Turning Big Data Into Business Insights: Special Report

SPECIAL REPORT
Turning big data

into business insights
COPYRIGHT 2017 CBS INTERACTIVE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS INSIGHTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
03 Turning big data into business insights: The state of play
16 Infographic: Most companies are collecting data, but arent using big
data solutions
18 How HelloFresh uses big data to cook up custom meals for millions of
customers
22 Booktopia uses big data to test assumptions before implementing

changes
27 Using big data to fight the opioid epidemic across the US

30 5 organizations that are using big data to power digital transformation
35 7 pitfalls to avoid when using big data to power digital transformation
39 Choosing the best big data partners: Eight questions to ask
43 How Wayfair used big data and omnichannel retail to transform
shopping
2
TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS

INSIGHTS: THE STATE OF PLAY
BY CHARLES MCLELLAN
We live in an increasingly data-driven society, in which information is becoming as much of a currency as
money. Many consumers use free services from internet giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and
Apple, for example, and in return allow these corporations to track and monetise their online behaviour.
One of the biggest questions of the day is the openness of such transactions, and the level of control
that individuals have over the fate of the personal information theysometimes unwittinglydivulge to
organisations with which they interact online. Recent votes on both sides of the Atlantic have highlighted
the capacity for data-savvy organisations to hoover up and profile large amounts of user dataincluding
demographics, consumer behaviour and internet activityin order to micro-target adverts, news stories and
services in support of particular goals or causes.
Clearly, the data floodgates are now opening for businesses of all sizes and descriptions, bringing myriad
opportunities for timely analysis in pursuit of competitive advantage. Although the focus is currently slanted
towards customer behaviour, data is available at multiple points in the product or service supply chain, and
comes in many formstraditional (structured), ad hoc (unstructured), real time, and IoT- or M2M-generated,
to name but a few.
Companies that implement big data analytics successfully can reap rich rewards from cost-saving efficiencies
and revenue-generating innovations. This can help businesses achieve a digital transformation, allowing them to
maintain competitiveness in the face of any disruptive startupswhich are data-driven almost by definition
that spring up in their markets.
However, useful business insights dont automatically flow from a torrent of heterogeneous information:
actionable data must be identified, organised and analysed, and the results implemented across relevant parts of
the business. That requires planning, budget and the right tools and expertise.
This overview, and the other articles in this special report, examines the state of play in big data analytics. We
may have passed peak hype on the subjectanalyst firm Gartner dropped Big Data from its Hype Cycle for
Emerging Technologies back in 2015but has it yet delivered on its promise?
3
HOW MUCH DATA?

Attempts are periodically made to estimate how much data is generated worldwide
every year, and in what form. Back in 2014, IDC and EMC put the Digital Universe
at 4.4 zettabytes (ZB) in 2013thats 4.4 trillion gigabytesand predicted this would
grow to 44ZB in 2020, more than doubling every two years. The latest estimate, from
IDC and Seagates Data Age 2025 report, puts the 2025 figure (now dubbed the
Global Datasphere) at 163ZBa tenfold rise from the 16.1ZB created in 2016.
IMAGE: IDC/SEAGATE
The IDC/Seagate report also predicts that the bulk of worldwide data creation will
shift from consumers to enterprises, the latter accounting for 60 percent by 2025.
Trends driving this shift, according to the report, include: the evolution of data from
business background to life-critical; embedded systems and the IoT; cognitive/AI
systems that change the landscape; mobile and real-time data; and security as a critical
foundation.
All that data needs a home, either permanent or temporary, which explains the
interest of a storage company like Seagate in this area.
In a statement launching the report, Seagate CEO Steve Luczo (soon to become
Executive Chairman) said: While we can see from this new research that the era
of Big Data is upon us, the value of data is really not in the known, but in the
unknown where we are vastly underestimating the potentials today. What is really
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exciting are the analytics, the new businesses, the new thinking and new ecosystems from industries like
robotics and machine-to-machine learning, and their profound social and economic impact on our society. The
opportunity for todays enterprises and tomorrows entrepreneurs to capture the value of data is tremendous,
and our global business leaders will be exploring these opportunities for decades to come.
WHICH DATA?
Faced with mind-boggling quantities of data, CxOs might be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed. But, of course,
not all data is suitable or available for analysis. In the Data Age 2025 report, for example, IDC estimates that by
2025 some 20 percent of the data in the global datasphere will be critical to our daily lives, and 10 percent of
that will be hypercritical:
IMAGE: IDC/SEAGATE
BIG DATA TRENDS & PREDICTIONS

At the turn of each year, experts in a variety of tech fields offer their summaries of current trends and
predictions for the next 12 months. Big data is no exception, and weve collated multiple 2017 contributions,
assigning predictions to a range of emergent categories. Heres how a sample of the pundit community viewed
the big data landscape as 2017 got underway:
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The report notes that: The emergence

of hypercritical data must compel
businesses to develop and deploy data
capture, analytics, and infrastructure
that delivers extremely high reliability,
bandwidth, and availability; more
secure systems; new business practices;
and even new legal infrastructures
to mitigate exposure to shifting and
potentially debilitating liabilities.
IMAGE: IDC/SEAGATE
AI and machine learning will increas-
ingly be involved in big data analysis, which further restricts the amount of
available data. In the Data Age 2025 report, IDC estimates that by the end of 2025
only 15 percent of the data in the global datasphere will be taggedand therefore
suitable for AI/ML analysisand only 20 percent of that (3% of the total) will
actually be analysed by cognitive systems.
BIG DATA
TRENDS &
PREDICTIONS
At the turn of each year,
experts in a variety of tech
fields offer their summaries of
current trends and predictions
for the next 12 months. Big
data is no exception, and weve
collated multiple 2017 contribu-
tions, assigning predictions to a
range of emergent categories.
Heres how a sample of the
pundit community viewed the
big data landscape as 2017 got
underway: PREDICTIONS FROM: ACODEZ, BIG DATA MADE SIMPLE, DATAFLOQ, DATAMEER, ENTERRA
SOLUTIONS, GARTNER, HP ENTERPRISE, IBM, INFOGIX, MAPR, ORACLE, OVUM, PENTAHO,
QUANTZIG, RTINSIGHTS, SYSMECH, TABLEAU SOFTWARE (ANALYSIS & IMAGE: ZDNET)
6
For big data industry-watchers, the most influential area for 2017 is AI, machine learning, automation &
cognitive systems. Analyst firm Ovum, for example, suggests that Machine learning is the big disruptor
and that Analytic applications embedding machine learning are becoming the norm. Increasing levels of
automation are almost an inevitable requirement if organisations are to avoid drowning in dataor, as Enterra
Systems puts it: Artificial intelligence will grow in importance as data volume increases.
The second-placed recurrent theme for big data experts is the emergence of Data-driven business applications
(also a key theme for this ZDNet special report). Oracle puts it succinctly by noting that Applications, not just
analytics, propel big data adoption, while Gartner predicts that Data and analytics will drive modern business
operations, and not simply reflect their performance.
Other widely-cited trends and predictions for 2017 concern Informatics, data science & data engineering, Big
data proliferation & governance and Cloud-based analytics & integrated data services.
WHAT THE SURVEYS SAY

NEWVANTAGE PARTNERS
Management consulting firm
NewVantage Partners (NVP)
has been querying business and
technology decision-makers in
Fortune 1000 companies about
their big data deployments since
2012, publishing its fifth report
in April 2017.
The headline finding from NVPs

Big Data Executive Survey
2017 is that 80.7 percent of
respondents judged their big
DATA: NEWVANTAGE PARTNERS / CHART: ZDNET
data investments to be successful,
with 48.4 percent reporting
measurable results. The latter were subdivided into highest success (disruptive/innovative/transformative,
21%) and highly successful (evolutionary, 27.4%).
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Drilling down into the types of initiatives underway, top of the list in terms of results is
Decrease expenses through operational cost efficiencies, with 72.6 percent of respon-
dents starting projects and 49.2 percent reporting benefits. This gives a success rate of 67.8
percent, which is actually bettered by Create new avenues for innovation and disruption at
68.7 percent success (64.5% started, 44.3% reporting benefits).
Despite these successful projects, the Fortune 1000 companies surveyed by NewVantage
Partners still seem to be struggling to establish a data-driven culture: 69.4 percent have
begun initiatives in this area, but only 27.9 percent report benefits (40.2% success).
Among the cultural impediments to big data adoption, NVPs survey finds Insufficient
organizational alignment heading the list at 42.6 percent, just ahead of Lack of middle
management adoption and understanding and Business resistance or lack of understanding
(41%):
DATA: NEWVANTAGE PARTNERS/CHART: ZDNET
The above chart suggests that the main cultural impediments to big data adoption lie
with business units rather than the IT department, as issues concerning data governance,
technology understanding and data strategy are all cited by significantly fewer respondents
(<30%).
8
A key indicator that an organisation has a data-driven culture, or is working towards that goal, is the presence
of a Chief Data Officer (CDO). NVPs 2017 survey shows that Fortune 1000 companies have been making
progress on this front in recent years:
Although 60 percent of firms had a CDO in 2016, up from just 12 percent in 2012, their current role was seen
as defensive by a majority (56%) of NVPs respondentsprimarily reacting to regulatory and compliance
demands. Going forward, executives believe that CDOs should become more offensivetaking the lead in
driving innovation, building a data culture and managing data as an enterprise asset. Thats presumably why the
majority (53.4%) believe that CDOs should report to either the CEO (35.6%) or the COO (17.8%), rather than
the CIO (15.6%).
NVPs survey also asked respondents

which disruptive factorsapart from
big datathey foresee impacting their
organisations over the next decade.
Not surprisingly, given the current
level of hype surrounding the subject,
artificial intelligence and machine
learning came out on topboth in
single and multiple choice formats:
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GODATADRIVEN
For a European perspective, we examined the Big Data Survey from Dutch data consultancy GoDataDriven,
which is generated from attendees at the Big Data Expo in the Netherlands. The 2016 survey population
numbered 315, comprising 168 executives and 147 managers.
When asked about the main drivers of successful big data implementation, the frontrunner was A clear vision,
cited by 71.4 percent of respondents, followed by Support from management (51.2%) and Supporting
systems & processes (40.1%):
DATA: GODATADRIVE/CHART: ZDNET
As with the NewVantage survey discussed above, business factors seem to feature more prominently than IT
issues when it comes to big data success.
Thats not to say that IT issues arent important, of course. When asked about the challenges in setting up big
data infrastructure, the top two responses concerned data quality and data availability:
DATA: GODATADRIVEN / CHART: ZDNET
10
Once data of sufficient quality is available and a data-driven process is to be implemented, respondents
cited Big data knowledge & data science expertise and Time available for experimentation as the biggest
challenges:
A wide range of business areas were addressed by data-driven applications, headed by market analysis,
marketing, web shops and online apps. Only 2.1 percent of Big Data Survey respondents reported that they
had no data-driven applications.
Like NewVantage Partners, GoDataDriven asked its survey population about artificial intelligence. Although
only 14.3 percent were currently implementing deep learning and AI, 52 percent were either in development or
planned to implement deep learning and AI within three years:
AI is definitely on the agenda, but its clearly early days: just over one in five Big Data Survey respondents
(21.5%) had no plans in this area.
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AN EXPERT VIEW
To get an overview of the state of play in big data,
we talked to Sumit Nijhawan, CEO and president
at data integrity and data governance solutions
specialist Infogix, whose Top Ten Transformative
Data Trends for 2017 was among the sources for
the predictions analysis presented earlier. Here are
some key observations from the interview.
Almost every customer I go to has a big data
initiative, and many projects start with a lot of
momentum, investment and buzz. But the
progress theyve made, the value theyre getting
out of their investment, often does not meet initial
expectations, was Nijhawans opening statement.
Some things we are working on with our

SUMIT NIJHAWAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT AT INFOGIX (IMAGE:
customers, which we think can be transformative, INFOGIX)
are a combination of data governance, data

preparation, self-service and smaller data lake IT-dependent, still requiring very technical people
deployments, he added. to work on it. Thats not how youll get value out
of these investments.
So you would say that the main bottleneck in extracting
insights from big data is actually in discovering the valuable Does this mean that theres a disconnect between the
data that companies have, and making it available for business and ITdo organisations need to foster a data
analysis? culture, so that business units know how to ask the right
questions of the data, and generate insights themselves?
Yes, most of the focus has been to provide the
storage environmentHadoopand let everyone We certainly need more of a business-driven
dump whatever data they can into it. Two things data culture. Its not that the IT guys dont want to
are missing here: first, whats really the end goal share: its just that they have these tools and they
and objective of what theyre dumping into feel like theyre doing a good job, but they dont
Hadoop? And second, even if the data is there, its really know what the end goal is. Thats why, unless
not governed, its not searchable, its not findable, its a business-driven initiative, its hard for it to
and its not there in a way that draws consumers materialise into anything meaningful.
to the data and helps them get value. Its very
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Is there a missing link in many organisationsa Chief Data Officer (CDO), who can link between the C-suite and business
units, and the IT department?
Theres absolutely a missing link, but I wouldnt say its just about one person. The data culture just
mentioned is about people, processes and technologies, along with the data itself. Its really about the
end-to-end process: heres how Im going to source my data; this is what Im going to do with my data; and
this is how Im going to deliver my data. That end-to-end process needs to be initiated by a business sponsor,
which certainly could be the CDO. The problem with the Chief Data Officer paradigm today is, its almost a
bureaucratic position in many organisations: the CDO supposedly has influence, but has ended up becoming
the person that vendors go to to pitch their technologies, rather than someone whos there to meet business
objectives.
When you talk to customers, which data-related skills are currently most in demand? Some analysts have detected a softening in the
demand for data scientists, for example...
I think demand is softening, but its not because theres a plethora of data scientists out there: its more
because existing data scientists havent been able to deliver the value that businesses want. So the question
becomes: Whats the point in recruiting more data scientists if Im not getting value? Why cant I have my
operational folks, my day-to-day data analysts, take on more of this work? And quite honestly, they can,
because 80 percent of the problems that data scientists address can be solved by maybe 20 percent of the
algorithmsand those algorithms can be exposed in easy-to-use ways that data analysts and business analysts
can incorporate into operational and business processes. I think more of that is happening, and the result is less
demand for data scientists.
We hear a lot about self-service analytics, allowing even less expert people to get involved. Where do you think we are along
that road?
What were doing with our customers is, were going and seeing where theyve had data lake initiativesbig
data with Hadoop, Cloudera and all of thatand saying: Maybe you dont need any of those open-source
technologies that youre spending months and millions of dollars integrating. Were going to give you an
end-to-end appliance for big data thats completely self-service enabled: everything comes integrated, and all
you have to do is consume data and unleash your business folks, data scientists, whoever. Thats getting a lot
of traction in the market. I dont know of another competitor who is actually providing a single end-to-end
environment with Hadoop embedded, so that it becomes a black box to the customer.
Everyone is talking about machine learning and AI: how do you think its impact will play out in the big data space?
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Its been around for a while, but theres currently a lot of buzz associated with it.
But its like I said earlier: 80 percent of the problems can be solved by 20 percent of
machine learning algorithms such as segmentation, recommendation, classification,
regression and forecasting. One area where
were seeing a lot of traction is big data quality,
In three to five years, people
where traditionally data quality has been about
specifying exact matching rules and duplicate wont talk much about big
rules, and all of that stuff. Now the data data: instead theyll talk about
volumes are so high, and people are throwing
the outcomes of the big data
more data into the data lake, they dont neces-
sarily know what the exact rules are. Instead, thats being delivered in a
were using machine-learning algorithms such as self-service kind of way.
segmentation and classification to find outliers,
Sumit Nijhawan
for instance. Thats where machine learning is
already adding a lot of valuebut again, you
dont need very sophisticated data scientists to do that.
Finally, do you think that, with the advent of self-service tools and the increasing involvement of
non-specialists and even citizen data scientists, theres a democratisation process going on in big
data?
I do think that will happen: its the only way that investment in big data can be
sustained, and value realisedthere is no other option. And there are enough people,
both in the IT and vendor world, who will force the issue and find ways to do that. It
might be three to five years away, but I dont think much beyond that. In three to five
years, people wont talk much about big data: instead theyll talk about the outcomes
of the big data thats being delivered in a self-service kind of way.
A full report on the interview with Sumit Nijhawan will appear shortly on ZDNets
sister site Tech Pro Research.
OUTLOOK
Theres a lot of data about, and therell be a lot more in future, but organisations still
have plenty of work to do if theyre to routinely turn big data into valuable business
insights. The establishment of a data-driven culture and the availability of data
14
scientists and engineers (either recruited externally or trained internally) will be important in helping to bring
this about, at least in the short term.
As astronomer and early digital forensic investigator Clifford Stoll put it: Data is not information, Information
is not knowledge, Knowledge is not understanding, Understanding is not wisdom. So data scientists and
engineers will be needed to extract information and knowledge from large, heterogeneous collections of data,
and a data-driven culture will ensure that the right questions are asked, allowing understandingand perhaps
even wisdomto reach the relevant parts of the organisation.
Looking further ahead, increasing levels of automationparticularly in the area of data preparationand
the availability of self-service analytics tools will make data-driven insights routinely available to non-specialist
users.
Along with data governance regulations such the EUs GDPR (and whatever version of it the post-Brexit UK
government implements), these developments should help to redress the balance of power in the big data
society, away from internet giants and towards smaller organisations and individuals.
15
INFOGRAPHIC: MOST COMPANIES ARE

COLLECTING DATA, BUT ARENT USING
BIG DATA SOLUTIONS
BY AMY TALBOTT
Big data isnt just a buzzword or a passing
fad; it is a fundamental, increasingly
table stakes capability for companies in
all sectors, said Matt Zisow, director of
product at online retailer Wayfair, in a
recent interview with ZDNet. If youre
not actively investing in your companys
ability to gather and harness your data
in ways that matter to your customers,
youre almost certainly falling behind your
competition, even if you dont know it.
In a recent survey by ZDNets sibling site,

Tech Pro Research, respondents reported
that their companies are collecting data,
mostly to improve products and gauge
consumer preferences, but 61% said their
company isnt using a big data solution to
do it.
In the research report based on the

survey, author Christine Parizo pointed
out that big data solutions are a sizeable
investment, requiring the initial platform
implementation, plus paying one or more
IMAGE: ERIK UNDERWOOD/TECHREPUBLIC
people to turn gathered data into useable
insights for the business. Many businesses
may not see the value of big data solutions
at this point.
16
Based on responses to the survey, companies appear to be satisfied with their data collection tactics, even if
they arent cutting-edge. Among respondents from companies collecting data by any method, the majority
rated their systems as good, very good, or excellent at generating business insights. A majority also rated those
insights as average, easy, or very easy to act on.
Our infographic contains important findings from the survey. For more results and analysis, read the full
report, Research: How big data is driving business insights in 2017 (Tech Pro Research subscription required).
17
HOW HELLOFRESH USES BIG DATA

TO COOK UP CUSTOM MEALS FOR
MILLIONS OF CUSTOMERS
Image: HelloFresh
BY DANNY PALMER
Between work, commuting, child care and other activities, time can seem like a precious entity in the modern
worldand thats before finding something to eat every evening is considered.
Sure, its not as if were required to actually go hunting and foraging like our ancient ancestors, but sometimes
making that trip to the store after work can seem like a lot of effortand more often that not youll likely end
up with some pre-packaged meal that does the job, but is somewhat bland.
18
Alternatively, you could order take-out with just making them into meals for customers in markets
a tap of an appbut do that more than once or around the world ranging from the United States,
twice week and not only will you find your wallet the UK, countries in continental Europe and
increasingly empty, but your waistline will be Australia.
increasingly expansive.
The end goal is to change the way people cook,
But theres one company which looks to provide Karl Villanueva, Head of Paid Search and Display
customers with busy lives with all the ingredients at HelloFresh tells ZDNet. Theres a large redis-
they need to quickly make their own mealsand it covering cooking element there that we find very
doesnt involve a microwave. interesting.
Founded in 2011, HelloFresh delivers fresh, HelloFresh has millions of customers and
pre-measured ingredients and instructions for Villanueva says data about their preferences is
image: hellofresh
19
at the core of company operations, aiding everything from predicting what foods people
most want at certain times of year to using data to help pair different foods and ingredients
together.
For predicting what foods people want, the If Pho is trending in the United
company harnesses Google Keyword Planner States, that gives an indicator
to see whats trending in searches and whats
thats a recipe that people might be
likely to trend at certain times.
interested in because theyre eating
For example, November sees searches for
turkey and pumpkin related recipes go up in a restaurant but might like to
because of Thanksgiving and HelloFresh can learn how to cook it at home.
alter the offering in that part of the world to Karl Villanueva
reflect that ahead of time.
Its not something you just have an idea of, you can back it up with data on how many
people are looking for these ingredients at this time, so it provides a seasonality score, says
Villanueva.
The company wants provide recipes around seasonal and popular foods that people might
otherwise go out to a restaurant to eat, so the data team analyses at what people are searching
for and looks to cater for it.
If Pho is trending in the United States, that gives an indicator thats a recipe that people
might be interested in because theyre eating in a restaurant but might like to learn how to
cook it at home, he says.
HelloFreshs data team employs Tableau Softwares business intelligence and analytics tools
to help visualise the data and statistics, aiding them in determining how best to provide
customers with what they want.
I could view the same data in an Excel spreadsheet in a lot of rows, but it might not be
something thats very easy to digest, because itd just be rows upon rows of data, says
Villanueva.
But if were able to look at it as bar and line graphs and so on, its something which can
be very powerful, he continues, adding You really get to see correlations between things or
what happens when we make changes. Thats a big benefit.
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Being able to determine whats in season in what part of the world also helps the company provide customers
with a better product.
When food is in season, it tastes better. So if we can gauge whats seasonal that gives an underlying indicator
of what ingredients we should use in recipes for this month. Villanueva says.
And that isnt just one global metric, the data reflects cultural differences in taste and meal preferences in
the companys different markets around the world, with analysis of the data done on each to take into account
feedback on what customers like and dont like.
The company also wants to use data to take individual ingredients and try to classify what they do and dont go
well with, perhaps coming up with pairings which havent been thought of before.
You could really look at the chemical properties of food, says Villanueva, Its something thats easy to do if
you have a few pairings, take their flavour profiles then try to figure out which flavours work well together.
But the idea is that it could all be done by using big data and analytics, rather than a kitchen, because it wouldnt
be realistically possible to boil down each ingredient to its chemical element and individually attempt to pair
things together at random - but the visual platform could allow the company to streamline the process while
also coming up with some interesting new ideas.
You cant try and mix everything in a massive kitchen, you want to take it scientifically and say based on our
data, we know these go well, which other flavours can we find which will work as well, says Villanueva.
Ultimately, HelloFresh wants to provide customers with interesting new foods they can cookand big data is
something the company feels will play a key role.
Were essentially able to provide new food pairings that people may not have thought of by themselves, so we
can push the boundaries of which dishes and ingredients pair well together, Villanueva says.
21
BOOKTOPIA USES BIG DATA TO TEST

ASSUMPTIONS BEFORE IMPLEMENTING
CHANGES
BY TAS BINDI
Booktopia has always known that data is a valuable business asset,
but in the early days, it was using very little, if at all, of the data it
had at its disposal.
Over the last decade, with more resources at hand, the Australian
online bookseller has increasingly become a data-informed
business, using tools like Emarsys, HotJar, Google Analytics, and
Optimizely to make discoveries, decisions, and money.
A data-informed approach has contributed to the companys

growth from a AU$10-a-day side project in 2004 to a business
generating more than AU$100 million in annual revenue in the last
financial year.
The 13-year-old companywhich attracts 24 million website image: supplied
visitors and sells 4 million books, DVDs, magazines, and stationery

every yearis currently using data to personalise search results, optimise the checkout experience, and validate
new features and functionality before broadly implementing them.
Wayne Baskin, CTO and deputy CEO at Booktopia, joined the company in 2007 and built some of its systems
from the ground up, including its warehouse management system and content management system. He stressed
the importance of testing assumptions about customers before making any UX changes, and told ZDNet that
data should be used to discover customer truths, not validate biases.
Booktopias marketing team had a theory that the small red flag used to signal an item is low in stock was
subliminally discouraging the customer from making the purchase. The teams rationale was that the colour red
represents an error and suggests that one should stop what theyre doing.
22
The company decided to conduct an A/B test using Optimizely Web

Experimentation, where 50 percent of its customers continued seeing a red flag on
products that were limited in stock, while the other 50 percent saw an orange flag.
The red-coloured flags were found to be more successful in converting customers,
disproving the marketing teams theory.
Both are very strong colours ... but if we had listened to marketing and just changed
it from red to a colour they suggested, we would have seen a 20 percent decrease in
conversion rate, said Baskin, who worked as a software engineer at GE Capital prior
to beginning his tenure at Booktopia.
We dont go into the reasoning behind it ... we just listen to the data, and make
decisions based on it.
However, displaying stock availabilitywhether in stock or low in stock

increased the conversion rate by 16.9 percent and revenue by 6 percent.
Our hypothesis was if we show a customer

that only a few of this item are left in stock,
that will encourage them to take action on
their purchase ... We took it into testing and
our hypothesis proved to be correct, so we
implemented it to 100 percent of our users,
Lara Atechian, UX lead at Booktopia, told
ZDNet.
Booktopia has also pondered whether

presenting the shipping cost one page earlier in Lara Atechian, UX lead at Booktopia
(Image: hero shot photography
the checkout processthat is, on the shopping
cart pagewould boost conversions. The idea
was that it would increase the perception of transparency, even though the company
clearly displays its flat AU$6.95 shipping rate on the header of its website.
Pretty much every single ecommerce specialist out there would say be trans-
parent with your customers and show them what the shipping [fee] will be from the
beginning, said Atechian, who joined Booktopia about three and a half years ago.
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However, this theory was similarly disproved. Both the conversion rate and revenue per customer had
decreased 7 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively, when the shipping cost was presented on the same page as
the shopping cart.
Its not a matter of hiding or showing [the shipping cost]. Its a matter of the location in which you [present
the information] and the value it will add to the customers experience, Atechian said.
We didnt just follow what everyone else thinks is right; we

tested it first and realised it wasnt right for us. You can take one data
Companies shouldnt try to shoehorn some other point and it could mean
companys solutions without testing them with their users one thing, but if you
first. Even industry standards may not be best for your
business.
actually look at the full
pictureif you combine
In another example, Baskin explained that a graphic
designer who had joined Booktopia six years ago said different data pointsit
at the time that the websites header was too cluttered, could mean something
and suggested the icons that were used to showcase the
totally different.
companys multi-award winning statusand build up social
proofbe removed. The designer said this would allow Wayne Baskin
customers to find the search bar more easily.
However, after removing an award icon from the header, Booktopia saw a 2 percent decrease in conversion
rate.
If we were, say, AU$50 million in revenue at the time, thats AU$1 million less revenue just by removing those
awards, Baskin said.
Baskin said these examples show the importance of letting go of personal biases and trusting the data, even if
it doesnt seem logical.
I think a lot of old-school marketing people or people from a store environment dont always trust data
especially when you put two weird correlations togetherbecause they dont understand it. They strive for
perfection and there will never be perfection in big data, Baskin said.
You can take one data point and it could mean one thing, but if you actually look at the full pictureif you
combine different data pointsit could mean something totally different.
24
An unobvious correlation Baskin pointed out is when fathers purchase expensive AFL books, theyre likely to
pick up a few childrens books to assuage their guilt for spending so much on themselves.
Atechian communicated a similar sentiment to Baskin, saying that its important to stay neutral in the process
of discovering customer truths.
If you are trying to get items out of the data that you can action on, be neutral. Dont be attached to a specific
idea in your mind, and then paint your data with that idea. You dont want to take it in the wrong direction,
she said.
Atechian said over the last three years, as Booktopia became more disciplined and increasingly embraced
experimentation, the company has seen a 40 percent hike in desktop conversion rate and a 50 percent hike in
mobile conversion rate.
ANGUS & ROBERTSON VS. BOOKTOPIA

In 2015, Booktopia acquired Angus & Robertsons Bookworld business from Penguin Random House, but
surprisingly, Baskin said there was very little overlap between their customer bases.
We realised that [Angus & Robertson customers] are slightly more loyal, and more loyal to a brand thats been
around for 130 years like Angus & Robertson. Theyre not jumping from website to website looking for the
cheapest deal, Baskin said.
image: supplied
25
After analysing both customer bases, Baskin said What our customers are telling us and what our
they decided to develop two different strategies for experts are telling us are the same. The data-driven
the businesses. approach is being validated by the experts on
Booktopia, which is very interesting, Baskin said.
The former is all about letting the customer drive
the experience, Baskin said. On the Angus & Despite becoming better at utilising data over the
Robertson website, a feature called Bookshelves last decade, Baskin admitted that Booktopia has
enables the customer to list all the books they have barely scratched the surface. Two key challenges
read, are currently reading, or want to read, and the company is currently grappling with are the
that information is then used to deliver person- sheer abundance of data and the shortage of data
alised pages and search results. scientists.
Angus & Robertson is really using that The problem used to be where do you store data,
data-driven approach, saying a lot of people have how do you store data. The cloud has made that
this in their carts, a lot of people have read this, easy ... Were using Amazon Redshift as the data
a lot of people have reviewed this welland its store for our business intelligence team, Baskin
serving up results that way, Baskin said. said.
Booktopia, on the other hand, combines customer
datasuch as purchase history, browsing habits, But knowing how to work with large datasets,
shopping cart content, and wish list contentwith knowing how to interpret data, these are not skills
recommendations from its community of book theyve been teaching at university until recently.
experts. Its a new skill and a self-taught skill that people
are bringing to market.
Interestingly, Baskin said the top 10 bestsellers on
both sites are, a lot of the time, quite similar. We just have to find those people.
26
USING BIG DATA TO FIGHT THE OPIOID

EPIDEMIC ACROSS THE US
BY TEENA MADDOX
Big data is being used to prevent and treat drug overdoses in regions across the US
as a result of a real-time app being used by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Areas (HIDTA) program in Baltimore/Washington, D.C.
The app that HIDTA is using includes a real-time overdose map, Drug overdose is
called the OD Map, and it was created by Esri to to allow law the leading cause of
enforcement, health care providers and multiple jurisdictions
accidental death in
across the country to see, in real time, where overdoses are
occurring as a result of the opioid epidemic. It is, essentially, the US, with more
digitally transforming how the drug epidemic is being handled. people dying from drug
HIDTA has been in existence since 1988 and this is the first time
overdoses in a year
it has had access to a real-time map to share with jurisdictions
across the US. than during the entire
The purpose of OD Map is to do real-time tracking of drug Vietnam War.
overdoses. One of the things that we have had a great deal of
difficulty getting from the various agencies, is data thats accurate and timely
enough that we can mount some type of response. What we found with OD
Map is not only is it timely, but for the first time in my experience of 40-some
years, it allows us to really forecast where these drug overdose spikes are likely to
occur next so we can take pro-active action, said Tom Carr, executive director of
HIDTA.
OD Map is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement and

health care providers in treating overdoses and it is provided free of charge to
participating agencies, Carr said.
WHY IT MATTERS
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with more
people dying from drug overdoses in a year than during the entire Vietnam War.
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In 2015, there were 52,404 lethal drug overdoses is an FDA-approved medication to use to block or
in 2015, the highest level in at least 15 years, reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
according to the American Society of Addiction OD Map launched in January 2017, and only took
Medicine. The New York Times reported that 30 days to develop. With OD Map, public health
drug overdose deaths in 2016 likely exceeded officials and cities communicate through big data
59,000. to allow for strategic and tactical analysis among
Opioid addiction is driving the drug epidemic, the 22,000-plus federal, state and local officers that
with 21,101 deaths related to prescription pain work in HIDTA-funded task forces across the US
relievers in 2015, and 12,990 deaths related to and Puerto Rico, Carr said.
heroin that same year.
From OD Maps initial launch in January through
late August, there were 3,108 OD incidences
HOW IT WORKS reported through OD Map and 2,364 doses of
In the past, when overdose information came in,
naloxone were administered, with 373 fatalities.
it could be weeks or months after the fact. Now,
with the OD Map, its possible to see exactly The technology relies on a global information
where drug activity is the highest, and have doses system (GIS) to provide location data to first
of naloxone ready to be administered. Naloxone responders to report overdose occurrences by
image: esri
28
entering the data on the OD Map dashboard. OD Map

We wanted to help public
works on Windows, Android, iOS and OS X devices using
a standard browser - Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. health track overdoses as
GIS is an important aspect of OD Map because it
you would a communicable
provides an interoperable framework to share data across disease because a substance
county and state lines, explained Chris McIntosh, director abuse disorder is a disease
of national government industries at Esri. This built-in
interoperability allows information sharing at a previous
of the mind and the body.
unheard of level. It is not people making bad
The multi-jurisdictional information is invaluable to users, moral choices.
said Jeff Beeson, deputy director of HIDTA. Tom Carr
If you are a suburb of Baltimore city, youve got oppor-
tunity to see whats going on in Baltimore, and oftentimes some of these large cities, LA, Chicago, Boston,
Philadelphia, the drugs are being trafficked in the surrounding counties from that city and knowing when
overdoses are occurring from one jurisdiction to the next, will help you better prepare yourself, Beeson said.
The agencies can now see real time data for the entire country and can see where overdoses are spiking and
spreading. HIDTA is currently using OD Map in 15 states and more than 50 local jurisdictions, incorporating
about 165 public health and public safety agencies. It operated in a pilot phase through until May, when it was
opened up nationwide. More agencies and jurisdictions are being added weekly.
Carr pointed out, Keep in mind that this was built as a public health database. Its not a law enforcement
database. Its public health. We wanted to help public health track overdoses as you would a communicable
disease because a substance abuse disorder is a disease of the mind and the body. It is not people making bad
moral choices. These people are sick, so its our intention to help prevent both fatal and non-fatal overdoses
and get these people into some type of treatment program. This is pretty revolutionary because this is really the
first time that law enforcement and public health have worked together in a concerted effort. One of the major
groups that we have working with us on this project is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Beeson said, We really love the fact that we do have that cross-jurisdictional functionality and we have sort of
an early alert system in place for some rural counties that would otherwise be closed off from communications.
OD Map is a methodology that creates information sharing, it creates a connection between jurisdictions and
provides the ability for them to talk and address this issue and start making the overdose epidemic the forefront
of their public health agenda.
29
5 ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE

USING BIG DATA TO POWER DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
Image: istock/anyaberkut
BY CONNER FORREST
Big data has quickly become a key ingredient in the success of many modern businesses. Companies large and
small are using structured and unstructured data to glean insights they can apply to boost productivity, cut
costs, improve marketing efforts, and more.
As such, big data has become a foundational piece of many digital transformation efforts as well. With the
power of big data, firms can more effectively target the digital transformation projects that will have the
biggest impact on their bottom line. Here are five organizations that have used big data to power digital
transformation.
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1. THE CHICAGO CUBS

When Andrew McIntyre, vice president of technology for the Chicago Cubs, joined the organization in 2011,
he quickly saw opportunities for IT infrastructure investments that could make a big impact.
We knew that in order to become the best--both on and off the field--investing time and resources into data
to help us make better decisions was a must, McIntyre said.
A top challenge for McIntyre and the Cubs was preserving the magic of the legendary Wrigley Field while
still improving the fan experience. They started by focusing on the data that ran through the organization
from the 3 million fans that visit Wrigley every year--particularly the data that affected internal operations and
revenue.
For most sports organizations, that comes down to five different areas: Ticketing, merchandise, retail,
sponsorship, and broadcast rights, McIntyre said.
Using this data, the organization was able to make sure its products were properly distributed and were
marketed in the correct channels, McIntyre said. This allowed the Cubs to free up capital that could be re-in-
vested in the team itself and other development projects.
The Cubs are halfway through their digital transformation effort, thus far focusing only on operational data.
However, McIntyre said, they have begun to expand into fan data, and they will use that to inform the rollout
of their new fan-facing Wi-Fi network in 2018.
In terms of the tools used, McIntyre said Informaticas data management platform is essential to the teams
data analytics efforts, and that the company has worked with the Cubs to build out an enterprise data
warehouse.
For other organizations that may be considering a big data play, McIntyre cautioned that it may seem like an
uphill battle at first, as some may be slow to embrace data integration.
Its important to place a distinct focus on making sure each business department understands how data and
technology can help them reach their goals--helping them to build trust in the platform, McIntyre said.
2. ZAPPOS
Roughly two years ago, online retailer Zappos made the decision to migrate its data warehouse to the cloud.
Saul Dave, the companys director of enterprise systems, said that Zappos started with moving its SAP
Business Warehouse (BW) environment onto HANA, hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
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After the success of that initial move and the

3. THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS
data insights that came with it, Zappos decided to
Big data can also be extremely valuable to big
move some other SAP systems to HANA on AWS
cities. The City of Las Vegas recently began
as well. The firm also worked with both SAP and
collecting data on road usage, including whether
AWS to build out a cloud-based proof-of-concept
streets are being used by vehicles, pedestrians,
that gave them the ability to play with real-time
or bicycles, according to the citys CIO Michael
data management, Dave said.
Sherwood.
Together they co-innovated and tested a
Previously, Las Vegas performed those counts
migration methodology that allows for the fast
manually every year, or as needed. However, the
migration of SAP ERP Central Component (SAP
city now uses technology from MotionLoft to
ECC) from an on-premises instance running
conduct the counts, eliminating the need for ad
Oracle Database to a Memory Optimized AWS X1
hoc human counts, Sherwood said. By using this
instance running SAP ECC on HANA--all while
technology, the city can perform the counts on
relying on the same proven SAP applications for
an ongoing basis, providing better data about
core business processes, Dave said.
how the roads are used and any needed repairs or
By moving their systems to the cloud, Zappos improvements.
saw a dramatic bump in system performance, The city also recently partnered with a firm called
Dave said. Additionally, this helped validate the Numina to collect data on how to make the city
companys investments in big data and the cloud. more walkable and bikeable, contributing to pedes-
End users can now be reassured that their trian safety, according to a June press release.
queries will return results promptly, no matter That also had implications for Las Vegas
their complexity and the number of user concur- businesses, given that the city is now collecting
rently accessing the system, Dave said. With up-to-the-minute data. The data is helpful beyond
performance improvement across critical business just traffic planning and safety--the data collected
processes--ranging from 3 to 240 times faster--and can also be used for economic benefits such as
no timeout queries, employees become more knowing the number of potential customers who
productive. might drive by a business during certain times of
the day, Sherwood said.
For companies looking to run big data in the
cloud, Dave recommended looking to similar Before committing to a specific big data project,
organizations that have made the move, and Sherwood recommended that an organization start
choosing an experienced vendor that offers the small, testing different potential solutions to the
hardware architecture needed for your projects. biggest problems and gauging the results.
32
4. MIAMI UNIVERSITY
Many higher education institutions feel great pressure to prove the value of a pricy
four-year degree, and those that work at these schools face increasingly high expec-
tations for performance, according to Michael Kabbaz, senior vice president for
enrollment management and student success at Miami University.
However, big data is helping to eliminate a lot of that pressure. And, schools like
Miami University are collecting a lot of it.
Now, higher education measures just about

Improving student success,
everything across the entire student lifecycle,
from the spectrum of students we recruit in high retention, and graduation rates
school, how we can better support them through are the key goals of Miami
the use of predictive analytics during their time
Universitys big data and digital
on our campuses, and their graduation success
and beyond, Kabbaz said. transformation effort.
Predictive analytics are one tool that has helped
Miami University break down silos and get a better view of its student body.
Combining back office data with data from student-facing offices has given a much
clearer picture of the lifecycle of a student, Kabbaz said.
Predictive analytics can identify students who are having trouble paying their
bills, and track students who have grade drops in certain areas or who are missing
courses they need to graduate on time, Kabbaz said. This information provides
the institution an ability to better support students and do it sooner, prior to the
student leaving the institution.
Improving student success, retention, and graduation rates are the key goals of
Miami Universitys big data and digital transformation effort. Students have a lot
of choices for where they will attend school, and Miami University is using data to
ensure that it is providing the best education possible and remaining competitive in
the market, Kabbaz said.
For the skeptics that one could encounter in their organization, Kabbaz said that
the value of data must be demonstrated clearly. So, for university faculty members
33
who fear the data may harm the students, for example, Kabbaz has to show its potential for improving the way
students are taught, and their overall experience with the school.
5. NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL
At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, big data has helped accomplish two very important goals: Improving
patient care and remaining compliant. NewYork-Presbyterian senior vice president and CIO Daniel Barchi
said that digital transformation of patient care took off with the hospitals Clinical Operations Center (CLOC)
building, where nurses monitor the real-time physiological data of patients currently admitted in the Weill
Cornell Medical Center Emergency Department.
In an eight-hour CLOC shift, nurses monitor hundreds of clinical data points, note alarms and clinical issues,
and communicate via an in-house communications network with the clinical team at the bedside, Barchi said.
In that way, we provide a high-level safety net using clinical experience to note and respond to potential issues
that could otherwise be missed by a busy bedside nurse.
Once this system was put in place, the hospital was able to more clearly identify patients who needed inter-
vention and improve their care.
In the CLOC, temperature data is also constantly streaming in from more than 1,600 refrigerators and freezers
across six hospitals, Barchi said. These devices store fluids like blood, antibiotics, and breast milk. In the past,
staff would have to manually check the temperature of these devices twice a day.
However, as part of its digital transformation effort, the hospital installed networked monitor probes in each
refrigerator and freezer, which send data back to a reporting and monitoring system at the CLOC.
With the monitor probes, the organization is now able to easily monitor the devices every hour, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. While they expected to see some fluctuations with the new data, they found that some
refrigerators were drifting above and below the acceptable narrow temperature band--similar to a sine wave
going in and out of compliance, Barchi said.
Simply having the real-time data allowed us to identify more than 900 refrigerators that required replacement
and upgrade and improved our overall blood and drug safety compliance, Barchi said.
For others organizations that are considering a big data approach to digital transformation, Barchi
recommended considering any opportunity for automated monitoring of data, which has allowed NewYork-
Presbyterian to improve operations, centralize tasks, and leverage clear, actionable insights.
34
7 PITFALLS TO AVOID WHEN USING

BIG DATA TO POWER DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
BY ALISON DENISCO
As more companies seek out digital transformation projects, big data offers an opportunity to gain a
competitive edge--if leveraged correctly.
Big data can help with digital transformation, said Gartner analyst Douglas Laney. Its incumbent upon
anyone who has data to design ways to leverage that information asset in a multitude of ways, in order to better
cover their costs of acquiring, administering, and applying the data.
As of 2017, 41% of firms have either implemented big data, are in the process of implementing it, or are
expanding their existing implementation, according to a Forrester study. An additional 26% of firms are
planning to do something in the next 12 months, while 29% of firms have no plans, and 3% of firms said they
do not know if they have plans to do so.
The previous year, more companies said they would be taking on a big data project, so researchers expected
that 41% figure to be over 50%, according to Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins. It appears that many executives
ended up deferring big data projects, he said.
For digital transformation success, its key to not let big data become a project unto itself, Hopkins said. Dont
have a data strategy--have a business strategy, where you create competitive advantage through data analysis and
insights, he added.
Several common challenges tend to arise for companies seeking to inform digital transformation with big data.
Here are seven pitfalls to avoid in your enterprises journey.
1. FORGETTING THE PURPOSE OF THE DATA

Firms that are most successful in digital transformation efforts tend to make big data investments, Hopkins
said. However, firms that do this right dont do it just for the sake of doing it--they do it because they under-
stand how to use these technologies to create differentiation and competitive advantage, Hopkins said.
35
Using big data properly is about generating

3. LOOKING ONLY TO
actionable insights that can inform and improve
decision making. If a firm loses sight of that,
YOUR OWN INDUSTRY
Enterprises often look only to what others in their
they may end up wasting their time and resources,
industry are doing with big data when it comes to
Hopkins said.
digital transformation.
Companies have to know what advantage they
My flippant response is always, Why do you
want to gain, and how they can use insights from
want to be in second place? Laney said. Instead,
big data to reach it, Hopkins said. All that comes
executives should look to other industries ranging
ahead of deciding to buy big data technology, he
from retail to healthcare and consider how they
added.
can replicate those ideas within their own industry.
That way, you could be the first, and get a jump on
2. FAILING TO MONETIZE the competition, Laney said.
YOUR DATA
Most organizations assume that they use a data set Companies need to stop staring at their own
once, and throw it away. You need to think really labels when it comes to their industry and the data
broadly about the ways to leverage any drop of they have, Laney said.
data, because you can use it over and over again,
and you want to do that before it becomes stale, 4. IGNORING EXTERNAL
Laney said. DATA
Folks are aware that there are other sources of
Data monetization is not just selling or licensing
data out there, but theyre consumed with the data
your data, but is any way that you are generating
they collect internally, Laney said. They dont
measurable economic benefits from it, Laney said.
realize the correlative benefits of bringing in data
Creating larger reports for the sake of creating
from social media, from syndicated data providers,
them isnt effective, Laney said. Instead businesses
or from harvesting web content.
should focus on monetizing their data.
Gartner has analyzed hundreds of big data use Additionally, most companies work with several
cases. When focusing on those that generated third-party partners they could negotiate data
economic benefits, almost none of them have to from. The companies that are really thinking
do with building a pretty pie chart, Laney said. out of the box are the ones that are going out
They all have to do with targeting big data at a and grabbing all this freely available content,
business solution to drive some economic benefit. Laney said.
36
5. FAILING TO INVENTORY YOUR DATA

Many companies claim they want to manage their information as an asset, Laney
said. However, they dont include data in inventories, so they dont actually know
what information they have. They dont measure it, so even if they know what they
have, they dont know what its potential economic value is, Laney said. (Gartner has
published a model on how to measure a dozen different
data qualities, and how to quantify information as if it were
When companies tell
a balance sheet asset.)
me, We want to manage
While working with an energy company on a data strategy,
Laney was told the company only inventories major assets
our information as an
such as transformers and generators. After the meeting, he asset, job number one
went into the mens room and saw that the urinals were all is to inventory it with the
inventory tagged. This comes from a company that says,
We only inventory our major assets. We dont include infor-
same care that you do
mation, but do include our toilets, he said. Thats the your other assets.
kind of disconnect I see often. Most companies track their Douglas Laney
laptops, but dont track the data on their laptops.
When companies tell me, We want to manage our information as an asset, job
number one is to inventory it with the same care that you do your other assets,
Laney said.
6. CENTRALIZING OWNERSHIP
As part of a daily governance practice, most companies will establish owners of data,
Laney said. While its important to have accountability and responsibility for infor-
mation assets, ascribing one owner can perpetuate information hoarding in the
business, he added.
Were bigger fans of terms like a trustee, or someone like that, Laney said.
Another pitfall is when data is seen to be owned by IT exclusively, Laney said.

Unlike decades ago, when data was tightly coupled with the technology where it
was used, today, data and technology are very decoupled from an architectural stand-
point, he said. From an organizational standpoint, they should also be decoupled.
37
7. FAILING TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

Big data technology is moving at an extremely fast pace, Hopkins said. Many companies choose a best practice
architecture from the year before, and then spend a year implementing it. By the time they get it, its two years
out of date--thats a lifetime at the speed digital is moving, Hopkins said. When I talk to tech buyers about
how to invest for digital and insights, I tell them, The only thing you should be investing in is making yourself
able to move at the speed of digital.
If you choose to get locked into a architecture because it is more cost-effective, you wont be able to keep up,
Hopkins said. You need to build architectures that are very flexible, so as your business figures out what it
wants to do, or pursues a new market or product, you have the flexibility to adapt and keep up, he added.
For this reason, big data in the public cloud is going to fully eclipse data on-premises within the next five
years, Hopkins predicted. Everyone moves to the cloud for the cost, but the real reason will be to keep pace
with innovation, he said. Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and quantum computing will
eventually impact big data stored in the cloud, Hopkins added.
38
CHOOSING THE BEST BIG DATA

PARTNERS: EIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK
image: istock/MangoStar_Studio
BY MARY SHACKLETT
In May, 2017, Interana, which provides interactive behavioral analytics, surveyed 200 people from companies
that ranged from startups to Fortune 500 firms. Although 88% of respondents said that their companies
recognized the importance of being data-informed, and 91% said that having an analytics solution in place
was important, most acknowledged that their companies were struggling when it came to delivering analytics
solutions that are accessible, fast, and flexible enough to give them the insights they need.
Big data plays a major role in analytics. It enters the analytics process via social media and web-based
information, graphics, Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor-based input, and many other sources of
unstructured data that companies take in every day.
39
Because many companies lack the internal

2: DO THEY HAVE
expertise to turn big data into actionable analytics
for the business, and because most businesses no
SCALABLE SOLUTIONS
longer see big data initiatives as new and are AND COSTS?
expecting results, obtaining a skilled and trust- Big data can mean big money. Its just as important
worthy big data partner is more important now to find a vendor you can work with that can scale
than ever. your dollar investment based upon the amount
of resources you are consuming as it is to find a
Here are eight questions that will help you identify
vendor that has processing and storage platforms
the best big data/analytics partner for your
that can scale out as your big data projects grow.
organization.
When you sit down with a potential vendor-
1: DO THEY KNOW YOUR partner, you want to discuss cost scale-out as well
as resource scale-out. If the vendor tries to lock
BUSINESS? you into a fixed amount that you must spend even
Big data projects, like other IT projects, are funded
if your big data projects dont materialize as fast
and supported only because the business expects
as you thought they would, its best to look for
value from them. To deliver that value, big data
another vendor that will require you to pay only
projects must have specific business cases and pain
for what you actually use.
points they can solve so that C-level executives see
tangible results.
3: ARE THEY WILLING TO
Generic big data vendors that provide IT
PILOT THEIR TECHNOLOGY
platforms and applications for processing and
storing data are not as well positioned to help you
WITH YOU?
No matter how convincingly a vendor presents its
define and execute your business cases as vendors
solution, you need to know that the solution will
that really understand the nuts, bolts, and strategic
really work in your business before you invest in it.
issues of your business.
Vendors also understand this need to prove
You want to find a vendor-partner that has
a concept,but not every vendor offers a
deep big data and analytics skills, as well as deep
try-and-buy policy or is willing to pilot a project
knowledge of your business and the industry
and deliver some business results before you enter
sector youre in. These vendors can even help you
into a formal contract with them.
identify relevant business cases for your big data
projects because they already know the needs of Look for a vendor-partner that will enter into a
your industry. pilot proof-of-concept of its solution for your
40
business before you buy That will help you formulate a more If a prospective vendor-
long-term strategic roadmap for your company where the
vendors solutions continue to deliver value. partner cant meet
the same governance
4: HOW STRONG IS THE levels for security, data
VENDORS COMMITMENT TO safekeeping, etc., that
YOU? you expect of yourself,
Once you sign on the dotted line, the vendor-partner should
demonstrate its ongoing commitment to you through strong you should keep looking
support services and a robust set of service level agreements for another vendor.
(SLAs).
In the SLA area, speed of performance and 365/24/7 uptime are important metrics. There should also be
SLAs in place for time to response to questions, time to resolution for open production issues, and time to
restoration for disaster recovery.
In the support area, the vendor should have training and certification programs and online resources available
so that your staff can get up to speed with the solution.
You, not the vendor, should ensure in your contract that vendor support and SLA commitments are
documented in an appendix to the contract and that there is a way for you to break or renegotiate the contract
if the vendor fails to stand by its support and SLA commitments.
5: HOW SOLID ARE THE VENDORS REFERENCES?

Every vendor will handpick the best references from its client base and give you those people to contact.
Instead, you should ask the vendor for a complete (or near complete) list of clients you can randomly call. This
helps you obtain more objective reviews of the vendor and its performance. It is also advantageous to contact
references that are in the same industry as you are.
6: IS THE VENDOR COMPLIANT?

If a prospective vendor-partner cant meet the same governance levels for security, data safekeeping, etc., that
you expect of yourself, you should keep looking for another vendor.
Your vendor-partner should be able to furnish you with current IT and financial audits. You want the former
to ensure that the vendor has the level of security and data protection you expect. You want the latter to ensure
41
that the vendor is solvent and will be in business for the foreseeable future--because you dont want to have to
change partners.
7: DOES THE VENDOR HAVE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE YOU

DONT HAVE?
In August 2017, Harvard Business School reported that big data is not used well. Companies are better at
collecting data--about their customers, about their products, about competitors--than analyzing that data and
designing strategy around it.
Yours might be one of the many organizations having trouble getting the most from their big data. This makes
it imperative to find a vendor-partner that can bring knowledge and on the ground skills to your efforts, as
well as a technology solution.
If the vendor cant provide deep big data knowledge and practical skills, you might be better off looking
elsewhere until you find a partner that can.
8: IS THE VENDOR OPEN TO SKILLS TRANSFER TO YOUR

ORGANIZATION?
Most companies want to develop big data skills within their own organizations. What they find is that they must
retrain staff in these new skills.
When you negotiate with a vendor-partner, and before you sign on with it, you should discuss your staff
training goals and ideally come up with a knowledge transfer policy that everyone participates in.
This strategy goes beyond just training your staff to operate the vendors tool set or using the vendor to
provide expert consultation when you need it. It could also involve the vendors working side by side with your
staff, with knowledge transfer and project execution occurring simultaneously. The end goal of such an effort
is to accomplish the project as well as equipping your staff with the skills they need to do a similar project on
their own the next time around.
FINAL REMARKS
The process of choosing a vendor-partner should be approached carefully and thoughtfully. You want fair
pricing and an excellent solution set from the vendor, but you also want a partner that will be there when
projects encounter difficulty and you need vendor support. The real test of a strong partner is a company thats
in there working with you for as long as it takes to resolve an issue and bring your project to a successful close.
42
HOW WAYFAIR USED BIG DATA AND

OMNICHANNEL RETAIL TO TRANSFORM
SHOPPING
BY ALISON DENISCO
No longer just a techie buzzword, big data
is transforming the retail sector to improve
customer experiences and increase profits.
Today, we are seeing many retailers begin to

pivot from exploratory technology pilots and
experiments in big data to making permanent
investments and changes to organizational
structures and capabilities, said Rob Holston,
leader of the Global Consumer Products
and Retail Data and Analytics group at EY
Consulting. Retailers are also leveraging data and IMAGE: WAYFAIR
analytics to optimize the consumer experience,
which can drive over 60% improvement in profitability, he added.
Increasingly, the customer experience is the brand versus the product, and companies have been making
changes to their business model and adding new capabilities to create a differentiated experience, Holston said.
Data and analytics are central capabilities to defining, unlocking, and sustaining value through differentiated
customer experiences. Retailers know that data and analytics is an investment in relevance and survival.
Home goods e-commerce company Wayfair was born in the digital ecosystem in 2002, and its roots have
always sat deep in the world of big data, according to Matt Zisow, Wayfairs director of product. The team
embraces big data in both philosophy and practice, Zisow said, using it to improve the customer experience,
optimize the companys web presence, source products, and make business decisions.
As a company, we know that data democracy is critical to our success, Zisow said. We dont want to limit
the power of big data to insights that just a few people have access to. Whether youre in marketing, logistics
or engineering, the ability to see and manipulate data is what keeps our organization moving forward and
continuously innovating.
43
Decision making using big data must be weighed we use it to find new questions that we hadnt
with one goal in mind: Improving the customer even thought of asking as well. By continuously
experience. To achieve this, Wayfair tapped big analyzing the entire feedback loop, we use data to
data in its Search with Photo feature, unveiled in keep working toward that goal of improving the
May, in which customers can snap a picture of an customer experience in ways that are significant
item they like in a store or someones home, and and measurable.
use that image to search for visually similar items
Wayfair measures the impact of offerings such
in Wayfairs product catalogue.
as Search with Photo in part by measuring loyal
We knew that everyone has a unique vision repeat customers. In the second quarter of 2017,
for their home and ideas and inspiration can orders per customer and repeat customers both
come from anywhere. A sofa in a friends house, increased year-over-year. Repeat customers placed
a Pinterest board, a barstool at a favourite more than 61% of total orders in the second
restaurant, or a pillow featured in a design quarter of 2017, compared to about 58% in the
magazine, can all spark ideas for decorating ones second quarter of 2016. And repeat customers
home, said Steve Conine, Wayfair co-founder placed 2.6 million orders in the second quarter of
and co-chairman. And while finding a look you 2017, an increase of 55% year-over-year.
love may be easy, finding the specific products
to bring that look to life can be time-consuming When we see more customers returning, we find
and require a lot of searching. With visual search, that to be an indication that were making the
shoppers can now search for and find a particular right decisions when it comes to the customer
product or style instantly. experience, Zisow said.
Search with Photo taps Wayfairs computer vision Search with Photo reduces friction between a
system, which the company built in-house using customer seeing a product they love and getting it
deep learning techniques and its massive propri- to their home. Other companies can identify areas
etary data sets. The data collected from this visual where there may be friction, and use big data to
search feature creates a powerful feedback loop, smooth them out to find success, Zisow said.
which makes Wayfairs results more useful for Big data isnt just a buzzword or a passing fad;
customers, Zisow said. it is a fundamental, increasingly table stakes
Were not just using data to make those matches capability for companies in all sectors, Zisow said.
across our data setwere measuring whether If youre not actively investing in your companys
someone stays on site after submitting a visual ability to gather and harness your data in ways that
search query, whether they buy an item and when matter to your customers, youre almost certainly
they return to shop at Wayfair again, Zisow falling behind your competition, even if you dont
said. Not only do we use data to find answers, know it.
44
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SPECIAL REPORT

Turning big data

COPYRIGHT 2017 CBS INTERACTIVE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

22 Booktopia uses big data to test assumptions before implementing

27 Using big data to fight the opioid epidemic across the US

TURNING BIG DATA INTO BUSINESS

HOW MUCH DATA?

BIG DATA TRENDS & PREDICTIONS

The report notes that: The emergence

WHAT THE SURVEYS SAY

The headline finding from NVPs

DATA: NEWVANTAGE PARTNERS/CHART: ZDNET

DATA: NEWVANTAGE PARTNERS / CHART: ZDNET

NVPs survey also asked respondents

DATA: NEWVANTAGE PARTNERS / CHART: ZDNET

DATA: GODATADRIVE/CHART: ZDNET

DATA: GODATADRIVEN / CHART: ZDNET

DATA: GODATADRIVEN / CHART: ZDNET

DATA: GODATADRIVEN / CHART: ZDNET

Some things we are working on with our

are a combination of data governance, data

INFOGRAPHIC: MOST COMPANIES ARE

In a recent survey by ZDNets sibling site,

In the research report based on the

HOW HELLOFRESH USES BIG DATA

BOOKTOPIA USES BIG DATA TO TEST

A data-informed approach has contributed to the companys

The 13-year-old companywhich attracts 24 million website image: supplied

visitors and sells 4 million books, DVDs, magazines, and stationery

The company decided to conduct an A/B test using Optimizely Web

However, displaying stock availabilitywhether in stock or low in stock

Our hypothesis was if we show a customer

Booktopia has also pondered whether

We didnt just follow what everyone else thinks is right; we

ANGUS & ROBERTSON VS. BOOKTOPIA

USING BIG DATA TO FIGHT THE OPIOID

OD Map is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement and

entering the data on the OD Map dashboard. OD Map

5 ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE

1. THE CHICAGO CUBS

After the success of that initial move and the

Now, higher education measures just about

7 PITFALLS TO AVOID WHEN USING

1. FORGETTING THE PURPOSE OF THE DATA

Using big data properly is about generating

5. FAILING TO INVENTORY YOUR DATA

Another pitfall is when data is seen to be owned by IT exclusively, Laney said.

7. FAILING TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

CHOOSING THE BEST BIG DATA

Because many companies lack the internal

5: HOW SOLID ARE THE VENDORS REFERENCES?

6: IS THE VENDOR COMPLIANT?

7: DOES THE VENDOR HAVE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE YOU

8: IS THE VENDOR OPEN TO SKILLS TRANSFER TO YOUR

HOW WAYFAIR USED BIG DATA AND

Today, we are seeing many retailers begin to

Feature Editors ABOUT TECHREPUBLIC

The information contained herein has been obtained

Copyright 2017 by CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. TechRepublic

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