As 2010 winds down, it is time to look ahead to 2011. I have high expectations as the calendar turns, and I believe 2011 will be the year of adoption. I believe we’ve reached a point where cash will come off the sidelines and I expect to see technology investments focused on revenue generation and value creation. With that as a backdrop, I’ll Label 2011 as the year of collaboration and intelligence – the two areas that I believe align very well with pressing business priorities. So here are my thoughts on 2011.
Author: Frank Diana
Analytics in the Utility Sector
According to Pike Research, the smart grid data analytics market will reach $4.2 billion by 2015. Software and service providers of smart grid analytics for the utility sector will ride a large growth opportunity over the next several years. According to Pike Research, the relatively small market will increase from $356 million in 2010 to nearly $4.2 billion in annual revenue by 2015.
Realizing the Benefits of CRM
This Press Release from Verint continues the Social Media and customer service drum beat. The recurring themes are:
- A growing challenge to identify, collect and act upon data delivered through an expanding number of customer communications channels
- The need for an aggregated and unified view of customer data across all channels
- Analysis that delivers insight drives rapid and informed action
- Companies are not equipped to analyze the interactions that occur via email, chat, social media, forums, etc.
- There is a heightened need for text analytics. Solutions that mine interactions and feedback across multichannel customer communications – including email, chat, blogs, review sites, social media and other text-based channels – continue to emerge
- Workflow delivers insight to the people that are best equipped to manage issues, address specific customer service concerns, or get ahead of negative sentiments in social media
The Future Call Center
Customer support is evolving to handle an ever-growing number of channels. Social media interaction is playing an expanding role in how companies provide support to their customers. I believe this Press Release from Attensity gives us a view into the future call center. As the press release points out, social media is quickly becoming a key component of customer care strategies.
Reinventing Customer Relationships
CEOs believe that the time has come to reinvent customer relationships. That’s one of the key findings in IBM’s 2010 CEO Study titled “Capitalizing on Complexity”. This belief is based on the following observations:
- The world is massively interconnected, thereby making customer intimacy a priority
- Customers have more options due to globalization and dramatic increases in available information
- Differentiation will come from innovation and co-creation with customers
- The information explosion presents a great opportunity to develop deep customer insights
Analytics Report from The MIT Sloan Management Review
A Special Report titled “Analytics: The new path to value” was released this week by the MIT Sloan Management Review. They conducted a global survey of nearly 3,000 executives, as well as in-depth interviews with leading researchers, in collaboration with the IBM Institute for Business Value.
Analytics and Politics
So predictive analytics has entered the world of politics?
In his Blog post titled Rock the Vote with Predictive Analytics, Timothy Powers explains how predictive analytics supports a political campaign. Well that makes great sense – advanced analytics has supported marketing efforts for years, and isn’t a political campaign all about marketing to voters?
The Social Customer and the Call Center
Widely recognized CRM visionary Paul Greenberg just published a report titled Contact Center 2011 – Back to the Future. Mr. Greenberg has talked about Social CRM or CRM 2.0 for quite some time. In this report, he discusses the impact of the social customer on the contact center. Here is a summary along with my perspective.
Fascinating Social Media Statistics
I recommend this very well done Social Media for Business presentation. There are some fascinating statistics provided in the material. These numbers give you an appreciation for just how massive this social wave has become. For instance:
Analyzing Data in Motion
In his “Building a Smarter Planet” Blog, Steve Hamm talks about Analyzing Data in Motion to save stroke victims. There is no better way to appreciate the power of emerging analytic technology than viewing it in the context of life saving applications. This example combines very powerful stream computing technology with predictive analytics and data mining. This combination enables high speed, scalable and complex analytics of data streams in motion. As the author describes, they are using this technology to look for patterns in data that could help them identify patients who are experiencing a severe complication to ruptured brain aneurysms.
A look at Trends in Analytics
In his Industry Trend Blog for 2010, Nenshad Bardoliwalla identified the top ten trends in analytics, business intelligence, and performance management. The author sees a vibrant market and a resurgence of innovation.
Gartner Identifies Seven Major CEO Concerns CIOs Should Address
At the Gartner Symposium / ITxpo this week, Gartner identified seven major CEO concerns and suggests that CIO find ways to address them. These concerns portray a continued lack of confidence, and anxiety over the economic climate. The seven concerns are:
Gartner’s Strategic Technologies for 2011
Earlier this week at the Gartner Symposium / ITxpo, Gartner presented their list of strategic technologies for 2011. Four of the ten technologies fit squarely in the social technologies and business analytics space covered by this Blog.
Gartner’s views on ROI and 2011
In this great Blog post by Robert Mitchell titled ROI fading fast as measure of IT success, Mr. Mitchell discusses the key messages planned for this weeks Gartner Symposium/ITxpo. I walk away with several key messages:
Hype Cycle Report from Gartner
In the recent Gartner Hype Cycle Report issued in August, Gartner had the following to say about predictive analytics:
“The quantity and variety of digital data continue to explode, along with the opportunities to analyze and gain insight from new sources such as location information and social media. The techniques themselves, such as predictive analytics, are relatively well established in many cases; the value resides in applying them in new applications such as social analytics and sentiment analysis”
Identify and Respond
This recent Attensity Announcement describes what I believe to be the next wave in the use of semantic technologies. We will see the rise of applications that leverage these technologies to deliver business outcomes. The discussion will shift from the semantic technologies themselves, to the application.
Social Technologies and Innovation
I have long believed that social technologies would usher in a new era of innovation. Terms like crowd sourcing, the wisdom of crowds and collective Intelligence, all speak to the notion that innovation is not an organizational function, but the ideas of an organization, community, or society. Social technologies and new emerging forms of analytics allow us to create an environment for idea creation, and an ability to quickly capture the resulting insight. User generated content has long existed in the world of social media – and new ways to capture relevant insight are evolving. What’s exciting is the growing use of social technologies inside the enterprise. Once the environment for collaboration and idea generation is established, the next step us harnessing all of the insight available both inside the enterprise and out. This article on Social Technologies and Innovation does a good job of describing the growing role of social technology inside the enterprise.
Social Business
While at enherent, I posted this Blog entry which is worth repeating.
This Social Business Report is one of the best I’ve seen. There is a tremendous amount of information presented in this material. Here are the highlights:
Social technologies and analytics
Hi all. I am continuing my pursuit of social enterprise enablement and the use of collective intelligence to drive innovation. Stay tuned to my new Blog.
Reimagining the Future 