onSocial Networking sites. I have defined Social CRM as thebusiness s t rategy of engagingcustomers through Social Media withgoal of building trust and brandloyalty. For customers checking in usingFoursquare at one of KLM’s venues

at Amsterdam Schipol Airport, KLMemployees collect information fromtheir Social Media accounts likeTwitter, Facebook and Foursquare,select an individual gift for selectcustomers, locate them in the airportterminal and deliver surprise gift tothem and share this information onKLM’s Facebook page and Twitteraccount(for more, read this). One can only imagine feeling ofpleasant surprise on the face ofcustomers receiving the gift. Well,you don’t have to imagine it – checkout photos on KLM Surpr iseFacebook page and see for yourself. KLM Surprise team is engagingcustomers through Social Media forbuilding trust and loyalty and as aresult, KLM Surprise is a SocialCRM program in my opinion. KLM Surprise team not only“listens” to Social Media channels

like Foursquare for check-ins and“learns” about checked-in customersfrom their Social Media profiles, but“engages” select customers by givingthem “individual” gifts and sharesthis information on social mediachannels. In one of my earlier posts, I havedefined Social CRM as “ the businessstrategy of engaging customersthrough Social Media with goal ofbuilding trust and brand loyalty“.KLM Surprise team is engagingcustomers through Social Media forbuilding trust and loyalty and as aresult, KLM Surprise is a SocialCRM program in my opinion. What do you think? Is KLM SurpriseSocial CRM? Please share yourthoughts and opinions:

Social CRM Case Study: NetflixVs. Blockbusterby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 10/3/2011 8:39:44 PM

In one of my previous post titledSocial Media: The New Front End ofCRM System, I highlighted thatSocia l Media has empoweredcustomers like never before as theycan discuss about brands/products onSocial Media channels and companieshave no control over what customersare saying about thei r brand.Moreover, as this discussion is“public” – visible to all, includingother customers, potential customersand competitors, it is critical thatcompanies engage their customers onsocial media, else their competitorswill and damage to the brand will beimmense.

Well, we have a great case study onthis subject. Netflix, Inc., the providerof online video streaming and DVDby mail service seems to havemisjudged the negative impact ofprice increase and other servicec h a n g e s t h e y a n n o u n c e d“unilaterally” this summer and as aresult dissatisfied customers haveleveraged social media tools toexpress their disapproval(for more,read this). But instead of fighting fire with fireand using Social Media channels toengage customers for building trustand loyalty, Netflix has maintained alow profile on Social Media channels.G u e s s w h a t ? B l o c k b u s t e r , acompetitor of Netflix has seized theinitiative by engaging Netflix’scustomers using Social Mediachannels. Blockbuster not only

offered a “30 day free trial geared atNetflix customer” on Twitter but also“started a new Twitter contestpromising a free year of service forthe four best Netf l ix breakupstories”(for more, read this) . Key takeaway from Netflix’s CRMcrisis is that it pays to engagecustomers on Social Media channelsbecause if you don’t, your competitorwill. In that case, you will not only besorry about not engaging yourcustomers but as a double whammy,will also be sorry about yourcompetitor leveraging the opportunityand walk ing away wi th yourcus tomers . Life for companies that don’t careabout their customers is tough indeedin Social Age. Don’t you think so?

How to measure Social CRM ROIby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/24/2010 11:37:01 AM

One of the question frequently askedabout Social CRM or Social Media isWhat is the ROI? This is a greatquestion to ask given the need tojus t i fy any major investment ,e s p e c i a l l y a f t e r t h e g r e a trecession. Unfortunately, manypeople (and this includes so called“experts” or “thought leaders”) aremissing woods for the trees whiletrying to answer this question. It is important to remember thatSocial CRM is the business strategyof engaging customers through SocialMedia with goal of building trust andbrand loyalty(for more on SocialCRM definition, see this).

Strategy is a plan of action designedto achieve a particular goal. SocialCRM is a plan of action to build Trustand Loyalty. Social CRM is not a“ t e c h n o l o g y ” , “ s y s t e m ” o r“processes”. While executing SocialCRM (strategy), Social Mediatechnology (tools) will be used toachieve the goal (building trust andloyalty), but tools are different fromplan. It is very important to rememberthis distinction between strategy,tools and goals. Social CRM (strategy) ROI dependson how well Social Media technology(tools) is used for achieving the goal(building trust or loyalty). Return onInvestment (ROI) is associated withhow well the goal has been achievedand resultant business benefits giventhe investments and not with tools Perse.

In other words, we need to definemeasurable Social CRM goals and aclear plan of action for achievingthem before embarking upon anyS o c i a l C R M i n i t i a t i v e . A n dremember, ROI is not associated withSocial Media as they are thetechnological tools used to achievethe goal of building trust and loyalty. In order to measure Social CRMROI, first step is to define measurableSocial CRM goals, then workout anaction plan for achieving these goals,execute the plan and quantify thebusiness benefits arising out it. Andthis forms the basis for calculatingSocial CRM ROI (and remember, notSocial Media ROI). What do you think? Please do shareyour comments and feedback:

Social Media and theRise of Consumer toConsumer (C2C)Marketingby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 9/11/2011 12:54:39 AM

I have seen several examples ofmarketers in both,  Business toBusiness (B2B) and Business toConsumer (B2C) segments, trying touse the same old B2B or B2Cstrategies when it comes to SocialMedia marketing. Marketers arefailing to take advantage of uniquecharacteristics of Social Networks bynot modifying or re-engineering theirbusiness processes for Social Mediaand are merely “fitting” Social engineto their existing business processesinstead and this is bound to fail. Infact, i wrote about this more than ayear back in a post titled SocialCRM: Thinking Outside the “CallCenter” Box. Companies must understand thatSocial Media channels empowercustomers to find & connect withother like minded individuals, interactwith them in a “public” way and thisis Consumer to Consumer interaction(C2C). Companies must leverage thisC2C interaction for marketing ratherthan using B2B or B2C marketingtechniques on consumers who areinteracting with other consumers(C2C) on Social Media channels. W e n e e d f r e s h   o u t s i d e t h ebox thinking to take advantage ofunique characteristics of SocialMedia and C2C interactions. Forexample, instead of trying to respondto each and every tweet or Facebookposting by customers, something notpractical for a medium or largebusiness, the emphasis should be oncreating advocacy and building trustamong consumers, keeping in mindthe “Social Context” and C2Cpotential of the medium. No wherethis is more evident than in supportcommunities, where brand advocates/loyal customers help other customersout by answering their questions orsuggesting solution (C2C) rather thancompany Reps trying to answer allthe question. What do you think? Do you agreethat marketers need to re-engineertheir business processes to takeadvantage of Social Media’s C2Cmarketing potential or can theycontinue to use their “good old” B2Bor B2C methods for Social mediamarketing?

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Big Data Analytics a Key Enablerfor Social CRM – Airlines CaseStudyby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/1/2012 6:10:58 PM

Big Data Analytics is a hot topic ofdiscussion these days. But many feelthat it is more of a “hype” and less ofsubstance. In my opinion, Big DataAnalytics is the real deal and if usedcorrectly, can deliver great businessresults at a fraction of cost comparedto other alternatives. Here’s a simple yet very effectiveexample of using analytics forunderstanding consumer attitudestowards airlines in real time. In thisstudy, Jeffrey Breen has used the Rprogramming language to analyzeconsumer sentiments about majorU.S. airlines expressed on Twitter.

For more on the methodology andresults, see the following embeddedSlideshare presentation(if you cannotsee the embedded file, click here toview it on Slideshare website). As you can see on slide no. 27, thetwitter sentiment scores obtained  formany of the airlines are “comparable”to results of The American CustomerSatisfaction Index (ACSI). What isimportant to note here is that byanalyzing few tweets using freelyavailable R programming language(which is part of the GNU project), itis possible to achieve results similarto that of an elaborate and expensivemarket research study such as ACSIat a fraction of a cost, that too in realtime. Isn’t that a game changer? Now imagine using Big DataAnalytics to analyze Social Media

data – not only text data but alsopictures, video, GPS , Social Graph/Social Media linkages and using thatinformation for engaging customerson Social Media channels. That in myopinion is the ‘holy grail’ (if I mayuse that term) of Social CRM. In one of my earlier post, I havedefined Social CRM as the businessstrategy of engaging customersthrough Social Media with goal ofbuilding trust and brand loyalty. Bigdata analytics is a key enabler forengaging customers on social mediachannels for building trust and loyalty(Social CRM). What do you think? R by example: mining Twitter forconsumer attitudes towards airlinesView more presentations from JeffreyBreen

Why Big Data Mining / Analytics isthe New Gold Rushby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/14/2012 11:37:10 PM

Just mention the words “Big Data” toany technology entrepreneur orinvestor and observe how his/her facelights up with excitement. Given theperceived opportunity in Big Data,tech entrepreneurs and investors wantto capitalize on it by starting /investing in a Big Data Management,Mining and Analytics business. Is thisperceived opportunity in Big Data forreal or is it a bubble that will burstsoon? I think the perceived opportunity inBig Data is real and is here to stay asBig Data Mining/Analytics will

fundamentally change the waybusiness is done not only online butalso offline. Here’s why: Big Data isa key enabler for Social Business andwithout Big Data Mining/Analytics, alarge or medium sized company canneither make sense of all the usergenerated content online nor cancollaborate with  customers, suppliersand partners effectively on SocialMedia channels. And both of theseactivities, namely gaining insightsfrom user generated content onlineand collaborating with customers andpartners on Social Media channels arecritical for success in the age ofSocial Media. Can you imagine any large ormedium sized business without e-Business in the internet age?

Similarly, it is impossible to run alarge or medium sized business in theage of Socia l Media wi thoutleveraging user generated content orwithout collaborating with customersand partners. And for this to happen,Big Data Management, Mining andAnalytics are critical/key enablers. Being a key enabler and catalyst inSocial Age, Big Data Management,Mining and Analytics companies aregoing to command a premiumvaluation and hence Big Data Miningand Analytics has triggered a new ‘Gold Rush‘, not to mine gold thistime but something even morevaluable – knowledge and insights. What do you think? Do you agreethat Big Data has triggered a newGold Rush?

Collaborative Consumption: How it will disrupt“traditional” Business Modelsby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 1/9/2011 9:05:50 PM

Time Magazine recently ratedCollaborative Consumption, which isdefined as technology enabledsharing, trading, renting and barteringof goods and services, as one of thetop ten green stories of 2010(formore, see this). In a study titled The New SharingEconomy by Latitude Research andShareable Magazine, it was foundthat:• 75% of respondents predicted

their sharing of physical objects andspaces will increase in the next 5years• 78% of felt their online interactionswith people have made them moreopen to the idea of sharing withs t rangers ,   sugges t ing tha t thesocial media revolution has brokendown trust barriers• 85% of all participants believe thatWeb and mobile technologies willplay a critical role in building large-scale sharing communities for thefuture(For more, see this excellent articletitled The New Sharing Economy by

Neal Gorenflo and pdf version of fullreport is available here). Rachel Botsman, co-author of thebook What’s Mine Is Yours: The Riseof Collaborative Consumption, spokeo n t h e s u b j e c t r e c e n t l y a tTEDxSydney(please see followingvideo): Social Media is ‘enabling’ trustbetween strangers and this helpsremove middle-man in exchangeprocess. As a result, CollaborativeConsumption will disrupt traditionalbusiness models. To thrive in this brave new world,companies will have to reinvent

themselves leveraging collaborativetechnology to connect with theircustomers and giving them “access”to products or services, rather than“selling” them products or services.This will radically change the wayproducts (or services) are created,distributed, priced, accessed (notowned) and consumed. We live inexciting time indeed! What do you think? Please do shareyour thoughts on the subject:

What Are Big Data,Hadoop and HDFS: 3Must Watch YouTubeVideosby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 3/20/2013 9:56:26 PM

I received great response to one ofmy previous post titled 5 Must WatchYouTube Videos on Big Data andmany of you reached out to merequesting for more such blog posts. Well, your request is granted. Hereare three great videos on what is BigData, Hadoop and HDFS. Hope youenjoy them and do let me know if it isuseful. Based on your comments andfeedback, I will share more such greatresources on Big Data. So eitherleave a comment in comments sectionof this post or better still, tweet yourcomment, mentioning my twitter ID@HKotadia and I will surely reply toyou. Enjoy and learn f rom thesevideos(double click on videos for fullscreen view). 1 . E x p l a i n i n g B i g D a t ab y   e x p l a i n i n g c o m p u t e r s : 2. Introducing Apache Hadoop: TheModern Data Operating System byStanford University: 3. Hadoop Tutorial: Intro to HDFSby Marakana TechTV:

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Key Big Data Terms You ShouldKnowby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 4/9/2013 10:49:38 PM

Given below is a listing of key BigData terms that you should know anda very brief explanation of what it isin simple language. Hope you find ituseful. 1. Hadoop: System for processingvery large data sets 2. HDFS or Hadoop Distributed FileSystem: For storage of large volumeof data (key elements – Datanodes,Namenode and Tasktracker) 3. MapReduce: Think of it asAssembly l eve l l anguage fo rdistributed computing. Used forcomputation in Hadoop

4. Pig: Developed by Yahoo. It is ah i g h e r l e v e l l a n g u a g e t h a nM a p R e d u c e 5. Hive: Higher level languagedeveloped by Facebook with SQLlike syntax 6. Apache HBase: For real-timeaccess to Hadoop data 7. Accumulo: Improved HBase withnew features like cell level security 8. AVRO: New data serializationformat (protocol buffers etc.) 9. Apache ZooKeeper: Distributed co-ordination system 10. HCatalog: For combining metastore of Hive and merging with whatPig does 11. Oozie: Scheduling systemdeveloped by Yahoo 12. Flume: Log aggregation system

13. Whirr: For automating hadoopcluster processing 14. Sqoop: For transfering structureddata to Hadoop 15. Mahout: Machine learning on topof MapReduce 16: Bigtop: Integrate multipleHadoop  sub-systems into one thatworks as a whole 17. Crunch:  Runs on top ofMapReduce, Java API for tedioust a s k s l i k e j o i n i n g a n d d a t aa g g r e g a t i o n . 18. Giraph: Used for large scaledistributed graph processing Also, embedded below is anexcellent TechTalk by Jakob Homanof LinkedIn on the subject explainingthese tech terms.

FedEx learns SocialCRM lesson, the hardway!by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/22/2011 1:06:20 AM

Here’s an excellent example of theimportance of responding to a SocialMedia crisis before it is too late. OnDecember 19th, 2011, a YouTubeuser (username “goobie55) uploadedvideo of a FedEx delivery personthrowing a video monitor into his/heryard. This YouTube video has created aSocial Media storm of sorts and as Iwrite this post, it has been viewed3,576,412 times for this one YouTubepost alone. I have seen it on my localTV news too here in Dallas, Texas. Well , before i t was too late(remember United Breaks GuitarsYouTube video), FedEx  posted itsown response to customer’s videowith the following statement byMatthew Thornton III, Senior VicePresident, US Operations, FedExExpress:“Along with many of you, we’ve seen

the video showing one of our courierscarelessly and improperly deliveringa package the other day. As the leaderof our pickup and delivery operationsacross America, I want you to knowthat I was upset, embarrassed, andvery sorry for our customer’s poorexperience. This goes directly againsteverything we have always taught ourpeople and expect of them. It was justvery disappointing.”(YouTube video response by FedExembedded below): This incident of Social Media brandcrisis underscores the importance ofhaving a Social Media Cris isManagement Plan. It should clearlyhighlight roles and responsibilities,procedure and protocols to befollowed in the event of a brandcrisis. Because the first step insolving any crisis is to identify andrespond to it, and respond FASTwhen it comes to Social Media asFedEx seems to have done here.What do you think?

Should CEOs Tweet? BestBuy CEO @BBYCEOshows the wayby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/19/2010 7:23:44 PM

During an early morning flight lastMonday, I was thumbing throughsome newspapers and magazineswhen an article on the last page ofBusinessweek(Dec. 6-12, 2010 issue)caught my attention. The article wasby Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn on“getting into social media to learnabout customers and employees”. In this article, Brian makes fewexcellent points about why and howCEOs should engage customers andemployees on social media channelssuch as Twitter. Some of the points worth emulatingby other CEOs and senior executivesare:• It helps to be enthusiastic aboutengaging Customers and Employeeson Social Media channels• Listen and Learn first, Engageselectively• Don’t try to fix problems directly,

rather point customers and employeesto right resources• Self post on Twitter and Facebookaccounts rather than asking others todo it for you• Lead by example, be responsiblefor what you say online – the onlyguidelines to follow is to act withinvalues• Get used to messiness of SocialMedia• Engage, don’t try to control what’sbeing mentioned on Social Mediachannels• Have a large monitor in office todisplay all Twitter/Facebook activitywhere the company/brands arementioned, Listen to what is beingsaid and Learn(see this link for complete article onBusinessweek website) Hope other CEOs and seniorexecutives will emulate Brian Dunnand start Listening, Learning andEngaging customers and employeeson Social Media channels.

Social Intranet – Unleash the powerof Enterpriseby Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 12/28/2010 7:12:01 PM

Imagine a large enterprise with tensof thousands of employees acrossseveral time zones on multiplecontinents, all collaborating with eachother, aware of others’ expertise andinterests, working seamlessly as if all

of them were in the same room. You may say that this is a pipedream and cannot be reality any timesoon unless we have futuristicgadgets similar to what were featuredin popular TV series Star Trek. Well, I say think again. We haveSocial Media tools and technologythat can be used over enterpriseintranet(as opposed to internet) tomake this a reality. To know more,

take a look at this excellent preso byOscar Berg on the subject. Myfavorite is slide no. 91 ( Knowthyself). Enjoy and please do share yourcomments and thoughts: The SocialIntranet View more presentations fromAcando Consulting.

Data Rich, butInformation Poor:Problem orOpportunity?by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/11/2013 8:38:28 PM

It is not uncommon to hear thephrase “Data Rich, but InformationPoor” in the context of enterprisein format ion sys tems . Th is i sespecially true when it comes to BigData, given the three Vs of Big Data,namely Volume, Var ie ty andVelocity(read this for more). Whatseems like a big problem posed bydata deluge is in fact a greatopportunity if only companies canunlock the potential of Big Data usingpredictive analytics.

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Since Big Data is characterized bynot only Volume, but also Velocityand Variety, it is very important thatBig Data is used for analysis in real-time to predict the future and takecorrective action based on thatanalysis. The real value is in usinginsights derived from predictiveanalytics and taking corrective actionbefore it is too late, rather than justreporting historical information. Techniques like Multiple-regressionanalysis coupled with Factor analysis,Cluster analysis and Causal Path

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DATA page 16

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analysis can be used very effectivelywith Big data. For example, ratherthan analyzing “historic” attritionrates, predictive analytics will make itpossible for companies to identifycritical incidents leading to customerattrition so that steps can be taken toretain the customer before he/shedefects. So whether Big Data deluge is aproblem or an opportunity dependson what you make of it. It can be agreat opportuni ty i f advancedstatistical tools are used for analyzing

big data and derived insights madeavailable to decision makers and frontline employees in real time, if not itcan be a great problem. Dear CEOs, CMOs and CIOs, what’syour choice? And what are youwaiting for?

5 Must WatchYouTube Videos onBig Databy Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. (Blogon Data Analytics, Big Dataand Social CRM)

Submitted at 2/24/2013 11:55:14 PM

Here’s a compilation of my fivefavorite YouTube videos on the topicof Big Data. Please note that they arein random/no particular order. Hopeyou enjoy these videos! 1. Big Data by EconomistMagazine 2 . B i g d a t a i n 2 0 1 3 b y

EconomistMagazine 3. What is Hadoop? Other big dataterms like MapReduce? Cloudera’sCEO talks us through big data trendsby Robert Scoble 4. TEDxUofM – Jameson Toole –B i g D a t a f o r T o m o r r o w b yT E D x T a l k s 5 . Leaders in Bi g Data byGoogleTechTalks