Name: Harish Kotadia, Ph.D.

Bio: Dr. Harish has about ten years’ work experience as a hands-on CRM Program and Project Manager implementing CRM solutions for Fortune 500 clients in the US. He also has about five years’ work experience as a Research Executive in Marketing Research and Consulting industry working for leading MR organizations. Dr. Harish currently lives in Dallas, Texas, USA and works as a Consultant focusing on Social CRM, E2.0 and Analytics.

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Big Data: Will Open Source Software Challenge BI & Analytics Software Vendors

February 3rd, 2012

Predictive Analytics has been billed as the next big thing for almost fifteen years, but hasn’t gained mass acceptance so far the way ERP and CRM solutions have. One of the main reason for this is the high upfront investment required in Software, Hardware and Talent for implementing a Predictive Analytics solution.

As a result, only a handful of very large enterprises such as mega banks or top telecom companies have made the required investments and have benefited from power of Predictive Modeling and advanced Statistical techniques that are in existence for well over five decades. Most of the other companies have not been able to levarage power of business analytics as they cannot afford investing in specialized harware, database and BI/Analytics software applications being marketed by enterprise software vendors such as SAS and Teradata.

Well, this is about to change – thanks to technologies such as Apache Hadoop (which supports Big Data distributed applications under a free license), HBase (an open source, non-relational/distributed database) and the freely available R programming language (which is part of the GNU project). Using R, HBase and Hadoop, it is possible to build cost-effective and scalable Big Data Analytics solutions that match or even exceed the functionality offered by costly proprietary solutions from leading BI/Analytics software vendors at a fraction of the cost. And since R programming language is a freely available Open Source Software, users can leverage work done by others for specific analytics functionality and don’t have to re-invent wheel by rewriting the code. This reduces cost of developing analytics solution significantly.

Established BI and Analytics software vendors have no option other than offering their solution under SaaS (Software as a Service) model so that it is cost effective for their customers to implement analytics solution without requiring large upfront investment. This is all the more important for Big Data as the field is evolving rapidly. And if any BI or Analytics software vendor fails to adapt to this changing technological environment, they risk losing their market share.

 

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Big Data Analytics a Key Enabler for Social CRM – Airlines Case Study

February 1st, 2012

Big Data Analytics is a hot topic of discussion these days. But many feel that it is more of a “hype” and less of substance. In my opinion, Big Data Analytics is the real deal and if used correctly, can deliver great business results at a fraction of cost compared to other alternatives.

Here’s a simple yet very effective example of using analytics for understanding consumer attitudes towards airlines in real time. In this study, Jeffrey Breen has used the R programming language to analyze consumer sentiments about major U.S. airlines expressed on Twitter. For more on the methodology and results, see the following embedded Slideshare presentation (if you cannot see the embedded file, click here to view it on Slideshare website).

As you can see on slide no. 27, the twitter sentiment scores obtained  for many of the airlines are “comparable” to results of The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). What is important to note here is that by analyzing few tweets using freely available R programming language (which is part of the GNU project), it is possible to achieve results similar to that of an elaborate and expensive market research study such as ACSI at a fraction of a cost, that too in real time. Isn’t that a game changer?

Now imagine using Big Data Analytics to analyze Social Media data – not only text data but also pictures, video, GPS , Social Graph/Social Media linkages and using that information for engaging customers on Social Media channels. That in my opinion is the ‘holy grail’ (if I may use that term) of Social CRM.

In one of my earlier post, I have defined Social CRM as the business strategy of engaging customers through Social Media with goal of building trust and brand loyalty. Big data analytics is a key enabler for engaging customers on social media channels for building trust and loyalty (Social CRM). What do you think?

R by example: mining Twitter for consumer attitudes towards airlines

View more presentations from Jeffrey Breen

 

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Why Big Data Analytics is The Next Big Opportunity for Outsourcing Companies

January 8th, 2012

Big Data Analytics is making big headlines these days. Just check out a few from recent past:

• Big Data — Big Money Says It Is A Paradigm Buster - Forbes.com
• For Start-Ups That Aim at Giants, Sorting the Data Cloud Is the Next Big Thing - The New York Times
• Accel Makes Big Commitment To Big Data With $100M Fund - The Wall Street Journal
• Five startup predictions for 2012 - c|net
• Big Data: Investments Flow into the Next Big Thing - a great post by Dick Weisinger

So what is Big Data and why it is in the news so much these days?

According to Philip Russom, Director of TDWI Research, Big Data has three defining attributes – three Vs as he calls them. They are Data Volume, Data Variety and Data Velocity and together they constitute a comprehensive definition of Big Data. So Big Data is not just about Data Volume, but also the variety of data (mostly unstructured) and the velocity with which the data is generated and need to be analyzed. (for more, check out following posts by Philip Russom and the TDWI Best Practices Report titled Big Data Analytics):

• Big Data Analytics: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• The Three Vs of Big Data Analytics: VOLUME
• The Three Vs of Big Data Analytics: VARIETY
• The Three Vs of Big Data Analytics: VELOCITY

Given three Vs of Big Data, ‘traditional’ data storage, retrieval and analytics methodologies are no longer going to work. Cloud Computing is going to play a key role when it comes to Big Data Management and Analytics. And here in lies the opportunity for Outsourcing companies.

Traditionally, data collected by organizations is ‘safely’ stored in massive relational database accessible to only few within the organization and requires elaborate infrastructure both in terms of hardware and software for storage, retrieval and reporting/analytics. In such an environment, it is not possible to easily outsource Data Analytics function/processes alone given the heavy investments made in terms of hardware and software.

Because of the business requirement of analyzing vast amount of ever changing structured and unstructured Big Data almost instantaneously, companies will be hard pressed to do this on their own. But given the fact that Big Data stored in cloud can be accessed from anywhere the internet is available and can be analysed almost instantaneously by third party service providers,  outsourcing companies can offer to their clients value added services in the area of Big Data analytics without heavy investments on the part of clients in specialized hardware and software as was the case with ‘traditional’ data analytics. This will bring down significantly costs (especially fixed costs) associated with building and maintaining analytics infrastructure and solution center.

Just to give an example in the area of Social CRM, Social Media has empowered customers like never before as they can discuss about brands/products on Social Media channels. The best any marketer can do is to Listen, Learn and Engage customers. Given the three Vs of Big ‘Social’ data and the fact that most of the user generated content resides in the cloud, outsourcing companies can offer cost effective analytics solution to their clients to enable them effectively engage their customers/prospects in real time.

What do you think? Do you agree that Big Data Analytics is The Next Big Opportunity for Outsourcing Companies? Look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments:

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3 New Year’s Resolutions that should be on Every CEOs List for 2012

December 30th, 2011

“After Outcry, Verizon Abandons $2 Fee” screams a headline from today’s online edition of the New York Times. And the article makes it very clear that Social Media played no small role in telecom giant’s hasty retreat from levying a new $2 fee on bill payments. This story is a harbinger of things to come in 2012 and CEO and CMO of every large and medium sized company should pay attention to it.

As I explained in my previous post titled 2012: Year of Empowered and Assertive Digital Customer, thanks to Mobile, Tablet computing and Social Networking revolutions, customers are empowered like never before and they are leveraging technology not only for shopping online, but also for highlighting poor customer service experiences. This growing trend of empowered and assertive customers leveraging technology for connecting with other like minded individuals to share their experience about products and services will be the big story of 2012.

In order to make sure that 2012 doesn’t become a year of Social Media disasters or  Social CRM crises, CEOs and CMOs of large and medium sized companies should include following three new year resolutions on their 2012 list:

1. Improve collaboration within the enterprise and invest in collaboration tools

2. Listen to what customers/prospects are saying on Social Media channels and learn from it

3. Empower employees to engage customers/prospects on social media channels and invest in customer collaboration platform

How important are these to the survival and growth of business? In my opinion, these are as important as resolving to lose weight for someone who may suffer a heart attack if he/she doesn’t lose weight, or as important as bringing debt/expenses under control for someone who may face financial ruin or bankruptcy otherwise.

One may argue that these doesn’t apply to leading companies or brands that enjoy dominant position in their market. Well, think again. It doesn’t take long for assertive customers, empowered by social media to drive home their point of view. If you want proof, look no further than Netflix or GoDaddy in this regard. So as I said, better to lose weight than suffer a heart attack and better to control expenses/debt than face financial ruin.

Dear CEOs and CMOs, are you listening? Wouldn’t you include these three New Year’s resolutions to your 2012 list?

 

 

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2012: Year of Empowered and Assertive Digital Customer

December 28th, 2011



As 2011 comes to an end and as we look forward to celebrating New Year 2012, one thing that strikes most looking back is the massive increase in ownership and usage of Smartphones and Tablet computers.

Just consider following headlines in the last few days:

“On Christmas day alone, a total of 6.8 million iOS and Android devices got activated around the world, a 353% increase from Christmas 2010″ (for more, see this link)


“Consumers have spent a record $35 billion online shopping this holiday season” (for more, see this link)


“Apple’s iOS accounted for a whopping 13.4% of Online Sales on Christmas Day” (for more, see this link)


“According to a recent report, Facebook reached more than half of global audience in October 2011 and accounted for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online around the world and 3 in every 4 social networking minutes” (for more, see this link)

 

These are just a few headlines I came across during last few day of 2011. And they all points to the fact that thanks to Mobile, Tablet computing and Social Networking revolutions, customers are empowered like never before and they are leveraging technology not only for shopping online or scoring great bargains, but also for highlighting poor customer service experiences.

This growing trend of empowered and assertive customers leveraging technology for connecting with other like minded individuals to share their purchase intentions and experiences about products and services will be the big story of 2012.

Questions is how many companies are listening to customers, learning from it and engaging them? Not many. So if 2012 is going to be the year of Empowered and Assertive Digital Customer and if companies are not ready for it, we can also say that 2012 is going to be the year of Social Media disasters and Social CRM crises, and many companies will learn the Social CRM lesson hard way. And that will spur investment not only in Social CRM, but also Enterprise Collaboration Platforms, Mobile engagement platforms and Data Analytics.

What do you think? Do you agree that 2012 is going to be the year of Social Media disasters and Social CRM crises? Please do share your thoughts:

(Picture courtesy: Beautiful sunset in Dallas, Texas as seen from my apartment)

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