By The Editors
This week, we’re reading an article about the new B&C world from Research Live, a post from AdvertisingAge detailing how big data can be too much and a piece from DataInformed about the ultimate combination of market research and big data.
Caring About Sharing, Research Live
Traditionally, it’s been assumed that companies operate as either B2B or B2C. But, as Research Live writes, life is a bit more complicated than that for marketers. As the number of “sharing” companies increases (such as Uber, Airbnb, etc), the divide between B2B and B2C has blurred even more. This sharing business world relies heavily on reputation and trust, and companies are taking notice. Much like a social media presence, the influence of referring users and reviews has increased tremendously. Thus, the metrics that marketers should track has also shifted. Paying attention to ratings, feedback and referrals can help marketers understand how to improve their product as a business, while at the same time help them focus on the customer. Businesses are now forced to grow and adapt to this new model of the B&C (business and consumer) style company, but so far, the ones that have adapted have seen success.
Why Data Can Be More of a Liability Than an Asset, AdvertisingAge
Managing big data can be tough, and code can be even harder to maintain. Marko Karppinen, writer at AdvertisingAge, thinks that the less code a software company has, the better off they are. Inevitably, he says, code has problems—whether it’s the complicated nature of coding, or the bugs that pop up, code can potentially create cause companies to spend more time fixing the problem than moving forward with new solutions. Data is the same way. Most companies compile as much as they can to then extract information from it. However, more data ends up costing a lot of money. IDC projects that data companies will sell $125 billion worth of solutions to help fix the big data management problems. If the ultimate goal is to collect data that will result in positive improvements for your customers, too much data can (and most likely will) give you problems and problems, taking you away from moving forward with solutions. Karppinen’s solution is simple: instead of mining data, only answer the questions you are interested in. That way, you can avoid management costs and only focus on fresh, relevant data that you can act on.
Big Data and Market Research Myths and Missteps, DataInformed
As the business world continues to embrace technology, market research and big data will converge into the same marketplace. While big data measures quantitative information, such as important KPIs, market research tends to be qualitative. Big data has had a history of showing companies which indicators need to be improved, like unique visitors, time-on-site and other metrics. DataInformed’s Collin Sebastian writes, though, that some companies take big data too far. Technology provides companies with both qualitative and quantitative information. More specific research tools now allow companies to move past the limitations that they previously had and acquire information quickly and reliably. Big data is important, just as market research is. But now, Sebastian explains, “analysts can address both sides of the equation—correlation and causation—to gain an unbeatable competitive advantage.” If companies are looking to get that extra step up, focusing on both big data and market research is key.
The post What We’re Reading This Week: Week of October 26, 2015 appeared first on Instantly Blog.