Marketers use data to assess campaign success, allocate budget, delineate customer analytics, design new products, optimize acquisition and retention, etc. However, with multiple data sources and owners, organizations often struggle with consolidating the right data and reporting to fully answer the questions asked. Along comes big data!
Big data is exciting and challenging at the same time, since it affords a holistic look of customer analytics, yet exacerbates the complexity due to legacy data-silos and stakeholder needs.
This is a call for "smarter” approach to defining and using big data for tactical and strategic marketing objectives.
For marketers, a mapping exercise, as below, may help create a framework of available and needed data and systems. The layout identifies the evolution of
data capture and applications, as organizations mature, and highlights the value being injected
back into the business. It is telling in different ways – gaps in data capture,
systems limitations, analytical resource allocation, etc. But most importantly,
it highlights the need to innovate and upgrade legacy systems such that the analytics
efforts can be targeted for the greatest impact and ROI.
It must be noted that the data silos are identified as they relate to customer
analytics. Note that, as a marketer, I am looking into our current systems, so we can model returns from existing capabilities and tie the improvements to enhanced future investments. In other words, try and look at the parts to solve for the
whole - get some short-term wins to articulate investments and the need to be on an "analytics fast lane.”
The question to ask of the management is – here’s where we
are and here’s where we can be. Are we ready to invest?
The framework may help articulate big data scope and
ROI, and also facilitate:
- Breaking down projects into chunks of easily manageable proposals
- Identifying the next big investment
- Developing internal capabilities (organizational and personnel)
- Providing a launching pad for execs to commit to larger projects
With investment along X-axis, we can improve our
capabilities along Y-axis, which in turn, contributes to the growth trajectory
graph.
