While 75 percent of companies from all sectors and sizes feel they are making the most of their data, in actuality 43 percent “obtain little tangible benefit from their information” and 23 percent “derive no benefit whatsoever.”
Many companies make an initial investment in data analytics, but then struggle, waiting months or so until they see a return on their investments. For any company that’s seeking to improve their value through data analysis, the Business problem needs to come first. The technology comes later, but when it does, it has the power to be transformative. Sometimes that requires a shift in culture, but usually it just means seeking out the low-hanging fruit. There needs to be a way to accelerate time to value, and smart data analysis can bring that.
For a top online gaming company, that insight is done in real-time, a remarkable feat considering how much data they deal with. With millions of subscribers and thousands of concurrent streams of their high-profile games running at any given time, the company has petabytes of data that can help improve gameplay for its subscribers and also maximize the value it gets from each of them.
To address that issue, this company, using data flowed through a Hadoop cluster with analysis through Teradata, is able to monitor in real-time monetary statistics likes revenue per user and subscription data, but the company can also get smarter about its customers in general — ensuring that they have a great time playing and continue coming back for more.
Like most companies though, to get the most return on investment from their big data venture, they needed to prioritize which data points mattered and then make some internal changes. Like Teradata CTO Stephen Brobst said at the 2016 Teradata Partners Conference when discussing his work with companies such as this one, “No one actually cares about the data. They care about what you can do with the data.” To be able to effectively use the data they gathered, this top online gaming company had to align its game developers and Business analysts under “engagement managers” — a new job position focused on integrating best business practices and optimal gameplay.
Many other industries can benefit from this kind of big data investment, but they need to follow a framework and business plan to be able to reap the rewards. Teradata helps these companies achieve their data-driven goals in a matter of weeks instead of months by using our Business Value Framework. Key to all this is the business’ knowledge — they know their customers and marketing better than anyone, but often struggle to get results. At Teradata, 95 percent of our experts have worked as a data analytics manager in their career. Through the Business Value Framework, they can use a company’s data to identify Customer insights and improve customer experience. While the business example I gave is in a niche industry, every company wants to ultimately make their customer more engaged — from industries like utilities, oil and gas, healthcare, insurance, digital media and automotive, to name a few.
