Marketing is heading towards Big Data and analytics. Marketers are experiencing increased complexity in both their departments as well as daily pursuits. Data complexity is increased with campaigns on social media combined with other data sources from sales and finance. So companies are now resorting to marketing analytics for data aggregation, analysis and making data-driven decisions. Before going ahead with marketing analytics, companies should identify their key objectives based on a definite analytics platform which is divided into milestones in sync with the existing framework of the company. Once this is done, one can start the analytics journey and hold key stakeholders responsible for results all of which are based on the company’s goals and vision. Data techniques to be used should be decided solely on the basis of the company’s objective. It is important to focus on the correct segment of data within the entire data set. This way one can increase the chance of gaining actionable insights on data and thus pushing the company towards growth. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/marketing-analytics-do-you-have-a-framework

In the last few years, the PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) market has seen an explosion. Organizations are now looking forward to receiving, processing, storing and scaling data and PaaS is making all these possible. Here are five things one should know about PaaS:

(i) PaaS benefits not only start-ups but also other organizations. 

(ii) PaaS platforms differ widely with different architecture and languages. Applications can be developed in languages tailor-made to suit the needs of individual businesses.

(iii) PaaS and DevOps (software developed in response to an interdependence of software developers and other IT professionals) intersects at the point of delivery. Thus, both can work together.

(iv)  PaaS is a safe and secure option for storing and processing data. It also supports important security standards.

(v) PaaS serves as one of the critical components for building applications for IoT. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7964-paas-five-things-you-didn-t-know

Big data will play a major role in shaping the future of businesses. The two major areas that are going to undergo significant changes are as follows:

(i) Previously, once data had been used, it used to be deleted. But now, as predictive analytics makes use of historical data, so data needs to be stored for an indeterminate period of time. This is against the current laws and thus requires amendment. In future, well-defined laws about collection, distribution and storage of data are going to be the key to success for businesses using Big Data.

(ii) With technological advancement, data is being collected at a faster rate than before. Also new and improved technology is being used to sort it. In future, frameworks will need to be robust in nature and analytical processes should be improved in terms of speed and accuracy. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/big-data-and-the-future-of-business

With the rising popularity of mobile apps, it has become a necessity for businesses to have a mobile-first approach. Before adopting a mobile-first strategy, the following factors should be kept in mind:

(i) Businesses should be familiar with the platform they use. Familiarity with advertising budget and the ability to hire professional web designers and developers is also required.

(ii) Apps should be built with a goal in mind. Apps can be made to boost sales, retain old customers or some other purpose.

(iii) To stand out in the crowded app market, marketing the app needs to be useful and purposeful.

(iv)  Apps should be unique in experience and significantly different from the company's website. Apps should be able to provide a simplified customer experience.

(v) Apps should be tested before being launched as a bad experience will have a negative impact on the targeted customers. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7987-is-mobile-first-right-for-your-business

Social media has emerged to be the answer to several marketing problems. Be it improving interactions with customers or finding new ways to boost sales, social media answers it all. Using social media, companies can directly interact with their customers instead of just advertising to them. Companies can emerge as social media powerhouse in the following three ways:

(i) Companies should not concentrate all their efforts on a single social media platform. Instead, they should make their presence felt in several social media channels so as to avoid alienating many prospective customers.

(ii) Social media marketers should maintain uniqueness when it comes to creating content and producing strategies.

(iii) Companies should raise their voice in social media. This helps to maintain brand consistency and create associations with customers. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/become-a-social-media-powerhouse

With the analytics boom, businesses are treading the data-driven path. But organizations should realize that not every data is useful- one needs to sift through a huge amount of data to find out the useful ones. Often having a large database doesn't indicate a successful data program, instead it implies a program requiring considerable amount of work. The problem with a large database is that the data does not possess a reasonable degree of accuracy hence making it difficult to make accurate business analysis. Knowing more about the data- what it is and what it represents- will enable companies to filter, categorize and analyze data. Cleaning up data isn't something that can be easily achieved through technology. Data gathering system should be developed keeping in mind what data is being collected and why it is being collected. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/your-data-is-garbage

Data breaches have always been a broad level concern, but what is more important is the impact data breaches have. Usually after a company suffers a data breach, strict regulations are enforced curtailing employee use of data. Thus the entire workforce loses data flexibility which in turn affects productivity. At times, hasty decisions can demoralize employees. Having a data-led approach to business throughout the company is definitely a welcome change. There are a number of ways to dispel fears surrounding data. Risks surrounding data can be avoided through three elements namely policy, training and education, and technology. Policy should guide through using data and devices. Training and educating employees is relevant in avoiding breaches. Technology will protect the business in case of a data breach. Having an intelligent, flexible and secure approach to information management will ensure effective use of data while guarding against risks. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/don-t-be-scared-of-your-data

In the years, succeeding the financial crisis, the banking sector was restructured ranging from changes in regulations to customer service. The major problems that banks are facing include customer dissatisfaction, fraud, increased competition and regulations and all these issues can be solved using Big Data analytics. By leveraging transactional, behavioral and social data, banks can provide a hyper-personalized customer service. Risk management is another area where analytics can be of help. Big Data analytics can detect cybercrimes and predict the location of attack. It can also identify deviation in customer behavior which is indicative of fraud. Big Data technologies can be used to integrate external watch list screening system and unstructured emerging data sources. There is a huge scope for newcomers in Fintech sector to exploit Big Data as they are built keeping analytics in mind. The big banks should adopt new technologies to leverage the wealth of data they possess and maintain a competitive edge. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/analytics-in-banking

Mobile computing has changed the consumers as well as enterprise landscapes. Due to this, businesses are being forced to develop mobile-based strategies, Business Process Management (BPM) software being one of them. BPM software allows companies to gain faster and better insights into the operations taken by it. It offers a bouquet of possibilities, the major ones being business model analysis, mobile features, social interactions and cloud technology.  This software is also useful for company workers having a mobile workforce. The software can be used to operate all aspects of the business. The adoption of this platform allows companies to achieve increased efficiency, productivity and future integration of business entities to the system. In order to fully utilize the benefits of this platform, it is suggested to focus on processes that are essentially important to the business. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7922-why-companies-are-adopting-mobile-bpm

Niche marketing is a good way to reach out to a difficult demographic. To have a successful niche marketing strategy, understanding the audience is crucial. A tailor-made marketing content targeted to a specific demographic is effective. Here are some tips to have a successful niche marketing strategy:

(i) Marketers should provide consumers with a good introduction of themselves and explain why they are the right ones to satisfy the consumer’s needs.

(ii) Marketers should imagine situations from consumer’s perspective while designing the marketing strategy.

(iii) Empathizing with the customer and understanding and appreciating their feelings is important as it helps to build a long-lasting relationship.

(iv) Using market research data to figure out how to go about targeting the niche audience is helpful.

(v) Uniqueness in content is necessary to achieve success in niche marketing.

Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/understanding-your-audience-how-to-reach-niche-consumers

Big Data is perceived to be a high tech thing that allows us to gain insights and solve problems like never before. Big Data is processed using brand new computers possessing huge processing power. To utilize data to its full potential, constantly updating systems is necessary. Contrary to our belief that data is a new age concept, data has been in use since a long time as is evident from Willard Brinton’s book Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts published in 1914. Most of the techniques discussed in the book are relevant even today. The only difference between then and now is that the size and availability of data has increased manifold thanks to our growing digital footprint. Big Data is becoming bigger with time but the relevance and use of data remains unchanged. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/big-data-its-not-new

The key to achieving better efficiency in CRM is through analytics. CRM will help sales teams to identify leads and retain customers. Marketing teams can use CRM to plan strategies for future. One should keep the following things in mind to successfully leverage CRM data:

(i) Data should be clean and devoid of bad data. Clean, filtered and structured data is essential for gaining meaningful insights.

(ii) Fixing systematic failures and finding ways to improve processes is important. Methods to capture data should not be broken. (iii) Adopting use of data quality tools so that one can use self-service tools and prepare data thus leading to improved productivity with progress of implementation.  

Read more at:http://www.business2community.com/big-data/taking-control-crm-data-01253472

Banking sector has embraced new technologies to provide better services to its tech savvy customers. Hare are 4 ways that illustrate how banks have adopted new technologies:

(i) Mobile apps: several banks and financial institutions have generated mobile apps that provides mobile payment services.

(ii) Wearable tech: A major section of consumers prefer using wearable devices to make payments. Keeping this in mind, banks have launched apps that are supported by wearable devices.

(iii) Social presence: Banks are going social with their presence in various social media and networking sites.

(iv) Financial gaming: Financial institutions are using gamification technology to attract customers. Several financial institutions have launched gaming platform where customers, on the basis of how often they visit the bank’s website, can earn points and win prizes. Read more at: http://www.cio.in/feature/how-big-banks-use-tech-to-attract-savvy-consumers#

Businesses should always keep invoking new technology in their systems to keep themselves updated. A recent study has revealed that innovation occurs when business models can be matched with one or more of the six patterns where technological advances and market needs overlap, thus leading to growth and transformation. These six points of overlap are named as Six Degrees of Innovation which are as follows:

(i) Meeting customers’ individual needs with tailor-made products and services.

(ii) Achieving sustainability by minimizing waste and managing resource cost.

(iii) Possessing jointly owned assets to boost efficiency and minimize cost.

(iv) Saving money whenever possible by paying only for the services that are used.

(v) Monitoring supply chains effectively by using tracking systems.

(vi) Using data and analytics to gauge customer needs and easily adapting it. Read more at:      http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8199-innovation-technology-adoption.html

Big data and analytics are the buzz words in any industry now, but one should not forget that data inaccuracy can lead to huge losses for any industry. Big data becomes useless unless it possess a reasonable degree of accuracy. In case of industries like healthcare and banking big data mistakes can even take someone’s life. Data should be cleaned before data scientists can leverage it to derive useful insights. Practicing good data management is the need of the hour. Executives, instead of being impressed by the size of data, should question its quality. Systems should be designed in such a manner that it is able to simplify the process of data collection and minimize risks from inefficient data. Read more at:https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7782-big-data-vs-bad-data