IT in Canada June/July 2014

PETE IANACE

The case for validating data p.27

MICHAEL BERK

Biometrics, lie detection and performance evaluation p.13

June/July 2014 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 3

INSIGHTS FOR TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

Publication Mail Registration Number: 42169527

BIG DATA in the enterprise

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Contents

www.itincanadaonline.ca

Vol 5 No 3 June/July 2014

Features 8 The role of the data scientist in the enterprise Dr. Andy Jennings of FICO explains why businesses need data scientists 10 A data driven workplace culture: why it matters Data should be embedded in the fiber of the workplace, say experts 13 Biometrics, lie detection and performance evaluation Michael Berk of the Alton Corp. discusses how biometric data can impact the workplace 17 Big data plus selective marketing equals success Mithun Sridharan of Blue OS talks about how to make marketing magic 20 Marketing and Big Data: maximizing ROI Jim Roberts of BlacklerRoberts offers advice on making Big Data work for marketers 24 Overcoming Big Data storage costs Mac Wheeler of SandSIV shares tips on reducing data storage costs 25 Don’t neglect social media Dr. Joel Evans of Hofstra University’s business school warns against letting social media accounts slide

13 Cover Story: Biometrics, lie detection and performance evaluation Departments 4 Editorial 6 News Our roundup of news stories

27 The case for validating data No Magic’s Pete Ianace urges the enterprise to validate data 29 Untangling the data hairball: a review of “Big Data Marketing” Jim Roberts reviews Lisa Arthur’s latest book

Online Extras: www.itincanadaonline.ca Missed an issue? Misplaced an article? Visit www.itincanadaonline.ca for a full archive of past IT in Canada Online issues, as well as online extras from our many contributors.

June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 3

EDITORIAL

Rachel Levy Sarfin

INSIGHTS FOR TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

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Big Data in the enterprise

R

ecently, the analyst firm SNS Research estimated that Big Data investments will account for $30 billion of business spending in 2014. Furthermore, these investments are expected to grow at a CAGR of 17% over the next six years.

Why are so many companies spending so much money on Big Data investments? Big Data has transcended the hype to prove its value to organizations. This edition focuses on important issues surrounding Big Data that affect the enterprise.

This month, IT in Canada explores some subjects related to Big Data. Amy Allen interviews Dr. Andy Jennings of FICO. Dr. Jennings discusses why hiring data scientists helps organizations. Amy also interviews the Alton Corporation’s president and CEO Michael detects lies and can also aid managers in the critical task of evaluating their employee’s work.

We also take a look at some practical considerations regarding Big Data. Mac Wheeler of the voice of the customer and customer experience management software provider SandSIV shares how to lower Big Data storage costs. In his interview with IT in Canada, Dr. Joel Evans from Hofstra University’s business school brings up the crucial point that companies need to pay attention to their social media profiles, which can generate a great deal of valuable data.

While the term “Big Data” only recently became popular, it is not a new concept. Companies have been gathering information about things such as customer preferences to how many kilometers their transportation fleets travel for years. It is only now that technology has developed effective tools to be able to process that information and derive valuable insight from it. As a result, enterprise investments in Big Data solutions will continue to grow. Are you planning on making an investment in a Big Data solution, or are you curious about some of the issues surrounding Big Data? This issue will provide food for thought and will hopefully raise some interesting and necessary conversations.

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Rachel Levy Sarfin Managing editor

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Join us for Best Practices in building a culture of Collaborative Leadership, October 16 & 17, 2014, at Laurentian University, to interact with your peers and leading industry experts, learn and discuss how trust can shape your workplace.

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PRODUCT NEWS Sage launches payment management product for SMBs

Scott Montgomery

Cyber crime has significant impact on global economy: McAfee The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has found that the global economic cost of cyber crime is approximately $445 billion US per year.

The findings were detailed in a McAfee-sponsored report, which also found that the impact goes beyond just economics: over 200,000 jobs are lost in the United States each year, and over 150,000 in Europe, as a direct result of cyber crime.

It also suggests that cyber crime extracts between 15 and 20 per cent of the value generated by the Internet, an economy that is estimated to generate up to $3 trillion each year.

“Cybercrime is a tax on innovation and slows the pace of global innovation by reducing the rate of return to innovators and investors,” said Jim Lewis, senior fellow and director, Strategic Technologies Program, CSIS, in a release. “For developed countries, cybercrime has serious implications for employment. The effect of cybercrime is to shift employment away from jobs that create the most value. Even small changes in GDP can affect employment.”

Retailers were the top target for hackers, according to the study, with retailers in the U.K. alone losing more than $850 million to cyber criminals in 2013.

A significant portion of the losses can be attributed to clean-up costs after the breach.

The report found that “while criminals will not be able to monetize all the information they steal, their victims must spend significant resources as if they could.” The report’s authors point to Italy as an example: its actual hacking losses only totaled $875 million, but the cost of recovery was was $8.5 billion.

“It’s clear that there’s a real tangible economic impact associated with stopping cybercrime,” said Scott Montgomery, CTO, public sector, McAfee. “Over the years, cybercrime has become a growth industry, but that can be changed, with greater collaboration between nations, and improved public/private partnerships. The technology exists to keep financial information and intellectual property safe, and when we do so, we create opportunities for positive economic growth and job creation worldwide.”

6 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

Sage announced recently the release of a product that will help SMBs with the payment management process.

The Sage Exchange Payment Management System is built on three core components, according to the company. These include streamlined access to all payment accounts and devices, payments administration and reporting, and integration tools to connect payment solutions with Sage’s accounting products.

The product enables business owners to consolidate all of their payment activity onto a single platform and monitor activities on all of their sales environments, be it on the web, in store or over the phone.

The platform can be accessed online with a username and password from any location, and can be used to manage credit card transactions, along with payments made by gift card, cheque and mobile device.

PRODUCT NEWS BlackBerry unveils initiative for Internet of Things

Much has been made of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), a term that describes the connectivity of everyday objects - such as toasters, thermostats and shoes - to the Internet.

A number of tech companies, including Cisco and EMC, have highlighted the challenges individuals and businesses will face as they move into the era of the IoT. Many of them

have started coming up with solutions to simplify the transition.

Recently, BlackBerry announced its plans to join them. In late May, the Canadian smartphone maker introduced Project Ion at the O’Reilly Solid Conference in San Francisco. Project Ion is the codename for a series of initiatives aimed at providing customers with end-to-end solutions for the IoT. “As connectivity costs continue to fall and connected technologies become pervasive, a new market is emerging – the Internet of Things,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry, in a release. “Billions of connections, generating trillions of transactions and exabytes of data daily, will require platforms that can operate securely on a global scale. No other company is in a better position than BlackBerry to provide the technological building blocks, applications and services needed to enhance productivity, improve real-time decision making and deliver on the vision of the Internet of Things.”

Through Project Ion, businesses will have access to the tools they need to pull data from multiple sources and distill it into actionable insights.

These tools include a secure public application platform, powered by QNX technology and BlackBerry’s secure enterprise mobility management, which “will securely manage data from millions of end points across multi-device, multi-platform environments.”

Clients will also have access to an IoT ecosystem that consists of partners, carriers and other contacts looking to establish connected devices on a secure applications platform.

Along with product and ecosystem development, BlackBerry will focus on building strategic partnerships to “accelerate the development and availability of connected technologies.” This includes membership in the Industrial Internet Consortium, a not-for-profit organization that deals in standards-based technologies for industry, academia and government.

The product component of Project Ion will soon be released to select partners and developers, although BlackBerry did not specify which partners, nor pinpoint an official launch date for the initiative.

HP expands thin client portfolio HP recently expanded its line of thin client solutions with the addition of the HP t310 All-in-One (AiO) Zero Client and the HP t520 Flexible Series Thin Client. It also introduced updates to HP ThinPro 5.0, its Linux operating system for thin clients.

“User demands for more reliable and powerful computing means businesses are looking for new, affordable solutions that are flexible, secure and easy to manage,” said Jeff Groudan, worldwide director, Product Management, Thin Clients, HP, in a release. “Our new thin client solutions provide workers with advanced hardware design, easy-to-use software and a secure cloud computing experience.”

The t310 AiO—optimized for PCoIP and VMware environments—is designed for connectivity, flexibility and the maximization of available workspace, and is “ideal for organizations looking for reliable connectivity and secure access to data in a true zero client that doesn’t require active management or configuration.”

It features a fanless design and a 23-inch diagonal display that includes keyboard and mouse.

The t520 also features a fanless design, but it’s also 20 per cent smaller than its predecessor.

Additionally, it boasts an AMD GX-212JC SOC, a SATA flash drive interface, HD graphics, and configurable memory and storage. With this device, clients will also be able to run their operating system and client virtualization solutions of choice.

The HP ThinPro 5.0 OS combines the HP ThinPro OS and the HP Smart Zero Core and boasts a “user-friendly interface” and enhanced security features. Through the new OS, users will be able to customize their desktop and manage the system with automatic updates from HP’s website or a USB key.

The t310 and t520 will start shipping in select markets at the end of June, but HP expects to expand shipments worldwide over the next two months. The HP ThinPro 5.0 will be available sometime in June.

June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 7

TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE

By Amy Allen

The role of the data scientist in the enterprise

FICO is a company that specializes in analytics software and services. In Canada, FICO provides decision management solutions and has worked with clients in the retail, banking, insurance, healthcare and government sectors. Dr. Andy Jennings, FICO’s chief analytics officer, sat down with IT in Canada to talk about what makes a great data scientist and why businesses should consider hiring one.

Dr. Andy Jennings, chief analytics officer, FICO

Q: What does a data scientist do? What does it take to make a great data scientist?

We look for are people that are inquisitive. They need to be comfortable with numbers, but what distinguishes the good [candidates] from not-so-good is how inquisitive they are and their strong communication skills. They need to be able to understand what problem the client is trying to solve and the business metric they’re trying to improve. To do all of that, they need to be able to talk to people and find out what they’re trying to achieve.

Also, increasingly, data sets are getting bigger, and data scientists need to be more conversant with a larger set of tools, not just whatever it was they used in the old days. They now need to be conversant with SAS, but also with graph technology and 8 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE

TECHNOSPECTIVE

Q: If companies are already using products like Solution Stack, why is a data scientist needed?

The Solution Stack is a toolset. We have certain analytic components that we make available, but we don’t have the components to solve every problem on the planet.

You still need a data scientists to work with the Solution Stack. The scientist needs to work with the modeling tools within the stack, build the model, then deploy it.

Q: What benefits can companies derive from data, now and in the future?

how to use Hadoop. A broader skill set is now required.

Q: How can companies take advantage

core system?” It’s important that there’s an initial focus, and it’s important that management are prepared to listen.

of a data scientist’s skills?

Q: FICO just released a product called

You don’t employ data scientists just on the off chance they’ll dig around and find something interesting. It’s important for management to understand what the important things are that they need to improve. They can then bring in some data scientists, who will say, “This is an important area. We’ll figure out how to improve customer satisfaction. What business metrics do we have, what things can we measure, how might analytics help us pinpoint weaknesses in some delivery chain or weaknesses in our automated

The Solution Stack is a product we just released in the marketplace. In the course of our history, we’ve come up with a large amount of technology and expertise in the design and orchestration of decision-making software—analytics-driven, decisionmaking software. Solution Stack brings much of that heritage and knowledge we have together with the ability for the end user to create their own analytics calculations.

Solution Stack. Can you tell me a bit about it?

“THIS IS AN IMPORTANT AREA. WE’LL FIGURE OUT HOW TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. WHAT BUSINESS METRICS DO WE HAVE, WHAT THINGS CAN WE MEASURE, HOW MIGHT ANALYTICS HELP US PINPOINT WEAKNESSES IN SOME DELIVERY CHAIN OR WEAKNESSES IN OUR AUTOMATED CORE SYSTEM? IT’S IMPORTANT THAT THERE’S AN INITIAL FOCUS, AND IT’S IMPORTANT THAT MANAGEMENT ARE PREPARED TO LISTEN.”

It’s about understanding what’s important in the business. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it, and as data availability and data processing speeds have increased, measuring has become more of an inthe-moment activity. We’ve...progressed into predicting. Who will respond to this particular offer? What will the impact of any given campaign be on staff, so we can decide who is needed on the floor? Data has become more proactive in the management of business. We’re way past the tipping point where data and analytics are key to competitiveness.

Q: Any last thoughts?

Some people write about hunting unicorns: “How do I find these people that are super good at data analysis, good at asking the right questions, great at programming?”

The answer to that is, well, if you find one, make sure you can hire them, because they are few and far between.

At FICO, we built teams. We have an analytic team full of people with different skillsets because analytic people aren’t renowned for their communication skills.

And maybe the person with the communication skills doesn’t have to be the best analyst. You need to find people that blend together in a team. What’s important is not to get freaked out by the thought that you need to have all these super clever people, and where are they going to come from? It’s more about how to blend talent together to create a team of people that may be a part that unicorn rather than trying to find individuals that are all super stars.

June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 9

TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE

A data driven workplace culture:

By Rachel Levy Sarfin

why it matters

At the end of June 2011, IDC published a study sponsored by the storage giant EMC that stated that the amount of data created and replicated in that year would surpass 1.8 zettabytes, or 1.8 trillion gigabytes.

10 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

T

he report noted that these amounts of data will double every two years. This statistic has serious implications for the enterprise. It is impossible to hide from this onslaught of information. Businesses must decide how they will handle the torrents of data generated by a multitude of sources.

Analysts and thought leaders recommend embracing information and enabling the transformation to a data driven culture.

The term “data driven culture” refers to a workplace in which employees not only utilize information as part of their job de-

scription, but they want to use it in order to improve their job performance. Such an atmosphere does not rely solely on analysts to assess mountains of data; rather, everyone at the company works with information to make better decisions.

Tony Baer, principal analyst at the analyst firm Ovum, explained the importance of a data driven culture. “The bar has been raised,” he said. “Data is more available Continued on page 12

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TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE

Continued from page 10

“IF YOUR DATA IS INCOMPLETE, OR INCORRECT, THEN THE EXTRAPOLATIONS YOU DERIVE FROM THAT DATA ARE LIKELY TO BE OFF. BUT EVEN WHEN THE DATA IS CORRECT IT IS POSSIBLE TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS THAT LEAD TO MISCONCEPTIONS… IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT A LITTLE DATA CAN ACTUALLY BE A DANGEROUS THING.” — Richard Noble than ever before, and if your company is not using data, chances are your competitors are.” Baer was not merely referring to customer information. Many types of data are valuable and can be utilized to make smarter decisions as well as run a business more efficiently.

Avinash Kaushik, author and digital marketing evangelist, echoed Baer’s sentiments.

“Being data driven now allows companies to be more agile and nimble, it drives incredible efficiency and make smarter decisions of all sorts - from the type of people to hire, products they should build, and the perfect time to disturb a client,” he commented.

Kaushik believes that too few companies are taking advantage of the incredible volumes of information available to them.

“There is an incredible amount of inefficiency in business decision making today,” he remarked. Kaushik believes that need not be the status quo, though. “In the past that was tolerable, just another cost to doing business to waste all that money, because 12 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

one did not have much of a choice. Today, we have more access to valuable data of every type for a very low cost,” he asserted.

Baer summed up the barriers to shifting towards a data driven culture in one word: inertia. However, he acknowledged that the transition is difficult to accomplish.

Baer affirmed that you cannot build such a culture out of thin air. A company must have a firm foundation in place to nurture a data driven culture. “It starts with having people who are experts at their domains who discover that, in a market where their competitors are benefiting from using data, that they must respond by developing skills of their own for identifying data that could be useful for their domains,” Baer stated.

He enumerated the hallmarks of a data driven culture: “Having a core competency to understand the potential value that is buried within data sets with which your team may have little familiarity.” Baer explained that Ovum’s definition of an organization with a high competency in exploiting data is one that employs “data

curators.” These employees can identify potentially valuable data sets.

Of course, a data driven culture thrives upon possessing and analyzing correct information. Richard Noble, technical director at Tangent Labs, the technical division of the digital media agency Tangent Snowball, urged workplaces to consider the importance of data integrity. “Data integrity” refers to the maintenance and assurance that information is accurate and consistent over the course of its entire life cycle. Noble believes this principle plays a crucial role in a data driven culture.

“Without correct data a data driven culture is pretty much a farce,” Noble said. “Information is data transformed into meaning. However, as any statistician can tell you, you can make the same set of numbers tell many different stories,” he pointed out. “If your data is incomplete, or incorrect, then the extrapolations you derive from that data are likely to be off.

But even when the data is correct it is possible to draw conclusions that lead to misconceptions… It is important to remember that a little data can actually be a dangerous thing.”

Tangent Labs’ technical director explained that data integrity has applications for all types of information. “Data is only useful if you can draw conclusions from it,” Noble asserted. “Whether it’s data from a billing, finance or timekeeping system, or website analytics, how you capture, treat and use that data will affect its usefulness when using it to form conclusions.” He emphasized that trust is paramount when using data.

Noble cannot imagine a data driven culture existing without adherence to data integrity. Such a culture would be ineffective. “Without correct data, honoured, and treated with respect, the conclusions you will draw will likely be flawed,” he stated.

Moreover, relying on faulty data can have serious repercussions. “If you are using those conclusions to drive your business, you are likely to fall short,” Noble warned.

By Amy Allen

TECHNOSPECTIVE

BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE

BIOMETRICS, LIE DETECTION, AND PERFORMANCE

EVALUATION What if you could detect a potential employee’s mental or emotional state before making the decision to hire?

T

echnology with this capability has been around for several years, but now businesses are starting to look at it as a key component of the hiring process. Michael Berk, president and CEO of the Alton Corporation, sat down with IT in Canada to talk about why his company is distributing this technology in Canada and how businesses can make use of it.

June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 13

TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE

Michael Berk, president and CEO, the Alton Corporation

Q: What is this software? Who developed it, and why?

We brand the product in Canada and beyond under the name VImage PRO. The product is the result of decades of scientific development in various disciplines, including biology, psychology, computer sciences, biomechanics, optics and some others. Around the ‘90s, scientists found a way to develop this product as a mea-

“GOOD PERFORMANCE WILL SET A BUSINESS APART FROM OTHERS, BUT HUMANS IN THE ORGANIZATION CAN SOMETIMES BE THE WEAKEST LINK. THIS SOFTWARE ALLOWS BUSINESSES TO...SELECT PEOPLE WHO ARE BETTER SUITED FOR PARTICULAR JOBS AND POSSESS THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL PROFILES THAT ARE REQUIRED. AND DURING PERIODIC EVALUATIONS, IT CAN ALSO HELP FOCUS ON AREAS THAT NEED MORE FOCUS OR IMPROVEMENT.”

surement tool. It was done by a research institute in Russia. For the last almost 20 years, they’ve been continuously upgrading and developing this technology, based in cooperation with their clients and other research facilities that specialize in various aspects of psychophysiology.

Q:

What is the Alton Corporation’s involvement with this software?

We found this product last year, almost a year ago. Our team specializes in the development of security procedures focusing on suspicious behaviour. When we came across this, we were surprised that it exists.

It allows us to substitute human behaviour detection officers with technological detection, which is more accurate. We set up Alton Corp. with the purpose of promoting this technology in Canada. We’re the sole distributors, and we’re assisting our potential clients in adopting this.

Q: To date, what have its primary uses been?

Primarily, the software is used in security operations as a crowd monitoring tool. It identifies potential suspects that security personnel should spend more time on.

It’s also used in performance diagnostics and evaluation, to help identify existing psychophysiological conditions in humans to help them develop ways to improve performance. Its third use is lie detection. It’s an enhanced, much more accurate and fast tool to detect deception.

Q: How does it work?

It uses existing videos, like CCTV footage or available recorded videos, to measure Continued on page 16 14 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

   Do your sales reps spend more time looking for special pricing approvals than talking to customers?

Is your purchasing team struggling to keep up with requests to validate pricing and discounts?

 Is your sales team aware of all your customers’ upcoming maintenance, support and warranty renewals?

Are your client entitlements lapsing, leaving your customers exposed and your accounts vulnerable to your competitors?

We Can Help                  





TECHNOSPECTIVE

BIG DATA AND THE WORKFORCE evaluate the reactions that are exhibited in response to specific questions.

Q: What about privacy concerns?

Most businesses today are governed by the Privacy Act, so however they decide to incorporate this technology into their existing procedures, it would have to comply with the Privacy Act. It will have to be brought up and explained to people, or incorporated into employee agreements—much like drug testing—but the onus is on the business to be in line with the Privacy Act.

Q: What is the significance of this technology?

micro-vibrations, meaning the frequencies and amplitudes of micro-movements, in response to external stimuli. If we lie, our physiology and emotions go into overdrive.

This creates micro-vibrations that are detectable by video. This can be measured when it produces data, to allow the operator to make an assessment. It produces over 50 data parameters, which are presented in various forms, some of them visual. There’s also numerical data that can be seen, that can be analyzed by data scientists.

Q: What specializations are needed to use this software effectively? Does it require additional training?

It depends on the application that the business might want to use this technology for.

With crowd monitoring, the system is set for automatic detection, meaning minimal training is required and it can be integrated into existing security systems. We can also train personnel. For lie detection and performance evaluation purposes, more training is required, because a wrong assessment can lead to bad decision-making.

Existing personnel can be trained, but it varies depending on the case.

16 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

Q: How can businesses use this technology?

Good performance will set a business apart from others, but humans in the organization can sometimes be the weakest link.

This software allows businesses to...select people who are better suited for particular jobs and possess the psychophysiological profiles that are required. And during periodic evaluations, it can also help focus on areas that need more focus or improvement.

Q:

Interviews and performance evaluations tend to make people nervous.

How can analysts differentiate between anxiety and an actual problem?

One of the first things to do would be to calm someone down and explain how the process works. There are no wires or anything attached, so there’s nothing external that they need to worry about. If a video is recorded, then that’s enough to conduct analysis. We have to bring someone to a baseline state; that allows us to compare their mental state before the interview with the kinds of questions are asked and

In terms of security, this is an early detection tool to find suspects before an incident occurs in large public facilities, such as airports, hospitals and sporting events. We identify potential suspects in advance and allow security personnel to deal with them according to existing procedures. As for other businesses, I suspect it would be most significant for those that operate in a highrisk environment, like banking or hospitals, where people are required to make decisions that affect others. Knowing their psychological condition is important. It’s useful for hiring staff who need higher security clearance, or businesses that want to improve the performance of their employees. By knowing what their current state is, they can devise processes to help improve their performance. How do we make somebody—like an athlete, for example—perform better and be better prepared for competition? Measurement in real-time allows the coach, or the manager, to obtain that data and develop a better training regimen.

Q: Any last thoughts?

The important aspect here is that it’s not a new technology. It’s been in active operation in various fields since 2006, worldwide. It was most recently used during the Sochi Olympics as one of the six screening, or security, layers that existed at those sites. Shopping malls have been using it since 2007, mostly for security purposes. Police forces use it already as a complement to polygraph operations. It has a track record.

By Rachel Levy Sarfin

TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND MARKETING

Big Data plus selective perception equals marketing success

H

ave you ever noticed that when you buy a new product, such as a smartphone, it seems as though everyone around you is suddenly using the same device? That phenomenon is known as selective perception.

“Selective perception” refers to people’s tendency to see the things that reinforce what they believe or relate to while disregarding the things that do not. Mithun Sridharan, managing director of the Germany-based inbound marketing services firm Blue OS, explained why the principle of selective perception is important to marketing and how companies can use Big Data to leverage selective perception in order to attract and retain more customers.

Sridharan noted that perceptions are triggered by events experienced over the course of our lives. These “trigger events”

shape how we perceive situations. Every time humans experience a trigger event, their perceptions change. As a result, selective perceptions are constantly created and reshaped. Sridharan believes that marketers can utilize trigger events and selective perception to their advantage. He urged advertisers to craft their messages based on trigger events so that it will capture the attention of a target audience.

Amazon has successfully used selective perception in tandem with Big Data to recommend items that its customers might want. Sridharan commented that not many

other e-commerce retailers have leveraged selective perception and Big Data because to do so requires certain expertise. “Though the concept of selective perceptive marketing is well known to experienced marketers, the emergence of Big Data has provided them with tools to capture and leverage information for marketing purposes,” he said.

“This, implicitly, assumes deep know-how of information technology tools, methodologies, processes and frameworks. Most marketers are presently exploring these dimensions.”

In addition, utilizing selective perception June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 17

TECHNOSPECTIVE

BIG DATA AND MARKETING

Mithun Sridharan, managing director, Blue OS

with Big Data technology necessitates taking great care with customer data. “Despite the benefits Big Data and selective perception marketing bestows upon customers, you are making use of very ‘personal’ behavioral information,” Sridharan remarked. Amazon, for example, takes what he calls “digital exhaust” – customer behaviour on the site such as their clicking through items and how much time they spend looking at a product – to customize recommendations. “Leveraging digital exhaust is received by different people differently, so marketers are addressing this aspect with extreme sensitivity and forethought, so as to not impair their brand image, which takes a long time to build and only a faux pas to destroy,” Sridharan added.

“This is what I’d cite as the primary reason why e-commerce retailers are viewing these concepts with a healthy dose of skepticism and consideration.”

Many customers feel disturbed that marketers can gather so much information about them. Sridharan believes that if marketers could clearly and transparently demonstrate the benefits to consumers, they would feel less uncomfortable. “Big Data is a new technology and as with any new concept or technology, customer education 18 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

is an important component of the marketing process,” he said. Conversely, opacity will hurt the company. “Failing to disclose how information is aggregated, to what purpose the data is used, how the data is stored and eventually disposed of will scare customers off,” Sridharan warned.

Another barrier to utilizing selective perception marketing in concert with Big Data is the technical nature of analytics. “Big Data has, so far, been a concept nurtured

by IT departments,” Sridharan commented.

Implementing analytics solutions requires specific skill sets such as data science and statistical modeling, which many marketers do not possess. However, he sees this obstacle as temporary. “Many marketers and marketing positions demand these skills, so it’s only a matter of time before marketing and IT functions converge and interact seamlessly,” Sridharan asserted.

The partnership of Big Data and selective perception can also be applied to other verticals. “Depending on what your customers or employees want, you could harness Big Data to design good incentive structures,” Sridharan remarked. He gave the example of an energy company. Analytics can help the utility firm to determine customers’ peak electricity usage. Offering incentives to use major appliances in the evening or on weekends will cause a shift in energy consumption patterns, putting less of a burden on the environment.

Sridharan concluded with a quote from the American management consultant Peter Drucker: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

Selective perception and Big Data is the key to helping products or services sell themselves.

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TECHNOSPECTIVE

BIG DATA AND MARKETING

By Rachel Levy Sarfin

Marketing and Big Data: MAXIMIZING ROI

B

ig Data solutions offer marketers the opportunity to gain greater insight into their customers’ preferences and habits. However, not all marketing professionals are gaining the full value of their Big Data solutions.

Jim Roberts, director and founder of the direct marketing consultancy BlacklerRoberts, offered recommendations on how to obtain the greatest value out of Big Data solutions for marketing.

“Marketers have been using data to differing levels for many years to understand, 20 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

identify, target and engage with customers,” Roberts said. “This means they understand the value data can potentially provide in any marketing initiative.” He noted that the question marketers should be asking themselves is, “Am I getting the most out of the key properties of Big Data?”

Roberts defined the key properties of Big Data as volume, velocity and variety. “Volume” refers to the additional breadth and depth of information. “Velocity” means the current and contextual understand-

Jim Roberts, director and founder, BlacklerRoberts

TECHNOSPECTIVE

liver improved customer engagement and a greater understanding of the customer, Roberts asserted. “Through the use of social commentary it is possible to gain a better understanding of your customer’s view/ perception, providing a pulse of current and historic customer’s opinion/sentiment allowing you drive improved engagement with your customer,” he commented.

“With more depth and breadth of data the ability to create statistically significant models of low occurring but highly predictive factors becomes possible.”

Roberts noted that marketers are starting to utilize the key property of velocity to gain greater value from Big Data solutions.

Analytics technology examines static and dynamic data, which generates what Rob-

BIG DATA AND MARKETING

target, based on current knowledge not just historic knowledge,” Roberts added.

The variety of data now available to marketers for analysis includes text, image, audio and video. Advertising professionals have begun to exploit this variety in order to gain a greater understanding of their customers. According to Roberts, access and use of these forms of data enables greater connection to customers and improved testing. “Understanding of how messages are received and shared across social communities will help marketers with customer conversations, enabling their customers to become ambassadors of positive messages and responding to negative/angry responses,” he commented. “Access and use of unstructured data will enable additional

“UNDERSTANDING OF HOW MESSAGES ARE RECEIVED AND SHARED ACROSS SOCIAL COMMUNITIES WILL HELP MARKETERS WITH CUSTOMER CONVERSATIONS, ENABLING THEIR CUSTOMERS TO BECOME AMBASSADORS OF POSITIVE MESSAGES AND RESPONDING TO NEGATIVE/ANGRY RESPONSES, ACCESS AND USE OF UNSTRUCTURED DATA WILL ENABLE ADDITIONAL TESTING OF COMMUNICATIONS BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL A/B TESTING OF RESPONSE/CONVERSION RATES TO START LOOKING AT SOCIAL BUZZ CAUSED AND SPREAD OF COMMUNICATION.” ing. “Variety” is the additional sources of unstructured data.

The direct marketing consultant believes advertising professionals can derive greater value from Big Data solutions through a closer examination of each key property.

While marketers gather information about consumers’ web activity and lifestyle details, they might be missing out on qualitative and machine data. Roberts explained that qualitative data denotes information gathered from such sources as social media, surveys and interactions with customer service; machine data, as the name implies, is information transmitted by devices.

Qualitative and machine data will de-

erts called “continuous data.” As its name implies, continuous data is always growing and changing. Roberts sees continuous data as key benefit of Big Data that will enable marketers to become more efficient in two ways: automation and improved targeting. “The continuous growth and change of data provides the opportunity to collect, store and analyse the data to provide responses and next best actions based on current activity/behaviour and not just historic activity/behaviour,” Roberts remarked. Delivering this information in a timely fashion will require automation.

“The delivery of real-time data provides the opportunity to target or conversely not

testing of communications beyond the traditional A/B testing of response/conversion rates to start looking at social buzz caused and spread of communication.”

Big Data solutions play a significant role in deriving value from information. Roberts recommended that an analytics platform have at least three prerequisites: multiple data source support, prebuilt and flexible analytic functionality and visualization capabilities. “Most companies will have multiple legacy systems using various technologies from relation databases, analytical databases, etc., stored on multiple data platforms,” he said. “This spread of information in diverse locations means a June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 21

TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND MARKETING

fundamental feature of any Big Data analytics solution is the ability to access and interrogate data across platforms.”

Prebuilt and flexible analytic functionality will allow marketers to evaluate data in a number of different ways, which lets them understand their customers better.

“The existence of a wide library of statistical tools will enable rapid deployment of solutions, where the ability to create custom functionality in an open environment will allow for the continued growth 22 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

and development of the tool,” Roberts stated. The ability to visualize data is another important feature. “A key aspect of any analytics is the ability to present the information in a way that clearly shows patterns and relationships, which can be understood by a wide ranging audience,” Roberts remarked.

However, the best Big Data solution will be of no use if it is not being used properly.

Roberts outlined three obstacles to deriving the maximum value from Big Data: a

lack of clear objectives linked to business goals, an inability to understand the data and a deficiency in the required skill set to analyze the information.

Before implementing a Big Data solution, Roberts advised carefully considering what you wish to achieve. “To take advantage of the ability to store, access and drive insight from this data requires clear objectives linked to the goals of your business showing how data driven solutions can be used to meet the goals,” he commented.

Knowing what your aims are increases your chances of positive results. “This will ensure you focus on key projects with known desired outcomes that Big Data will enable and critically be able to measure the success,” Roberts added.

An inability to understand the data will also negatively impact the benefits of a Big Data solution. “Within your business there will be multiple repositories of data, used for multiple tasks,” Roberts explained. While it might seem like a waste of resources to examine each of these repositories, the effort will pay off in the end.

“To gain an in depth knowledge of each every data set will be a time consuming exercise, but without a high level overview of all data sets used by your business and environment you will not have a clear understanding of which data to use and will constrain potential journey routes to meeting your objective,” Roberts warned.

A skill set deficiency is the most difficult obstacle to overcome, Roberts noted. “This is critical and will be the biggest challenge in most businesses, where they can solve the first two points raised (clear objectives and data understanding) and then fall down due to lack of ability to gain information from the data and turn this information into actionable insight to meet the objectives,” he said. Roberts defined the requisite skill set to gain the most benefit from Big Data solutions: business knowledge and ability to turn goals into clear measurable objectives, data awareness and ability to see the value of data within business goals and the statistical analysis capabilities to identify insight contained within the data.

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TECHNOSPECTIVE

BIG DATA AND STORAGE

Overcoming Big Data

STORAGE COSTS

B

ig Data has become a fact of life for the enterprise. Many companies have implemented Big Data solutions to handle the enormous amounts of information generated. Even though this data is digital, businesses still need to store it somewhere. Data centres provide the answer to that problem. However, many firms do not consider the expense of warehousing data. Mac Wheeler, head of marketing for the voice of customer and customer experience management software provider SandSIV, explained the hidden costs of Big Data and how to counteract them.

“I believe that many companies come into Big Data capture without a clear 24 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

idea of what the eventual costs may be,” Wheeler said. Businesses look at Big Data through a narrow scope. “They may consider the cost of the initial setup for their Big Data initiative, but I feel that many fail to take into consideration the possibly massive amount of storage they may eventually need,” he commented.

In addition to the cost of storing information, Wheeler predicts that companies will simply be unable to handle all of the data they have gathered. “I believe that many companies will reach a stage of information overload once their data silos become a certain size, making it hard to build data sets and perform analytics,” he said. Wheeler referred to the situation as “too much noise.”

By Rachel Levy Sarfin

Wheeler pointed out that there are solutions to this problem. He suggested using a Big Data as-a-service (BDaaS) provider.

BDaaS refers to the managed services that deliver statistical analysis tools or information to help organizations glean insights from their vast stores of information. It often relies upon cloud storage that enables continuous data access.

“BDaaS is just an extension of SaaS,” Wheeler commented. “The SaaS model has proven to work exceptionally well, as its popularity demonstrates.” He noted that BDaaS offers a more affordable option for many businesses. “It pushes the costs of data storage on to the BDaaS provider, and overcomes the headache,” Wheeler remarked.

Aside from the analytics platform, Wheeler recommended changing the method of gathering information. “Big Data needs to be captured intelligently, to fit data set requirements, rather than capture absolutely everything possible,” he stated.

“Put simply, they should only warehouse the data they need to produce the business intelligence they require.” Wheeler offered another piece of advice: “However, this should be done in an agile manner, enabling rapid changes to the type of Big Data being captured driven by business needs.”

Wheeler expressed confidence that technology will solve the problem of the cost of warehousing data. “Storage tech is improving all of the time,” he commented.

Wheeler pointed out that storage has been evolving for years. “Go back 30 years and we were still using piles of punched cards and spools of paper tape to store tiny amounts of data,” he remarked. “Fast forward to today, and we can fit that same volume of data millions of times over on a hard disk drive.” The evolution of storage shows no signs of stopping, according to Wheeler. “As storage requirements go up, innovation will close the gap eventually, giving us more compact ways to store ever increasing volumes of data,” he concluded.

By Rachel Levy Sarfin

TECHNOSPECTIVE

BIG DATA AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Don’t neglect

SOCIAL MEDIA

H

aving a social media presence for your business is de rigueur today. Prevailing wisdom says that if you have not created profiles on popular social networks, you are missing a valuable opportunity. However, your brand’s mere presence on LinkedIn or Facebook is only the first step to attracting and retaining customers. Brands need to respond to consumers’ comments through social media channels to show they care about them and are interested in keeping their business. Dr. Joel Evans, professor at Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business, explained why companies neglect this

important relationship and how they can fix the problem.

There are two components to establishing a social media presence. The first element is creating a profile on social networks. Evans noted that this can be challenging for many businesses. “There are so many social media sites to keep up with -- both internally for some companies and externally for almost every company.

And the number of third-party social media sites has been exploding,” he said.

The second element is maintaining the profile(s): adding new content in a timely fashion and responding to comments from

consumers. Social media profile maintenance is even more demanding, and many firms do not have a deep understanding of its importance. “Too many firms set up social media sites and don’t upload enough content, answer consumer questions very frequently, and act defensively,” Evans remarked. “They do not recognize how much work is involved and how often they must have regular ‘conversations’ with those on social media. They may feel that just having social media accounts is enough.”

Neglecting social media activity can cost businesses money and opportunities.

June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 25

TECHNOSPECTIVE BIG DATA AND SOCIAL MEDIA NEGLECTING SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITY CAN COST BUSINESSES MONEY AND OPPORTUNITIES. “COMPANIES CAN MISS OUT IN SEVERAL WAYS,” EVANS COMMENTED. IF A CONSUMER HAS A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE AND SHARES IT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA, THAT POST CREATES AN UNFAVOURABLE IMPRESSION ABOUT THE BRAND AND CAN CAUSE MORE CUSTOMERS TO FLOCK TO ITS COMPETITORS. “THEY MAY NOT REALIZE THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE TO AVOID SOCIAL MEDIA GOING VIRAL WITH A STORY,” HE NOTED. “Companies can miss out in several ways,” Evans commented. If a consumer has a negative experience and shares it via social media, that post creates an unfavourable impression about the brand and can cause more customers to flock to its competitors.

“They may not realize that there is a problem until it is too late to avoid social media going viral with a story,” he noted.

Conversely, customers can also compliment companies on social networks. “They may not recognize some of the positive publicity that may be generated through YouTube videos that cover the companies in a flattering way,” Evans said. If a business is not “listening,” it will not know what others are saying about it.

Not responding to consumers through social media channels reinforces a brand’s image of being a cold, uncaring, faceless corporation. “They may miss out on a chance to appear more human and personal,” Evans warned. “They may not realize that research shows that companies who respond to negative comments in a helpful manner are often rewarded by customers who see that the companies are listening to them and treating them as important.”

Forging relationships with consumers through social media channels has some clear and tangible rewards. Why are many businesses missing out on this amazing opportunity? One of the answers lies in a firm’s financial resources. “Some companies assume that using social media is too 26 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

expensive, so they avoid these media rather than looking for ways to go viral inexpensively,” Evans explained.

Money is not the only reason brands neglect their social media presence. “Other companies have the financial resources; but they underestimate the human resources needed to keep up with social media activities,” Evans commented. Human resources alone will not insure social media success, though. Creating and maintaining a social media presence requires planning. “Still other firms do not properly outline their social media goals and link their social media activities to these goals,” Evans stated.

“They just know they need to be on social media, but not necessarily how and why.

They do not have a strategy.”

Evans offered a plan of action for brands to maintain their social media presence and profit from it. The first part of the plan involves adopting a different mindset.

“View social media as an integral part of the overall marketing communications strategy,” he recommended. This mindset change should be reflected at the highest levels of the firm. “Have a senior person in the company be responsible and accountable for the social effort,” Evans suggested.

The second step requires determining what aims the business hopes to attain. “Set social media goals and outline the activities to achieve them,” Evans advised. Achieving these goals means adequately funding the initiative, though. “Invest financially

and in terms of personnel time based on the scale of the social media effort and the goals sought,” he counseled. The third step is to analyze whether the aims have been attained. “Through numerical measures, assess whether social media goals have been achieved,” Evans said.

Even a mindset change, strategy and investment do not promise success. Businesses must remember that social media never shuts down. “Recognize that social media are 365/24/7,” Evans reminded companies. Because social media never takes a break, firms need to keep track of their online presence constantly. Fortunately, continuous audits can be done by a machine. “Use automated techniques to monitor the number of followers and the level of traffic, to identify comments by type, to track brand data, etc. that appear anywhere on the Web,” Evans recommended. “It is worth the investment, and there are many service providers available for this.”

Although machines can perform monitoring, responding to complaints, comments and compliments is a task for humans. Whoever bears the responsibility for responding must do it quickly. “Have a lightning quick turnaround time for commenting on key events and responding to customers online,” Evans advised.

A short response time shows consumers the company cares about their needs and wants, and the efforts may attract new customers.

TECHNOSPECTIVE THE QUALITY OF BIG DATA

By Rachel Levy Sarfin

The case for

VALIDATING DATA R

In April 2014, EMC and IDC published a study entitled, “The Digital Universe of Opportunities: Rich Data and Increasing the Value of the Internet of Things.”

esearchers predicted that the amount of data people create and copy on an annual basis will double in size every two years. By 2020, this amount of data will reach 44 zettabytes, equal to 44 trillion gigabytes.

The idea of such a massive quantity of information is aweinspiring. It can also be overwhelming to businesses struggling to implement Big Data initiatives. “How do we capture and store all of that data?” managers wonder. There is less cause to fret, though. The enterprise should not worry about capturing all the data it possibly can. Instead, it should focus on validating the data to ensure that it is useful and relevant. Pete Ianace, EVP at the software provider and outsourcing solutions firm No Magic Inc., explained why data validation should be a greater priority to companies implementing Big Data solutions.

Information is vital to understand things such as customer behaviour, marketing campaign effectiveness and where efficiencies can be created in the supply chain. There is such a thing as irrelevant information, though. “The greatest challenge is picking the ‘right’ data,” Ianace asserted. “It’s easy to find enough data to validate

June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 27

TECHNOSPECTIVE

THE QUALITY OF BIG DATA

Pete Ianace, EVP, No Magic Inc.

“THE AUDIT PROCESS REQUIRES THOUGHT IN UNDERSTANDING WHERE PREFERRED SOURCES ARE LOCATED, ASCRIBING CONFIDENCE LIMITS, TESTING THE DATA AND BUILDING RULES TO VALIDATE THE WAY THE DATA IS USED, A FAIR AMOUNT OF THIS PROCESS WILL BE BASED ON EXISTING RULES CREATED FOR THE USE OF EXISTING, IN-HOUSE DATA.”

Easier said than done

any hypothesis being presented. There is a danger that organizations or individuals can simply select the data that best fits their cultural or personal view of the market. This can go spectacularly wrong without rules and limits.” He urged businesses to search for the “right” information. “Getting data use right and tapping into the appropriate data zeitgeist can have enormous benefits,” Ianace commented.

Validating data: a definition What is involved in validating data?

“Understanding the domain one is dealing with and applying modeling, filtering rules on the data, and topping it off with the right business ontology overlay,” Ianace replied. That means that whoever is handling the information must have a clear idea of what type of data it is. “Modeling” refers to identifying and analyzing the relationships between data objects.

Filtering rules determine whether data should be included in the set. A busi28 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

ness ontology overlay is a rich domain in which information can be captured and maintained.

Other data validation considerations Ianace added that there are other things businesses need to keep in mind when validating data. “Ensuring there are other key members of the organization that support and validate your, or the organization’s opinion, is a positive approach,” he recommended.

Another important thing to remember is that information comes into businesses at a rapid pace. Do not let yourself get bogged down in minutiae. “The speed of change in this aspect of data is massive and requires a cautious eye,” Ianace warned.

Furthermore, he emphasized the need for Big Data governance. “Governance” refers to the rules pertaining to data access. “Governance is critical in terms of how far you listen and to whom,” Ianace asserted.

Ianace’s concise explanation of data validation can be easier for some companies to listen to or read about than to put into practice. “Leveraging the most benefit from Big Data requires organizations having the correct audits in place and this remains largely subjective as the ‘rules’ are currently being formulated to a great extent,” he noted.

Formulating an audit process necessitates careful consideration, Ianace cautioned.

“The audit process requires thought in understanding where preferred sources are located, ascribing confidence limits, testing the data and building rules to validate the way the data is used,” he remarked. “A fair amount of this process will be based on existing rules created for the use of existing, in-house data.”

As a result of audit rules being in a state of flux, data validation does not take place as much as Ianace believes that it should.

He acknowledged that validating data is not easy. “This is very complex stuff and there are not nearly enough experts,” Ianace pointed out. “Some say the industry is 300,000 experts short of this skill set.”

The advantages of data validation While data validation presents challenges to businesses, Ianace sees it as a crucial part of analyzing information. “‘Big data’ allows organizations to incubate ideas and test them rapidly before they’re introduced to the mainstream product brand,” he said.

Ianace cited the example of the automotive industry. “Car manufacturers are doing this frequently with prototypes, seeking ideas from potential customers,” he added.

“This is hard and without experts on hand there is a steep learning curve and much trial and error, but they say the results will be worth the pain,” Ianace concluded.

BOOK REVIEW

By Jim Roberts

Untangling the data hairball:

a review of “Big Data Marketing”

Big Data Marketing. Lisa Arthur.

Wiley, 2013. 192pp

D

ata driven marketing and specifically Big Data in marketing has become a popular phrase in the last few years, with multiple companies offering solutions on how they can provide you with the holy grail of combining all your existing legacy data and new social and machine data to provide near clairvoyant conversations with your customers. Lisa Arthur has looked at this from her years of experience as CMO of several businesses and the transformation of Teradata’s clients she has witnessed as the company’s CMO. In this book Arthur does not provide the answer to Big Data for marketing, but shows you a potential roadmap, with case studies, for how to introduce data driven marketing into your business, of which Big Data plays a key part.

The initial chapters of the book set the scene and the existing challenges in using your data effectively. Arthur discusses several crucial items: the digital disruption, the June/July 2014 IT in Canada Online / 29

BOOK REVIEW ARTHUR SETS OUT A GUIDELINE FOR DELIVERING UNTANGLED DATA: HAVE A CLEAR SET OF OBJECTIVES, UNDERSTANDING THE QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ANSWER, THE DATA REQUIRED TO SUPPORT THE QUESTIONS (INCLUDING WHAT YOU HAVE AND GAPS), A SINGLE VERSION OF TRUTH (CONSOLIDATION AND INTEGRATION OF DATA), AND FINALLY, TEST (CHECK THAT THE QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED).

data hairball, and five marketing steps to utilizing Big Data. The digital disruption refers to “how technology and data are changing our culture, throwing communications and the physical world of processes and goods into disorder, across all industries.”

In a nut shell, the exponential changes to technology and accessibility/size of data is having an impact on all parts of our lives.

The data hairball is an excellent phrase that conjures up bad images (especially for cat owners!) and describes the complexity of today’s data in terms of capture, storage and use. An important word Arthur uses about the results of the “data hairball” is “fragmented,” which can be expanded to fragmented data, channels and messages, causing a fragmented customer experience. The five marketing steps to utilizing Big Data provide an initial look at moving towards becoming a data driven business.

30 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2014

The key chapters in the book in terms of the roadmap are chapters 6 - 10, which provide five steps to data driven marketing. The first step is what Arthur dubs “Get smart, set strategic.”

She encourages companies to look at the strategic side of their businesses, rather than just the tactical. There’s a guideline for areas to look at from vision to strategy. The second step is tearing down the silos, which is all about communication. There are three words Arthur emphasizes: collaboration, which involves talking and sharing; consolidation, which requires aligning goals and activities; and organization, which means not creating new silos, but ensuring structures facilitate collaboration and consolidation.

Step three is untangling the “data hairball.” This is my favourite chapter, as it speaks to my passion for the use and value of data. Arthur sets out a guideline for delivering untangled data: have a clear set of objectives, understanding the questions you need to answer, the data required to support the questions (including what you have and gaps, a single version of truth (consolidation and integration of data), and finally, test (check that the questions have been answered).

The fourth step is making metrics your mantra. Measure your outcomes. The goal

of having data is not to have elegant and beautiful data, but to use the data to drive insight to improve outcomes. Arthur talks through this and how to align your metrics to your business and cross-department goals, with accountability showing the value of marketing.

Arthur refers to step five as “process is the new black.” Understanding process will drive agility and automation, which Arthur reviews and discusses as the benefits of integrated marketing.

She finishes her book with a vision of the future, stating, “We will use data to do beautiful, helpful things. Turning marketing from something coming at us, to something which is part of us and the human faculty of moment to moment decision making. This is our opportunity - the opportunity of Big Data marketing,” which shows the passion behind the words in the book. My passions are data and gardening, so this analogy really resonates with me: “Data is the earth to build your garden, but without the seeds (insight) and weeding, watering, feeding (processes) and sunlight (customer interactions) you will just have lots of earth!” Read this book to invigorate and provide the push towards, as Arthur puts it, “untangling the data hairball” and have the potential for a beautiful and productive garden.

Jim Roberts is the founder of the consultancy BlacklerRoberts Ltd and is an experienced marketing professional with over 18 years of experience in the direct marketing arena across multiple industry sectors, including financial, leisure, retail, and charity. His passion is the delivery of value from data, using the customer and related information to deliver actionable insight driving improved customer value and understanding.

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