How to Harness Big Data for New Profits & Success

Not necessarily available for everyone to see, but on the internet.

Not only is there structured data, but unstructured data: Facebook status updates, Tweets, that book you purchased online.

More and more of this data actually is available for everyone to see. It forms a great grid, now being called the Internet of Things.

How can you use this? Here’s an example.

Twitter analytics now describes in detail your followers interests, gender, household income, consumer buying styles, net worth, marital status, education and wireless carrier.

All for free.

Not only does the GPS in your cell phone transmit your location coordinates. Your car also sends data to the manufacturer via OnStar or other services.

The internet itself is often referred to as the cloud. Why?

Every day there are more servers and computers placed on this giant network.

Since your data isn’t exactly all in one place, this huge network is aptly described as a large, constantly changing and growing cloud.

At first, we stored our data on floppy disks. Then there were CDs. Then DVDs. Then Blu Ray discs.

These worked well for the old desktop computers.

Yet today, we use laptops, tablets, smart phones, smart watches and other wearable tech.

We take our devices everywhere. And we want every one of these devices to access our data.

Years ago, all our software came on disks.

Later on, we began downloading our programs from the internet onto our desktops. (Where we still kept our data.)

Today, the cloud houses our data and our software. Software makers update their creations without there even having to be an Update button to press.

Nor do we have to reboot.

And, we can use our data and apps anywhere we take our devices.

All of this is known as Software As A Service (SaaS).

How is all of this an advantage to you?

First of all, you can use all this data from anywhere, with fewer interruptions.

You can use the data to find people who are more likely to buy your products and services.

More importantly, you can know exactly when they want to buy.

It gives you customer service and customer relationship management ability you’ve never had before.

You can tell when someone places something in a virtual shopping cart, but doesn’t actually hit the Buy button.

Why not email them a special offer?

Or, your car signals the dealership that it’s low on oil.

All of a sudden, they automagically get an oil change reminder and a coupon.

As you look around, you probably see your life being impacted by these changes more and more.

Are you using this data to your advantage?