Analytics

SAP Seeks Autistic Employees
May 23, 2013

German software heavyweight SAP plans to recruit hundreds of people with autism in a quest to staff employees who "think differently." Autism affects people's ability to communicate and interact socially but has the knock-on effect of creating repetitive -- to the point of obsessive -- behavior. This makes autistic people particularly adept at analyzing data and picking up on details.

Integration Plus Intelligence Equals Multichannel Campaign Success
May 23, 2013

The personality inventory known as the "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" is premised on the idea that different people process information in different ways. Some people are verbal processors. Others are visual processors. Some people respond more strongly to images -- others to text. The most effective way to learn is to map the different learning styles to each individual's characteristic strengths.

White House Pulls Back the Curtains on Big Data Project
May 22, 2013

The U.S. government is awash in data that is collected, stored and disseminated by federal agencies to fulfill their public service missions. However, the existence of huge amounts of information within the government presents a major profit-making opportunity for commercial firms. The Obama administration has now launched a program to make federal data resources much more available.

Getting the Best Out of IT Partnerships, IBM-SAP Style
May 21, 2013

There's no shortage of partner initiatives at most annual IT vendor events, but that was especially apparent at SAP's recent Sapphire NOW conference in Orlando, Fla. In large part, it's simply the nature of the event beast. Vendors work for weeks or even months on conference-related announcements, hoping to garner the attention of energized, enthusiastic attendees.

Marketing, Big Data Tech IPOs Get Rousing Market Welcome
May 20, 2013

Marketo and Tableau Software are having strong launches as public companies, indicating investors are excited about the growth in enterprise software markets that target niches such as Big Data and marketing automation. Tableau Software, which designs data visualization software that helps businesses manage information, trades under the appropriate ticker symbol DATA.

From BI to KPIs to Benchmark Success in the Cloud
May 10, 2013

Organizations of all sizes across an assortment of industries are using a growing set of cloud analytics solutions to address their Big Data, business intelligence and data integration challenges. Escalating competitive pressures and customer expectations are forcing organizations to find new ways to tap internal and external data sources to achieve their business goals.

YouTube Trends Map Shows What You Like to Watch
May 08, 2013

YouTube viewers curious about what other users are watching across the country can now find out, thanks to a new feature from the streaming video site that displays data about what is being shared and viewed throughout the U.S. The new YouTube Trends Map, which made its debut this week, is an interactive graphic map of the country that displays which videos are the most popular.

Tap CRM to Give Your Customers a Pleasant Surprise
May 07, 2013

So you have your CRM application in place and humming, collecting information about customers and potential customers and organizing it -- but how are you using it? Most companies pour it back into sales, marketing and support to keep feeding those machines, which is good. It's the way you realize the value from your CRM investment.

New IT Tools Untie Tangled Webs of Business Data
May 06, 2013

Information may indeed be power, but organizations large and small are finding that they have to expend more energy than ever just to keep up with the data streams flooding their infrastructures. It's not just the internal data that provides intelligence about their businesses. Organizations are also having to manage all that external Big Data that can help them land new customers.

Nielsen Logs On to Test Digital TV Content Ratings
May 01, 2013

As TV audiences move online, it has become necessary to measure those viewers in new ways. Nielsen had that shift in mind this week when it launched Nielsen Digital Program Ratings, a pilot program which measures audiences for TV content viewed online. Eight content owners, including the four major broadcast networks, will take part in the pilot program.

Pegasystems App Susses Out Customers' Soft Spots
April 23, 2013

Pegasystems has rolled out the newest iteration of its marketing application. New or enhanced features include improved ability to perform real time event-triggered actions and new B2B recommendation functionality. The key to understanding this app is its name, "Next-Best-Action," said Steve Kraus, senior director of product marketing. "That is the concept behind our approach to marketing.

Transforming an Enterprise From Sluggish to Sleek
April 22, 2013

When it comes to the enterprise, thin is in -- as in slimming down business processes and reducing the level of complexity that comes with running organizations in the 21st century. That goal would be challenging enough without the arrival of trends like Big Data and mobility. There are also the continuing struggles to secure company data, manage risk and meet compliance deadlines.

All Things Appy: Top 5 Chrome Finance Apps
April 17, 2013

It's mid-April, and spring is in the air -- that time of year when a young man's or young lady's thoughts turn to money. Conveniently for us all, the Web browser is a fine place to organize finances, whether you want to get the process over with as fast as possible, or enjoy it in king-is-in-the-counting-house mode. Google's Chrome Web browser is resplendent with numerous add-ons fit for the purpose.

Google Takes Another Step Toward Omniscience
April 16, 2013

Google has engaged the Behavio team in a "hiring exercise." The startup uses mobile sensors to collect data and predict behavior. Its technology recognizes data such as location, contacts, nearby destinations, recent phone activity, daily movement, and surrounding physical information. Data can be analyzed to let consumers know anything from whether their morning coffee stop is unusually crowded to which traffic routes are clear.

Tech's Hard-Boiled Progeny: The Data Journalist
April 16, 2013

When we think of traditional news gatherers, we might conjure up the image of an obstreperous character brazenly hassling a slimy official for the real story -- or hovering paparazzi harassing a poor celebrity innocently shopping for handbags in Beverly Hills. However, there have been some technology-driven changes since Hollywood handed us those stock characters that could severely alter the picture.

Using Cloud Analytics to Corral Big Data
April 12, 2013

Strategic Big Data and Actionable Analytics are two of the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013, according to Gartner. Yet only 12 percent have a big data strategy that governs their daily operations, a recent survey of 339 data management professionals by SAS and SourceMedia found. In my view, this gap is the result of years of unfulfilled promises from a previous generation of business intelligence and data integration vendors.

New Mobile Marketplace Blends Apps, Ads and Analytics
April 10, 2013

Mobile app measurement provider Flurry on Tuesday opened its mobile Flurry Marketplace advertising platform, a real time bidding offering that will help publishers adjust their ad prices by backing inventory with analytics data. Advertisers will be able to use the data to target ads in smartphone and tablet apps by segments such as device, location or even interests.

Feds to Spend Big on Big Data
April 03, 2013

The mushrooming growth of data generated by government agencies will drive federal IT investment in the necessary tools for managing colossal amounts of bits and bytes. As a result of the explosion in information, the government will be spending increasing amounts of its funds on Big Data capabilities.

CallCopy Lets Managers See What Customers Are Saying
April 01, 2013

CallCopy recently unveiled cc: Discover 5.1, an upgrade to its flagship workforce optimization suite. Many of the changes incorporated in this version were made at the behest of customers who provided feedback at the company's first annual User Conference last fall, said Patrick Hall, CMO of CallCopy. Taken as a whole, the upgraded application "provides a simple solution to solving complicated problems."

Big Data Spawns Big Ideas for Mobile CRM
March 29, 2013

If you have been thinking lately that the chief marketing officer has been driving CRM purchases more than the IT department, you're right. "This is the era of the CMO," Larry Bowden, vice president of portals and Web experience at IBM, told CRM Buyer. The reason for that is simple: The amount of information becoming available to the CMO through new technologies and Big Data offers huge potential.