Saving America’s Cities with Analytics

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In this article by Stanley S. Litow titled How to Save America’s Cities with Data Analytics, Mr. Litow describes a very interesting scenario: Companies and civic agencies developing innovative partnerships with city leaders that leverage data to make better decisions and address the greater good. 

Mr. Litow touches on the growing reality that billions of transistors will be embedded in everything from police records to parking meters. City leaders can analyze the resulting data tsunami to gain new insights, and perhaps find ways to make their cities work better. This perspective underscores the notion that data from an ever growing number of sources represents a pathway to better decisions – and it’s not just limited to corporations. 

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Information on Social Networks

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This diagram effectively presents some social networking statistics and information. These numbers continue to underscore the growing impact of social computing on society, and the inevitable effect it will have on business.

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Disruption in the Retail Industry

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In this report from The IBM Business Value Institute titled Meeting the Demands of the Smarter Consumer, it is easy to see the impact that the smarter consumer is having on the retail industry. This is a broader indicator of the challenges facing all businesses and governments and underscores the need for customer intimacy as a business imperative. This to me continues to highlight that our current social and data-rich state represents both tremendous opportunity and considerable challenge. I recommend this report for its insight into this growing phenomena.

The Year of the Social Enterprise

Frank Diana Digital Foundation, Social

This article by Boris Pluskowski predicts that 2011 will be The Year of the Social Enterprise. He admits that his predictions are somewhat optimistic – but here’s hoping he’s right! Mr. Pluskowski believes we’re about to embark on a new era of unprecedented collaboration and social interaction that leads to the world’s first fully social business. Some key points from the article:

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The Value of Twitter

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I highly recommend this article by Mark Suster titled The Power of Twitter in Information Discovery. This same author has written a piece on Twitter’s use cases, which is also a good read. For those that still think Twitter is about telling people what you had for breakfast, these are must reads. I agree completely with his perspective and use Twitter in a very similar manner.

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A look at 2011

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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.

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Analytics in the Utility Sector

Frank Diana Analytics, Digital Foundation, Utilities

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. 

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Realizing the Benefits of CRM

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This Press Release from Verint continues the Social Media and customer service drum beat. The recurring themes are:

  1. A growing challenge to identify, collect and act upon data delivered through an expanding number of customer communications channels
  2. The need for an aggregated and unified view of customer data across all channels
  3. Analysis that delivers insight drives rapid and informed action
  4. Companies are not equipped to analyze the interactions that occur via email, chat, social media, forums, etc.
  5. 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
  6. 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

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The Future Call Center

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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.  

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Reinventing Customer Relationships

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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: 

  1. The world is massively interconnected, thereby making customer intimacy a priority
  2. Customers have more options due to globalization and dramatic increases in available information
  3. Differentiation will come from innovation and co-creation with customers
  4. The information explosion presents a great opportunity to develop deep customer insights 

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Analytics Report from The MIT Sloan Management Review

Frank Diana Analytics, Digital Foundation

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.

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Analytics and Politics

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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?

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The Social Customer and the Call Center

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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. 

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Fascinating Social Media Statistics

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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:

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Analyzing Data in Motion

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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.

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A look at Trends in Analytics

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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.

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Gartner Identifies Seven Major CEO Concerns CIOs Should Address

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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:

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Gartner’s Strategic Technologies for 2011

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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.

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Gartner’s views on ROI and 2011

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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:

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Hype Cycle Report from Gartner

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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”

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