The main elements drawn from the article written by Chen, Chaing and Storey was the huge increase and importance of big data in today’s business environment, as 97% of companies with revenues exceeding $100 million were found to use some form of business analysis. There are many methods of analyzing the vast amount of information which has evolved and developed with technological changes and access to more and more data. Some of these include online analytical processing (OLAP) which is used to explore important characteristics of data, business performance management (BPM) which uses scorecards to help analyze a variety of different performance metrics and data mining. These were all used by large companies that used business intelligence and data analysis within their systems. However, the amount of data available and what the company needs in its data analysis is forever changing and here are a few examples.
Now big data has moved to a much more public sphere where web based analytics are used to understand customer needs. The use of search engines has allowed businesses to post more online and understand where there websites should be in order to create the most traffic onto their sites. Another form of web based data is through the use of social media which allows businesses to see the different pages that individuals visit either by liking pages as they go through, sharing, what adverts they click or posting about them. Businesses could target marketing techniques through this platform and careful analysis will show patterns or interests that could prove advantageous.
A further development of the use of big data is through mobile methods. For example, smartphones are literally the web in your pocket, so businesses will now be able to see everywhere an individual ‘checks in’ to and what their browsing preferences are when on the move.
The examples above for the evolving nature of big data has a big impact on marketing and how a business will choose to use data to help their marketing campaigns. It has created a pathway for all marketers to see what everyone is browsing, where they have been, what they like and main interests are etc. It has opened up the opportunities so they can map where their adds should be placed over the internet due to past movements; especially with social media that now suggest adds or pages due to past activity.
To be continued…
Chen, H., Chiang, R. H., & Storey, V. C. (2012). Business Intelligence and Analytics: From Big Data to Big Impact. MIS Quarterly, 36(4), 1165-1188.