News Analysis - Unit4 acquires Three Rivers Systems

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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This morning, Unit4 a European ERP vendor, announced the acquisition of Three Rivers Systems, a vendor specializing in efficiency in the Higher Education sector.

Let's dissect the press release in our custom style (it can be found here):

 

Unit4, a fast growing leader in enterprise applications for service organizations, today announced the acquisition of U.S.-based student management solution provider, Three Rivers Systems, Inc. The acquisition supports Unit4’s strategy to offer market leading industry-specific solutions to people-centric businesses. Education has always been a key pillar of the company’s strategy. Together with Three Rivers Systems, Unit4 serves more than 1,000 clients in Education globally.
MyPOV – A focus for Unit4 is to grow further in North America, and buying local vendors who have the local market knowhow, understand the market and requirements and also have customers is a proven expansion strategy for enterprise software vendors.

The Unit4 People Platform enables Three Rivers Systems’ student management system to seamlessly work together with Unit4 applications, creating the first next generation end-to-end ERP for Education. The system incorporates a powerful and flexible localization framework, which allows Unit4 to cater to local needs, such as Financial Aid in the U.S. or the Student Loan Council in the UK.
MyPOV – Acquisitions are always a good showcase for platform flexibility of the acquiring vendor. It is good to see that Unit4 sees the People Platform being able to handle the Three Rivers Systems application. And good point to raise the local market expertise of Three Rivers Systems.

“The Education market currently lacks a modern and complete business application platform ready to be deployed globally. This is exactly what Unit4 and Three Rivers Systems will jointly deliver,” says Jose Duarte, Unit4 CEO. “This acquisition has created a global market leader for Education ERP solutions, and significantly strengthens Unit4’s market position in North America. By combining technologies and resources, we are the first to deliver the full suite of next-generation ERP for the global Education community.”
MyPOV – The usual quote, but very true on the lack of a modern enterprise platform for higher education, which faces a piece meal IT infrastructure. With higher education institutions under pressure to reduce costs, IT needs to find ways to run more efficiently, while supporting 21st century best practices for both students, parents and employees.

With three decades’ experience developing enterprise solutions exclusively for colleges and universities, Three Rivers Systems is highly regarded in the U.S. for its best in class student management solutions. The acquisition of Three Rivers Systems’ Student Management technology and tight integration with Unit4’s broad and feature rich Finance, Human Relations and Research Management applications will result in the industry’s first and most advanced and complete global ERP for Education. New and updated features of the combined offering include: Human Resources & Payroll, Finance Management, Research Management, a complete Student Management system covering Student Acquisition, Course Management, Retention, Degree Auditing and much more.
MyPOV – Good description of the upcoming planned scope.

Whether adopting new process models or integrating with a newly introduced system, Unit4 is able to easily adapt to the ever changing business requirements and needs of Education institutions. The platform helps grow enrolments, improve student success, and improve overall institutional effectiveness through e.g. the incorporation of built-in data analysis. A truly innovative and clean interface lets users benefit from an easily responsive system with optional touch based capabilities when using a tablet.
MyPOV – Good description of the aspiration of the future system and some of the capabilities that the system has.

“Unit4 and Three Rivers Systems shared focus on product innovation plus people and student centric applications perfectly cover the front and back office of today’s Education institutions,” says Amir Tajkarimi, President & Founder of Three Rivers Systems. “Unit4 will help to expedite innovation cycles around Three Rivers Systems’ advanced student management technology, while also bringing it to the global market. The acquisition will result in strengthened global sales and support teams as well as increased bandwidth for ongoing research and development around our combined product suite.”
MyPOV – No need to comment on the usual quote.

Three Rivers Systems aligns tightly with Unit4’s Cloud Your Way deployment model, so that the new Campus suite will support higher education institutions’ preferred ERP architecture, whether in the cloud, on premise, or hybrid. Unit4 and Three Rivers Systems’ solutions will be integrated via the Unit4 People Platform with Social, Mobile and Analytics driven capabilities.[…]
MyPOV – Good to mention, guess it was to easy to offer a roadmap, but that is the next logical questneeion.

Unit4’s ERP is the only system designed from the ground up for people-centric industries. It empowers people to better engage and create impact, while automating low-value repetitive tasks.

Overall POV

A good move by Unit4, which needs to find ways to grow fast in North America. Though Higher Education is only the 3rd most important vertical for the vendor, it is currently a good opportunity in North America to capitalize on. Higher Education institutions are in an innovation cycle, after almost decade(s) in the doldrums. Credit goes to Workday with steering up the industry with its new Student offering. A good momentum to exploit, especially with a smaller scale customer target.

On the concern side it is one more thing for Unit4 to do. It not only needs to push Higher Education now, but the other verticals it is focusing on, too. On the product side Unit4 needs to integrate 3 Rivers Systems – and we are not concerned of the new People platform not being up to task – but it is work that needs to be done quickly.

Overall a good acquisition for Unit4, I am sure we will learn more about it at the vendor’s analyst day this week.

 

Tech Optimization Future of Work Matrix Commerce Innovation & Product-led Growth New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Data to Decisions unit4 Chief Information Officer

Teradata Backs Presto, Evolves Big Data Strategy

Doug Henschen

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Doug Henschen is former Vice President and Principal Analyst where he focused on data-driven decision making. Henschen’s Data-to-Decisions research examines how organizations employ data analysis to reimagine their business models and gain a deeper understanding of their customers. Henschen's research acknowledges the fact that innovative applications of data analysis requires a multi-disciplinary approach starting with information and orchestration technologies, continuing through business intelligence, data-visualization, and analytics, and moving into NoSQL and big-data analysis, third-party data enrichment, and decision-management technologies. Insight-driven business models are of interest to the entire C-suite, but most particularly chief executive officers, chief digital officers,…...

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Teradata adds Presto SQL-on-Hadoop option plus new streaming and analytics offerings. They’re all part of the vendor’s Unified Data Architecture strategy, but Teradata’s biggest challenge remains cost-per-terabyte thinking.

CEO’s are no longer asking for big data strategies, according to Randy Lea, vice president of Teradata’s Big Data practice. Now they’re asking for analytics strategies.

If that’s really the case, few companies are as well qualified as Teradata to offer advice. That much was clear at last week’s Teradata Influencer’s Summit in San Diego, where the company detailed a tremendous breadth of software, cloud services, applications, packaged solutions and consulting services.

It’s a good bet, though, that plenty of C-level leaders are still beguiled and befuddled by big data and all the competing claims. Teradata itself is contributing to the confusion this week by throwing its considerable weight behind Apache Presto, the open-source SQL-on-Hadoop option developed by Facebook.

This move will confuse some because Teradata has partnered with the three leading Hadoop vendors: Cloudera, Hortonworks and MapR. Yet Presto competes with Cloudera Impala, Apache Hive, Hadoop’s incumbent query tool supported by Hortonworks, and Apache Drill, the open-source project supported by MapR.

All of the above support SQL querying of data in a Hadoop cluster. But Teradata insists its new Presto distribution, available as a free download with a subscription-support option, promises better performance than rival tools, thanks to its in-memory architecture. Teradata points to Presto adoption by Airbnb, Facebook, Teradata-customer Netflix, DropBox, and others as proof of Presto’s scalability and performance. Facebook, for one, also invented Hive, but it came up with Presto to get around Hive performance constraints tied to MapReduce processing.

MyPOV on the Presto Move: Adoption by Internet giants notwithstanding, Teradata has work to do help Presto meet enterprise expectations. For starters, Presto currently lacks YARN support, but it also needs integrations with Hadoop-system-management tools like Ambari, security-system connections, a better ODBC driver and, most importantly, broader SQL coverage and BI system integrations. Teradata says it’s working on all of the above and will contribute the work to the open source project.

Teradata’s contributions will obviously improve Presto’s fortunes, but it’s clear that the project’s independence – it’s ability to run on any Hadoop distribution — was as much an attraction to Teradata as Presto’s performance. Hive and Apache Spark (with Spark SQL) also run on any Hadoop distribution (and they already have YARN support). But those projects are under the control of the Hadoop and Spark communities, respectively.

Teradata clearly chose Presto in part because it can have greater influence in that community, even if the project itself is less mature than Hive and, in some respects, Spark. Indeed, Teradata execs acknowledged that Presto will have to work side-by-side with Hive for the foreseeable future because that tool is so widely used.

Teradata Evolves Unified Data Architecture

Teradata was once focused exclusively on great big enterprise data warehouse deployments, but my how times have changed. The company responded to the data warehouse appliance craze of the last decade by introducing its own broad range of appliances (from memory-intensive speed demons to archival boxes) all sharing the same database.

The company responded to the big data craze first by acquiring Aster Data. Now billed as the vendor’s Discovery Platform, Teradata Aster handles multi-structured data and multi-mode analysis including MapReduce, machine learning, graph analysis and R all invoked through SQL and SQL-like queries. A second response to big data was embracing Hadoop. Teradata is now partnered with the top-three Hadoop distributors, and it resells and deploys Hortonworks’ distribution on a Teradata appliance or on third-party hardware. A third response to the big data craze was buying Revelytix for big data metadata management, Hadapt for SQL-on-Hadoop expertise and ThinkBig Analytics for bid data application and deployment consulting.

Teradata, Aster, and Hadoop are now the three legs of the company’s Unified Data Architecture (UDA), and Teradata Query Grid is the connective data fabric that lets customers bring all that information together into analyses on Teradata or Aster. (Query Grid previously used Hive to tap into Hadoop, but now Presto adds a low-latency querying option.)

The latest push in the UDA strategy is into the cloud. Last year the vendor started offering multi-tenant Teradata and Aster instances hosted in two U.S.-based Teradata data centers. (Plans call for additional data centers in Europe and Asia, but there are not firm dates on that.) Cloud use cases include backup/disaster recovery, test-and-development, Aster (Discovery Platform) deployments, consolidation of shadow-IT data marts, and support for system-integrator and Teradata-partner cloud deployments.

Seeing Amazon’s success with Redshift, Teradata also believes it can go down-market, serving customers who want agile cloud deployment, but who also need consulting, industry domain knowledge, and deployment and operational hand holding that Amazon Web Services doesn’t offer.  Teradata cited “complete” pricing for a 24-terabyte Teradata cloud deployment, including DBA as-a-service, at $250,000 per year with a three-year commitment.

Teradata says it has tuned Query Grid and other software for cloud delivery, adding REST APIs and breaking out micro-services. It’s also testing Teradata Listener, a cloud-ready streaming-data capture option (late to the streaming party, but welcome nonetheless). Based on Kafka and Spark processing and set for Q3 beta, Listener is aimed at real-time analytics and Internet-of-things applications.

The bigger picture with UDA, Query Grid, and the new cloud options is providing yet more flexible options for analytics. Teradata has 17 industry solutions covering everything from warranty and product-quality analyses for the automotive industry to customer-segmentation and network-planning apps for utility companies. The company has also built an Aster App Center offering “bundles” (think app blueprints) for site-search optimization and customer satisfaction analyses. The former is for improving product-search success and sales-conversion rates. The latter helps subscription-service providers in the telco, cable, and satellite industries spot likely defectors and avoid churn.

MyPOV On Teradata’s Evolution

One sticky metric that has pained Teradata in recent years is cost per terabyte. Hadoop vendors, in particular, trumpet this measure as a differentiator. Indeed it’s a big reason why Hadoop is quickly gaining adoption. Whether you call them data lakes or data hubs, Hadoop-based repositories look like they’re here to stay. Clickstreams, sensor data, log files, mobile data and social data at scale are some of the high-volume data types that beg for a low-cost-per-terabyte storage option.

But what about the analysis? There’s a race on to analyze the data within Hadoop without having to hire armies of data scientists and without writing and managing thousands of lines of arcane bespoke code. Lots of database providers (including Actian, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Pivotal as well as Teradata) have come up with ways to query Hadoop using SQL. Hadoop vendors have done that, too, with Impala, Hive and Drill.

Far fewer vendors from the database camp have gone beyond SQL. With Aster, Teradata’s advantage is invoking machine learning, graph analysis, R-based algorithms and MapReduce techniques all with SQL and SQL-like statements. Query Grid also supports push-down techniques, so you can do the heavy processing on Hadoop or Teradata when the big data lives there.

When Teradata first acquired Aster in 2011, my first thought was “who wants to have to run three platforms,” meaning Teradata and Hadoop, plus Aster? But the only option that matches Aster’s breadth (at present) is Apache Spark, and that, too, is another platform. Spark is an open-source platform with a fast-growing community, so it will only get stronger, but it does not invoke all these modes of analysis through SQL and SQL-like expressions.

Teradata is making as strong a case as ever for Aster, but as my colleague Holger Mueller pointed out in this blog, the vendor has at least acknowledged other options by maintaining ThinkBig as a separate business unit. Presentations by ThinkBig at last week’s event clearly showed Spark and other open source options in the thick of the company’s consulting plans.

In short, if you’re only thinking about data and how big it might get, you’re susceptible to cost-per-terabyte thinking. If you’re thinking ahead to the range of analyses you’re going to need to support, and if you want industry domain expertise and guidance on deployment and platform integration, measures such as price-per-analytic, price-per-user, and time-to-successful-deployment will matter most. That’s when Teradata belongs on the RFP list.

Have a question about your big data/analytics strategy? Let's talk! Contact me here. 

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News Analysis - Teradata Launches First Enterprise Support for Presto

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We attended the Teradata Influence Summit last week in Del Mar, North of San Diego, (Progress Report here) and fresh off the heels of this event, Teradata announces support for Presto.

 

Let’s dissect the press release (find it here) our customary style:

SAN DIEGO – June 8, 2015 – To make it easier for more users to extract insights from data lakes, Teradata (NYSE: TDC), the big data analytics and marketing applications company, today announced a multi-year commitment to contribute to Presto’s open source development and provide the industry’s first commercial support. Based on a three-phase roadmap, Teradata’s contributions will be 100 percent open source under the Apache® license and will advance Presto’s modern code base, proven scalability, iterative querying, and the ability to query multiple data repositories.

MyPOV – Interesting and good move by Teradata, partnering with a promising open source initiative with good DNA (originally from Facebook) and proven practical usage (e.g. AirBnb, Facebook and more). As part of the Teradata UDA, the vendor used to execute its federated queries on the Hadoop side on Hive, with Presto it get a more generic and more powerful support for these queries. And good to see that Teradata will be a ‘good citizen’ for open sources, becoming a (substantial) contributor to Presto. Also good to see it is a multiyear commitment, and the roadmap (we saw it under NDA) is rich, but realistic.

Developed and used by Facebook, Presto is a powerful, next-generation, open source SQL query engine which supports big data analytics. There is a growing interest in Presto, as these corporations have adopted it: Airbnb, DropBox, Gree, Groupon, and Netflix.

MyPOV – And here is the value, Presto is SQL base, a commonly known language for millions of business users and analysts. Bringing the ‘SQL back to no-SQL’ is a giant quest, and Presto is one of the more successful initiatives on that strategy path. It also has great user DNA.

Presto complements the Teradata® QueryGridTM and fits within the Teradata® Unified Data Architecture™ vision. Presto integrates with the Teradata® Unified Data Architecture™ by providing users the ability to originate queries directly from their Hadoop platform, while Teradata QueryGrid allows queries to be initiated from the Teradata Database and the Teradata Aster Database all through a common SQL protocol.

MyPOV – Teradata lays out the strategy here, which is good for transparency. Querygrid will be used on the Teradata and Aster side, throwing off queries to Presto as needed, no surprise. But Teradata will make its Presto offering open for direct Hadoop queries, a good move.

Presto is agnostic and runs on multiple Hadoop distributions. In addition, Presto can reach out from a Hadoop platform to query Cassandra, relational databases, or proprietary data stores. This flexibility allows Presto to combine data from multiple sources, allowing for analytics across the entire organization through a single query. This cross-platform analytic capability allows Presto users to extract the maximum business value from data lakes of any size, from gigabytes to petabytes.

MyPOV – The paragraph describes the value that Presto brings pretty well, from Presto a user can query pretty much anything. So Presto gives Teradata flexible data access again, but not from the Teradata level, but the Presto / OpenSource level. A very new approach for Teradata, but a good sign as it shows that Teradata is walking the path of times, which has a clear rise of open source at its end.

Teradata’s three-phase contribution to 100-percent open source code will advance Presto’s enterprise capabilities, which benefit customers.

Phase 1 - Enhance essential features that simplify the adoption of Presto, including installation, support documentation, and basic monitoring. The Phase 1 capabilities are available today for download at Teradata.com/Presto or on Github

MyPOV – Kudos for laying out a roadmap, always something appreciated by the ecosystem. Apparently the installation of Presto was not trivial, so Teradata focused on that logically as Phase 1/

Phase 2 - Integrate Presto with other key parts of the big data ecosystem, such as standard Hadoop distribution management tools, interoperability with YARN, and connectors that extend Presto’s capabilities beyond the Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS). These features will be available at the end of 2015.

MyPOV – This will be the key release for the Teradata / Presto offering.

Phase 3 –Enable ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity API) to expand adoption within organizations and enhance integration with business intelligence tools. Enhance security by providing access based on job roles. These enhancements will be completed and available in 2016.

MyPOV – And this will be to make the Teradata / Presto release very, very attractive to SQL savvy business users (and developers).

In addition to its open source contributions, Teradata commercial support is now available from Think Big consulting. Think Big will offer its proven expertise in three areas to enable users to feel confident about putting Presto into production with assistance:

Presto Jumpstart – In the cloud or onsite, Think Big will assist with piloting new functionality
Presto Development – In the cloud or onsite, Think Big consultants will help customers design, build, and deploy a Presto solution
Think Big Academy - Two-day workshops will help customers understand the best uses and criteria for architectural decisions.

MyPOV – No surprise – Teradata will offer services here, and Thing Big is the place where Teradata offers these. A good move.

Overall MyPOV

Opensource is on the rise. In the last 12 months we have seen more and more open source uptake from Oracle, IBM and even outspoken past open source sceptics like Microsoft and SAP. Major ‘gifts’ have been made to open source – think of Pivotal’s recent move (see here). This all means that even skeptical enterprises have no choice than to implement, run and operate open source. The good news is, that vendors see their opportunities on the services side, which will have to be paid for, but overall it looks (for now) as if open source is a significant relief to IT budgets. The less shared secret is – it save time and reduces R&D budgets and efforts at ISVs, too.

Closer to Terada – a very smart move. Take a promising open source offering, free from competitor influence, and own the place. Contribute generously and lavishly to the roadmap, be a good open source citizen, and own it even more – all good moves. 

 

On the strategic side Presto is a huge hedge for Teradata – in the worst case scenario (Teradata ‘classic’ business slowly winding down), this is the first step of re-inventing Teradata on Hadoop. We will see if it comes to that, but a hedge is a hedge, even if not needed. The cross database type capabilities of Presto are very attractive. 

 

Teradata has done a good first move here, it will be interesting how the competition responds (find other open source initiatives – or even join Presto?). We will be watching.
 

Data to Decisions Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Next-Generation Customer Experience Future of Work Hadoop Big Data ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI AI Analytics Automation business Marketing SaaS PaaS IaaS Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP finance Healthcare Customer Service Content Management Collaboration Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer

Product Review: Two Apple Watch Enterprise Apps Launched With IMS Health Life Sciences Wearable Platform

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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IMSHealthWear 1.00 Gives IMS Health First Mover Advantage In Wearable Form Factors And Apps For Healthcare Customer Experience

The rise and success of wearables such as the Apple Watch may not come as a surprise.  Constellation estimates that Apple sold 7.25 million units to date with the potential to deliver up to 43.50 million units by end of 2015.  While the consumer side of the AppleWatch launch generated a lot of buzz, demand, and innovation, the disruption on the enterprise side has been limited to a few players such as SAP, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce.com and Zoho.  With other wearables moving beyond a watch, customers seek new solutions and platforms that take advantage of these new form factors.

The June 8th, 2015, launch of IMSHealthWear 1.00 signifies an early breakthrough for wearables in enterprise healthcare. The launch of two new apps for the AppleWatch take advantage of the wearables form factor as well as introduce a platform to serve a broader set of wearables in the future (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The IMSHealthWear Life Sciences Wearable Platform Line Up

Source: IMS Health

Form Follows Function In Wearables

With a screen size of 272 x 340 pixels for the 38mm version and 312 x 390 for the 42 mm version on the Apple Watch, the initial set of solutions provide another form factor for sales reps and managers.   Design of the existing apps take advantage of ambient notifications, the ability to access quick bites of information, and respond to quick tasks.   With the wearable apps running on the same platform as the core IMS solution, users do not have to worry about a separate technology stack to support the product.   Expect future wearable solutions to focus on three main themes: simplifying complex tasks, reducing the process time, and capturing attention when needed (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.  The IMSHealthWear 1.00 Launch Includes 5 Apple Watch Apps And A Platform

Source: IMS Health

 The Bottom Line: New Wearables Platform Shows Innovation Is Alive And Well Post-Merger

The acquisition of Cegedim by IMS Health brought together strategic assets required for a network economy.  As one of the key rules in disrupting digital business, successful organizations must bring the content, network, and technology together to create successful business models in the digital era.  IMS Health brought significant content through its insights business and a strong network of providers, payors, and other health care professionals.  Cegedim brought the  technology to the table.

As with all acquisitions, clients often fear the stifling of incremental and transformational innovation post merger. With the deal closed in April 2015, the arrival of a wearables platform two months post merger presents a pleasant surprise to customers and prospects. More importantly, IMS Health is inviting customers to pilot the new apps, and join the consortium of Life Science customers and wearable manufacturers to build the next set of apps.

The new apps when delivered, should help every individual inside an organization to quickly access insight and more importantly speed up decision making. As often said in the digital world, success equates to saving time or capturing one’s attention.   The new IMSHealthWear apps when launched as promised should take a strong step in this direction.

Your POV

Are you in the midst of digital transformation? Have you looked at how the Apple Watch and other wearables can play a role in reducing time or catpuring attention?  Add your comments to the blog or schedule a meeting with me.

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4 Factors Drive Great Customer Experience And Commerce

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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We just finished some new research that shows the correlation to customer experience and commerce / revenue. Below are some of the highlights from the research. 

Continuity of Customer Experiences Drices the Future of Commerce

The Four Factors that Drive Superior Customer Experience Engagement

1. Know who the most profitable customers are online

• Stat: Only 52 percent of U.S. and 53 percent of U.K. brands were very effective in knowing who their most profitable customers are.
• This means that nearly half of their time is spent with the wrong customers (low value) or, if they are spending time with the right customers, the customer experience does not provide a high conversion rate.
• Thus, brands require a new approach.

 2. Know where (which channels) their high value customers are coming from.

• Stat: Only 58 percent of U.S. and 48 percent of U.K. brands were very effective in knowing where (which channels) their high value customers are coming from.
• In this context, channels include social media, websites, search engines, etc. Basically, brands are guessing at where to spend their marketing and ad dollars to provide the highest return on investment.

3. Know which high value products customers are interested in.

• Stat: Only 59 percent of U.S. and 56 percent of U.K. brands were very effective in knowing which products customer are most interested in.
• Consequently, brands may not be displaying the best products to the highest value customers, thus losing revenue and profits.

4. Know which high value products customers have viewed.

• Stat: Only 60 percent of U.S. and 56 percent of U.K. brands were very effective in knowing which products customer have actually viewed.
• When brands understand the customer’s journey, they can direct their spending and messaging to the moments of maximum influence.
• When they do this, they will have a much greater chance of reaching customers in the right place at the right time with the right message, producing higher conversion rates.

How does your company stack-up compared to these companies? What have you done to improve your customer experience so that it results in better revenue and customer experiences?

@drnatalie, VP and Principal Analyst, Covering Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service to Great Amazing Customer Experiences

References:
Harris Poll Research and Primary Constellation Research

Next-Generation Customer Experience Data to Decisions Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth New C-Suite Marketing Transformation Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Chief Customer Officer

Musings - Speed matters for HR - how to accelerate - Part II

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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So we looked at the need for enterprises to accelerate last week, find the blog post here, with more of a technology view, as all good ‘inner values’ are based on a decent architecture of the right technology. More specifically these are the enablement of BigData and the provision of ‘true’ analytics (my definition here). 
 

 

 

But even the right technology and architecture can fail, if the design principles aren’t right – and it’s key to keep in mind that business user centricity is paramount for successful, next generation HR systems, that help enterprises to get faster. No surprise, as layers of organization, a Tayloresque organization model, competency splits and more have slowed down organization since… forever (ok, the invention of these principles, that ironically were designed to make organizations more efficient, faster).

So let’s look at the next set of three criteria for a successful next generation HR product:

 

‘Lean’ Recruiting

Recruiting is one of the most challenging positions in the enterprise. CEOs (usually) have 2-3 years before they are removed for bad performance, sales reps get 2-3 quarters, recruiters 2-3 weeks. That’s still better than 2-3 hours for a waiter or a retailer sales clerk, but probably one of the most scrutinized positions in the enterprise. If a recruiter cannot bring on board the talent an enterprise is looking for after a few weeks, they will be looking for a new job soon. If you keep in mind unfavorable workforce dynamics, the need for acceleration etc. that job will not get easier.

So let’s keep in mind what the recruiter role was originally put in place for. Have a professional who does nothing but recruiting and is therefore better at it than the occasional recruitment by a manager in the line of business. And save time for that manager, so they don’t have to sift through many resumes, initial interviews etc. But at the same time the creation of the recruiter established a disconnect between the hiring manager and the candidate, that has to be overcome for every vacancy. The fact that up to a third of position in North America are not being filled due to perceived ‘friction’ between recruiters and line of business managers is telling. It looks like in too many case managers prefer to settle for hope (that employee will get better), have their team work more (‘so hard to find good people’), or kick the can down the road (the next manager can fix this) – than for recruiting new talent.

The good news is that with the advances in BigData, cheap, elastic compute capability from the cloud that allows for ‘true’ analytics, the recruiter can be largely bypassed and a filtered, fitted list of candidates can be served to the manager. The manager has to make the final call anyway, so instead of a recruiter working on many resumes to whittle down the list of good applicants to the final interview, managers can today get the list of final candidates, with the help of next generation recruiting software. We are at the cusp of video analysis to even add early conversation to the data trough from which managers can find the best candidates, after software has created the shortlist. And some vendors have even changed the recruiting model. Thanks to the advances of technology, headhunting techniques can be applied. Formerly only reserved to 6 digit salaried positions, the searching of social networks (interestingly Facebook beats out the ‘network of liars’, LinkedIn) for best fit candidates empowers managers to contact the best candidates directly, while they are still in their current jobs. This follows the old adage of the best people not looking for jobs (but being happily employed somewhere).

So empowerment of the business user, usage of Analytics and BigData – enabled ‘lean’ recruiting. With no recruiters involved (who will become coaches for managers and applicants, product managers at software companies etc.) – certainly an aggressive vision, but ask any manager out there if they would like it. They are more likely going to say Yes than No… which means it will happen, sooner than later.

Talent ‘Depth Chart’

Sports teams, security and military teams have depth charts. A coach needs to know who can play the same position, should she decide to substitute the player on the field, should the player be injured, booked etc. Likewise there can’t be an ‘emergency’ meeting when the heavy machine gunner is incapacitated… so why has the Talent ‘Depth Chart’ not been enabled for positions in an enterprise?

So let’s look what it means first: A manager should see at any given time how well the current holder of a positon is performing. Who else in the enterprise can do that job, and can do a better job than the incumbent. What talent (using ‘lean’ recruiting) above could be hired from outside the enterprise. Or if the position may not be around much longer and the local labor laws are challenging to shut down the position – what candidates from contingent worker sources could be hired. A contractor maybe even the best fit to the position, regardless of the employment status.

Again the good news is that vendors are actively thinking about this. It is relatively easy to see how well an employee is performing, the manager will have an opinion on this anyway. But it is hard to do something about it. So finding coaching, learning and mentoring tools and options is the first step. Finding good fits in the enterprise is the next step. Easing the conversation with the manager of a professional that a manager would like to ‘poach’ with a ‘one’ click automation. Giving the phone numbers of the best 2-3 external candidate fits for a position. Same for the best contractors. Show how well the can do the job, where would the rank on the ‘Talent Depth’ chart for that position? All these functions can be build today, enabling the manager to assess incumbent and potential talent for a position.

Transboarding

I wrote about Transboarding the first time in summer of 2014 (more here) – it’s a word constructed out of merging transfer, off- and onboarding. A lot of effort, time and resources are spend on Recruiting and Onboarding and they are key HR functions, but the most common HR event, the transfer is very little automated and supported.

Consider the manager using a ‘Talent Depth’ chart as described above. She identifies a suitable individual in another department. Let’s got for the easy scenario – the individual wants to transfer, his manager is supportive, even better needs the current incumbent in the current position. Basically a talent swap. Even such a smooth and simple case is substantial work with HR Core, Training and Talent Management systems. If we talk hourly workers, add the complexity of Workforce Management. What if the manager could do an ‘electronic handshake’, set the date and the rest would be automated? The APIs for these functions are available. We are only waiting for vendors to ‘glue’ them together for very powerful automation in a flexible, the business user empowering way.

Being able to Transboard people efficiently will be key for enterprises going forward. We already known enterprises need to become faster, if they can allocate people faster as needed, they will get faster, too. Not to mention the higher satisfaction of employees who can rotate through positions faster, without haggling managers, without fear of upsetting the current manager and so on.

Stay tuned for Part III.

Resources

Inside the Future of HCM

Ten Trends Chief People Officers Need to Know in a Digital Age

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2015 Roundup Of Analytics, Big Data & Business Intelligence Forecasts And Market Estimates

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• Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) estimates adding analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) applications will increase their Total Addressable Market (TAM) by $13B in FY2014.

• 89% of business leaders believe Big Data will revolutionize business operations in the same way the Internet did.

• 83% have pursued Big Data projects in order to seize a competitive edge.

Despite the varying methodologies used in the studies mentioned in this roundup, many share a common set of conclusions. The high priority in gaining greater insights into customers and their unmet needs, more precise information on how to best manage and simplify sales cycles, and how to streamline service are common themes.

The most successful Big Data uses cases revolve around enterprises’ need to get beyond the constraints that hold them back from being more attentive and responsive to customers.

Presented below is a roundup of recent forecasts and estimates:

• Wikibon projects the Big Data market will top $84B in 2026, attaining a 17% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the forecast period 2011 to 2026. The Big Data market reached $27.36B in 2014, up from $19.6B in 2013. These and other insights are from Wikibon’s excellent research of Big Data market adoption and growth. The graphic below provides an overview of their Big Data Market Forecast.  Source: Executive Summary: Big Data Vendor Revenue and Market Forecast, 2011-2026.

• IBM and SAS are the leaders of the Big Data predictive analytics market according to the latest Forrester Wave™: Big Data Predictive Analytics Solutions, Q2 2015. The latest Forrester Wave is based on an analysis of 13 different big data predictive analytics providers including Alpine Data Labs, Alteryx, Angoss Software, Dell, FICO, IBM, KNIME.com, Microsoft, Oracle, Predixion Software, RapidMiner, SAP, and SAS. Forrester specifically called out Microsoft Azure Learning is an impressive new entrant that shows the potential for Microsoft to be a significant player in this market. Gregory Piatetsky (@KDNuggets) has done an excellent analysis of the Forrester Wave Big Data Predictive Analytics Solutions Q2 2015 report here. Source: Courtesy of Predixion Software: The Forrester Wave™: Big Data Predictive Analytics Solutions, Q2 2015 (free, no opt-in).

• IBM, KNIME, RapidMiner and SAS are leading the advanced analytics platform market according to Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant. Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for advanced analytics evaluated 16 leading providers of advanced analytics platforms that are used to building solutions from scratch. The following vendors were included in Gartner’s analysis: Alpine Data Labs, Alteryx, Angoss, Dell, FICO, IBM, KNIME, Microsoft, Predixion, Prognoz, RapidMiner, Revolution Analytics, Salford Systems, SAP, SAS and Tibco Software, Gregory Piatetsky (@KDNuggets) provides excellent insights into shifts in Magic Quadrant for Advanced Platform rankings here.  Source: Courtesy of RapidMiner:  Magic Quadrant for Advanced Analytics Platforms Published: 19 February 2015 Analyst(s): Gareth Herschel, Alexander Linden, Lisa Kart (reprint; free, no opt-in).

• Salesforce estimates adding analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) applications will increase their Total Addressable Market (TAM) by $13B in FY2014. Adding new apps in analytics is projected to increase their TAM to $82B for calendar year (CY) 2018, fueling an 11% CAGR in their total addressable market from CY 2013 to 2018. Source: Building on Fifteen Years of Customer Success Salesforce Analyst Day 2014 Presentation (free, no opt in).

• 89% of business leaders believe big data will revolutionize business operations in the same way the Internet did. 85% believe that big data will dramatically change the way they do business. 79% agree that ‘companies that do not embrace Big Data will lose their competitive position and may even face extinction.’ 83% have pursued big data projects in order to seize a competitive edge. The top three areas where big data will make an impact in their operations include: impacting customer relationships (37%); redefining product development (26%); and changing the way operations is organized (15%).The following graphic compares the top six areas where big data is projected to have the greatest impact in organizations over the next five years. Source: Accenture, Big Success with Big Data: Executive Summary (free, no opt in).

• The global Big Data market is projected reach $122B in revenue by 2025. Frost & Sullivan also forecasts the global data traffic will cross 100 Zettabytes annually by 2025. Source: World’s Top Global Mega Trends To 2025 and Implications to Business, Society and Cultures.

 

• The global text analytics market has a potential to reach $6.5B by 2020, attaining a CAGR of 25.2% from 2014 to 2020. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), predictive analytics and brand reputation are the top three projected applications. The following graphic provides an overview of key findings from the report.  Source: Global Text Analytics Market: Text Analytics, Visualizing and Analyzing Open-Ended Text Data.

 

• Customer analytics (48%), operational analytics (21%), and fraud & compliance (21%) are the top three use cases for Big Data. Datameer’s analysis of the market also found that the global Hadoop market will grow from $1.5B in 2012 to $50.2B in 2020, and financial services, technology and telecommunications are the leading industries using big data solutions today. Source: Big Data: A Competitive Weapon for the Enterprise.

• 37% of Asia Pacific manufacturers are using Big Data and analytics technologies to improve production quality management. IDC found manufacturers in this region are relying on these technologies to reduce costs, increase productivity, and attract new customers. Source: Big Data and Analytics Core to Nex-Gen Manufacturing.

• Supply chain visibility (56%), geo-location and mapping data (47%) and product traceability data (42%) are the top three potential areas of Big Data opportunity for supply chain management. Transport management, supply chain planning, & network modeling and optimization are the three most popular applications of Big Data in supply chain initiatives. Source: Supply Chain Report, February 2015.

• Finding correlations across multiple disparate data sources (48%), predicting customer behavior (46%) and predicting product or services sales (40%) are the three factors driving interest in Big Data analytics. These and other fascinating findings from InformationWeek’s 2015 Analytics & BI Survey provide a glimpse into how enterprises are selecting analytics applications and platforms. Source: Information Week 2015 Analytics & BI Survey.

• Banking, communications, media, utilities and wholesale trade increased their use of Big Data analytics the most in the last twelve months. Gartner’s latest survey of big data adoption completed in the 4^th quarter of 2014 found that columnar/in-memory databases, high-capacity data warehouses, search-based indexes and log data analytics all experienced greater than 5% growth in references reporting active use. Source: Survey Analysis: BI and Analytics Spending Intentions, 2015, 13 May 2015, Report G00274741 Analyst(s): Josh Parenteau & Rita L. Sallam (client access).

• IDC predicts the global Big Data and Analytics market will reach $125B in hardware, software and services revenue this year. The professional services-to-technology ratio will also increase 25% this year, due to increasingly complex system configurations and enterprise-wide solutions. IDC also predicts the Internet of Things (IoT) market will also attain a 30% CAGR from 2014 to 2019. Source: IDC Predictions 2015: Accelerating Innovation — and Growth — on the 3rd Platform by Frank Gens & IDC Predictions 2015 Team (free, no opt-in courtesy of SAP).

 

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Progress Report - Teradata is alive and kicking and shows some good 'paranoid' practices

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We had the opportunity to attend the Teradata Influencer Summit held at the beautiful L’Auberge Del Mar in northern San Diego. When mentioning to other influencers that I would be en route for that meeting earlier in the week, I mostly gathered incredulous stares and comments like ‘are they still around and interesting’? I missed the first half day, but the next one and a half days gave a good insight into where Teradata is and where they want to be in the next years. 

 

 

 

So here are my top 3 takeaways from the event

A compelling vision – In recent times Teradata had been blamed for a lack of vision and / or a lack of sense of realism. I followed the Summit two years ago from the fences and back then an executive had an elaborate presentation to show why Hadoop would be a failure – or only a temporary fashion that would disappear as fast as it showed up. But quickly afterwards (and some colleagues say the Summit helped) Teradata reversed course, changed from a ‘struggle to snuggle’ approach vis a vis Hadoop, embracing more of Hadoop, partnering e.g. with MongoDB already a year ago (and again was a key sponsor of this year’s MongoDB World – also this week, event report here). All slides at the summit had Teradata, Aster and Hadoop based offerings. As a matter of fact the Teradata UDA includes all three database paradigms.
 

The vision of the 'Sentient' Enterprise

And along these capabilities Teradata is using its by now proven Querygrid capabilities, following the ‘co-existence’ route with Hadoop, or ‘federated query’ strategy all vendors with an age of 5+ years pursue. As part of that Teradata sees the world separated into three categories of systems – tightly coupled (Teradata), loosely coupled (Aster) and non-coupled (Hadoop). An interesting approach to the system landscape, that Ratzesberger used to explain the vision of the ‘sentient enterprise’. There are pros and cons with federation, see MyPOV section below.

It’s coming together – Not sure when Teradata came up with the vision, but obviously work needs to be done here. Teradata needs to write the endpoint to execute queries on the Hadoop side, and it currently supports Hive for that. But Hive has known benefits and challenges, and Teradata will address the challenges soon, stay tuned on that topic. The other piece critical is that a tool that can transport data back and forward, extract as needed from a variety of data sources as desired, transform information, can apply rules ‘in flight’ etc. Teradata calls it a Listener, but it is much more. In the old times one could call it a bona fide ETL tool, only that today it scales to the 21st century requirements with streaming data, humungous data volumes, BAM and CEP like support etc. – a key product / tool to make the Teradata UDA fly. 

 

 

 

The Analytical Application Platform

Self-disruption built in – All successful technology companies struggle with disrupting themselves. It’s a price of success and harvesting the benefits of maturation of technology that create the potential for technology disruption. Co-President Wimmer remarked that all successful database companies, the 30+ year olds are setup for disruption today. Usually technology players react to disruption risks with acquisitions, try to insert knew product capabilities and employee talent and these approaches are usually less successful than intended for a variety of reason.

Teradata has taken a unique approach here, allowing the acquisition of ThinkBigA to keep operating independently, and even taking a step further, funding its global expansion. Unique, because ThinkBigA does pure best of breed BigData projects, with complete independence of choosing technologies customer’s desire. As such ThinkBigA cannibalizes Teradata customers to a certain extent, and remarkably Teradata does nothing to stop that.
 

The Teradata free ThinkBigA architecture

So kudos to the Teradata management, that coming of a close to death experience in regards of the Hadoop phenomena, now has a built in disruptor with ThinkBigA. Quite a gutsy move, coming close to e.g. an enterprise ERP vendor allowing a subsidiary services company to sell services on competitor products to its customers. What? Granted the ThinkBigA case is not that drastic, as the provider ‘only’ uses open source, but the disruption is on hand. The benefits for Teradata are twofold: The vendor learns about real customer demands and quality of open source BigData products, that it can use for its own R&D strategy and effort. Secondly Teradata has a way to remain relevant (and extract revenues) from customers it otherwise would have lost to BigData / Opensource players anyway.

 

ThinkBigA BigData Project recommendations, notice bullet #5 - emphasis added

 

MyPOV

Teradata is alive and well, with solid product plans for the immediate future. The three tiered vision of federated queries and data is common for vendors with existing, substantial business. It resonates well with enterprises that are more conservative both in regards of technology adoption and security needs.

On the concern side, the verdict is out if enterprises operating with a federated storage and query approach will end up missing insights, or only getting served sub optimal insights. Conceptually one can make the case that every insight can only be caught with a single source storage, one place to be queried etc. but if the difference between the two is substantial for the success of a business, remains to be seen.

So a key 2nd half for Teradata on the product side, with a number of substantial announcements to come, key capabilities in the pipeline. Teradata may have been down, but it’s back on its feet and throwing punches. Only the paranoid survive and Teradata has gotten a litte more paranoid - in a positive way. Good to see for prospects, customers and the overall ecosystem as nothing fuels innovation better than competition. We will be watching.

2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 (C) Holger Mueller - All Rights Reserved

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Collaboration Around Files - A Case Study On Working With Clients

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

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I recently had the opportunity to speak with one of the world's largest advertising agencies about how they collaborate with their clients. Details of their solution are covered in the Constellation Research case study "Powering Global Client Collaboration with Secure File Sharing, How a Leading Ad Agency Used Egnyte Adaptive Enterprise File Services to Work with Clients". Constellation clients can download the full report here. 

Here are a few highlights:

• One of the main tasks of a digital agency is working with clients to create the multimedia assets used in their sales and marketing campaigns. The process is very collaborative, starting with gathering requirements, then brainstorming, multiple rounds of drafts and edits, followed by review, approval and production. Before Egnyte, it was difficult to share files and discuss changes via email. 
• The CIO along with other department leads started a multi-year technology refresh that focused on platforms with strong cloud-based and mobile features. The project began by replacing their legacy email system with Google’s productivity suite, Google Apps for Work. Google Apps was used not only for email and calendar, but also word processing, spreadsheets, file-sharing and internal web-conferencing all via a single integrated offering. 
• By switching to Fuze for real-time collaboration with clients, the Agency is able to easily share files from Egnyte into a Fuze video conference, where anyone can participate from his/her computer, phone or tablet. In these meetings, designs are reviewed and improved onscreen, eliminating the typical back and forth exchanges that lead to confusion and costly mistakes. 

Constellation clients can download the full report Powering Global Client Collaboration with Secure File Sharing to learn more about the challenges, solutions, benefits, takeaways and recommendations.

 

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Teradata Influencer Summit Highlights

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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Herman Wimmer, Co-President kicks off the event. Herman says that the guiding priorities of Teradata are:

Key Principle #1: Analytic ecosystem: Teradata, DB, UDA, Real-time, Fabric Architecture

Key Principle #2: Big Data Technologies: Aster, Hadoop, Bid Data Apps, Apps Center, Open Source Contribution and leverage

Key Principle#3: Cloud for Analytics

Key Principle #4: Enterprise Class Production Analytics, Hybrid Implementations (Pubic/ Private), Broader Market Penetration

Key Principle #5: Consulting, Big Data Consulting, Analytics Consulting, Managed Services

Key Principle #6: Future Markets: Healthcare, Government, Innovation, People, Passion….

In a digital world, where business models are changing very fast (note not everyone agrees with this or sees it) business will need real-time data to make better decisions to make the customer experience the best it can be. Companies that used to compete on selling cars are really COMPETING ON THE “experience or what it feels like to drive/ own the car.” Engineers, marketers, Customer Service Professionals can guess what is making the customer happy- DRIVING THAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE or they can use these technologies available to drive better business. It is not easy, but Teradata definitely simplifying it. And it takes investment of people, process, time, and the technology and PASSION.

My POV: Where is your company with respect to going beyond the conversations of “big data” for “big data” sake and are truly embracing the data in the business, where it can make a difference. Who should lead this? CEOs that “get the value of data” are looking to someone in their organization to do it – CIO, CTO, CMO, Customer Service Professional to lead data revelations. And if one of those “titles” doesn’t step-up and lead or co-lead with other executives, CEOs will find and hire Chief Digital Officers or Chief Customer Officers to make it happen. It is an opportunity, but it is not without risk. Done well, it bring huge financial rewards to the company that master it. And probably most likely help that person’s career. If you are in a position that isn’t data-centric – then it’s up to you to turn it into that.

@drnatalie, VP and Principal Analyst, Covering Marketing, Sales, Marketing and Customer Service using Big Data Analytics to Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences

 

Next-Generation Customer Experience Chief Customer Officer