Businesses are drowning in Big Data—data describing their customers and partners, the market, and everything else from weather to social sentiment. In theory, they should be able to use this information to great advantage: to personalize marketing campaigns, develop a 360-degree view of the customer, improve operations, better the customer experience, and more.
But the problem with Big Data lies in knowing what is valuable. Or, if you know exactly what you want, how do you find it in the moment it’s needed?
You speed it up—in the same way that an enterprise service bus and in-memory solutions deliver data faster than point-to-point integrations and relational databases. Fast Data that’s filtered and delivered to the right place as quickly as new information arrives solves the (slow) Big Data problem.
Changing Technology Rewrites the Marketing Formula
Traditional marketing methods supply companies with historical information— what the customer did, said, liked, or bought, all events happening in the past. Historically, CMOs used business intelligence/reporting tools to set up campaigns and run ads to fit a static and predictable marketing formula. Marketing automation software has been more recently added to shorten the cycle and increase campaign speed and efficiency. But by applying automation software only to static campaigns, the in-the-moment customer needs, wants, and desires are missing from the 360-degree view of the customer.
You Need to Be Faster Than Ever Before
Marketers can no longer afford to be so restricted. They require a constant and accurate stream of events that tells the full, dynamic story of what is going on in real time, both with customers and with events taking place in and outside of the business. Real-time information, not a barrage of static data, elevates the decision-making power of CMOs.
Marketing automation software needs to connect ERP, CRM, mobile and web channels, and sources of enriched customer data with marketing optimization technologies. When these systems are brought together, they can be orchestrated to deliver relevant offers and other forms of interaction based on meaningful, contextual information, both historical and real time.
But the right information delivered at speed, is effective only when it reaches a customer exactly when it counts most. Getting there sometimes requires near real-time speed. If the customer has left the store and arrived at home before they get a mobile offer, it’s too late. If they are well into the checkout line, it may be awkward and frustrating. With Fast Data, events shaping the customer relationship are delivered at the right time, every time.
Betting Odds Update Faster Than a Horse Race
One industry hugely dependent on speed, the betting industry, provides an extreme example of the power of this type of real-time event processing. Odds are updated the instant race horses round a curve or a bad play is made in a soccer game. Delivery of this streaming data makes it possible. The online gambling industry notes that 80% of global betting now happens after a sporting event begins, which means that odds are constantly reset throughout the game.
Using integration, analytics, and real-time event processing delivers fast data for smarter decision-making and execution (really, down to the millisecond) without missing a goal, point, offer, or sale.
Learn more about Fast Data at Transform 2014.
