84% Of Enterprises See Big Data Analytics Changing Their Industries’ Competitive Landscapes In The Next Year

87% of enterprises believe Big Data analytics will redefine the competitive landscape of their industries within the next three years. 89% believe that companies that do not adopt a Big Data analytics strategy in the next year risk losing market share and momentum.

These and other key findings are from a Accenture and General Electric study published this month on how the combination of Big Data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are redefining the competitive landscape of entire industries. Accenture and GE define the Industrial Internet as the use of sensor, software, machine-to-machine learning and other technologies to gather and analyze data from physical objects or other large data streams, and then use those analyses to manage operations and in some cases to offer new, valued-added services.

Big Data Analytics Now Seen As Essential For Competitive Growth

The Industrial Internet is projected to be worth $500B in worldwide spending by 2020, taking into account hardware, software and services sales according to Wikibon and previously published research from General Electric. This finding and others can be found on the home page of the Accenture and GE study here: How the Industrial Internet is Changing the Competitive Landscape of Industries.

The study also shows that many enterprises are investing the majority of their time in analysis (36%) and just 13% are using Big Data analytics to predict outcomes, and only 16% using their analytics applications to optimize processes and strategies. Moving beyond analysis to predictive analytics and optimization is the upside potential the majority of the C-level respondents see as essential to staying competitive in their industries in the future.

A summary of results and the methodology used are downloadable in PDF form (free, no opt in) from this link: Industrial Internet Insights Report For 2015.

Key take-aways from the study include the following:

• 73% of companies are already investing more than 20% of their overall technology budget on Big Data analytics, and just over two in ten are investing more than 30%. 76% of executives expect spending levels to increase. The following graphic illustrates these results:

• Big Data analytics has quickly become the highest priority for aviation (61%), wind (45%) and manufacturing (42%) companies.  The following graphic provides insights into the relative level of importance of Big Data analytics relative to other priorities in the enterprises interviewed in the study:

• 74% of enterprises say that their main competitors are already using Big Data analytics to successfully differentiate their competitive strengths with clients, the media, and investors. 93% of enterprises are seeing new competitors in their market using Big Data analytics as a key differentiation strategy.  The single greatest risk enterprises see from not implementing a Big Data strategy is that competitors will gain market share at their expense.  Please see the following graphic for a comparison of the risks of not implementing Big Data strategy.

• 65% of enterprises are focused on monitoring assets to identify operating issues for more proactive maintenance. 58% report having capabilities such as connecting equipment to collect operating data and analyzing the data to produce insights. The following graphic provides an overview of Big Data monitoring survey results:

• Increasing profitability (60%), gaining a competitive advantage (57%) and improving environmental safety and emissions compliance (55%) are the three highest industry priorities according to the survey. The following table provides an analysis of the top business priorities by industry for the next three years with the shaded areas indicating the highest-ranked priorities by industry:

• The top three challenges enterprises face in implementing Big Data initiatives include the following: system barriers between departments prevent collection and correlation of data for maximum impact (36%); security concerns are impacting enterprises’ ability to implement a wide-scale Big Data initiative (35%); and  consolidation of disparate data and being able to use the resulting data store (29%), third. The following graphic provides an overview of the top three challenges organizations face in implementing Big Data initiatives:

Courtesy – Louis Columbus

Asia: Opening Doors for Digital Marketers

As per the projections from Forrester Research, up to 43 percent of the world's online population will reside in Asia by 2013. This will result in the numerous online marketing developments in Asia, thus making this area central for digital marketers! Now is the time when digital marketers need to sit up and work out their best strategies about digital marketing trends, including search, mobile, social media, e-mail marketing, and analytics.

The emerging face of Asia's digital markets has made the world sit up and notice the changing scenario that this region presents. Asia boasts of unprecedented rise in the web users who access internet for a wide range of activities. This can include anything from information search to social networking and from ticket booking to writing mails.

The figures published by Forrester Research shows that almost 17 % percent of the global online population will be residing in China by the year 2013. China will also account for 1.3 billion mobile subscribers and 957 million mobile Web users by 2014. These figures shows that by 2010 more people in China will be accessing the Web on their cell phones than the entire population of the U.S. in 2010!

As per Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Yearbook, last year in 2009 internet users in Asia Pacific had spent more than 5.6 trillion minutes online. In doing so, they had bought almost $7 billion in virtual goods. India recorded year-on-year increase of 42 percent in 2009! The internet population in India grew to almost 71 million, which included 51 million active users. Also, maximum searches for products such as mobile phones and laptops are originating from India. A small country like Japan also has around 21.8 million social network users. There are more than 10.6 million Facebook users in Philippines, which is ranked eighth in the world in terms of countries with highest number of using the social networking site.

These and many more such encouraging data have made it apparent that marketers now need to focus their attention to Asia in order to make full use of the increasing online marketing opportunities. Marketers can now use efficient and effective digital marketing medium to reach consumers. This medium allows marketers to enter into a two way dialogue with the customer. Now it has become easy for marketers to get an insight into consumer’s interests and obtain an economical link with the current as well as potential customers.

What makes Asia truly amazing is its diversity. Over 2000 spoken languages, incredible wealth yet unforgiving poverty, political models including monarchies to democracies to authoritarian governments, and numerous religious traditions give Asia a unique identity. Yet, this otherwise stunning diversity is nothing but highly fragmented markets when seen from a communication professionals’ point of view. For any company, communication across such a diverse landscape is a challenge that must be faced. One who is able to manage this will surely be the king of digital marketing world of Asia!

Digital Media Predictions for 2010

Sharing the Digital Media Predications for 2010 made by Tessa Wegert.

At about this time every year, media strategists start to contemplate what the fast approaching New Year might bring. There's always endless speculation about which trends will continue, and which mediums will finally gain the traction they've long been promising. This year is no exception. Talk to 10 of your peers and you're likely to get 10 different opinions on what will be big in 2010, but you can be certain they'll all incorporate at least a few of the following digital media predictions.

Prepare to Make a Date with Data

Data ownership and retention, and the value of audience data to both advertisers and publishers, was a hot topic in 2009. So, it will continue to be in the next. As companies like BlueKai and eXelate actively partner with publishers to collect user data from their sites and sell it through their data marketplaces, marketers can gain greater insight into the Internet users they're trying to reach.

When working with an individual site, you typically get limited user information: the kind that relates specifically to how the sites' visitors interact with them and their products and services. Data exchanges, however, pull demographic and behavioral data on those same consumers from many more sites to fill in the blanks and create a more complete user profile. Particularly given the increased importance of making every ad dollar deliver, such improved targeting capabilities are sure to become an even more desirable commodity among planners and buyers in 2010.

Opportunities With Mobile Apps

As advertisers find success in creating mobile applications for iPhones, BlackBerry models, and other makes of smartphones, more marketers will be trying their hand at this direct line of consumer communication. It's a useful way to distribute branded content that can be easily integrated into an overall digital advertising strategy.

The more prominent trend, however, may be advertising on these apps. Publishers are reporting an increased interest in this form of mobile advertising, and are increasingly partnering with companies like Rich Media and mobile advertising and analytics platform, Medialets to facilitate app ads. Medialets places adaptable ad tags on existing publisher apps that don't require an up-front commitment to a specific type of advertising. Once a publisher's iPhone app is approved for distribution, the placement of the ads can be controlled remotely, allowing the publisher and advertiser to not only swap out ads for different campaigns, but also vary the ad formats themselves.

Tags can even be placed on behalf of ad networks, such that buyers can supplement their mobile advertising campaign with a network buy. The result is a flexible approach to mobile advertising that provides access to a popular branded app, along with the on-demand delivery of proven ad units.

New Ad Sizes and Formats

This year saw the introduction of the Online Publishers Association's (OPA) larger display ad formats, designed to promote creativity among advertisers and encourage Internet users to actively share ads, as they would site content. Major brands like Mercedes-Benz, Frito-Lay, and Bank of America have already experimented with the ads, and we can expect others to follow suit.

In addition to more prominent ad sizes, watch for ad formats to deliver more in-depth product information. Product preview and inventory data-based banners, for example, are allowing consumers to view entire product lines within the confines of a display ad, and check inventory levels to determine whether their desired vehicle, pair of jeans, or swimsuit is available for purchase or sold out. Such banners are well positioned to lead to impromptu purchases, as users unexpectedly find themselves shopping online before even making their way to the advertiser's online store.

Standardization in Media Buying

The request for proposal (RFP) process is frequently a thorn in the media buyers' side; many times, digital marketers have wished for a more standardized process that would simplify and speed up the exchange of information between agency and site publisher. Digital advertising management platforms from such companies as Traffiq, can deliver this by eliminating many of the inefficiencies of conducting the RFP process offline. The idea is to instead take the RFP process to the Web, with agencies creating and posting their RFPs directly to targeted publishers, and managing the response process more effectively. Look for more of this in large and boutique agencies in the months to come.

The year ahead promises to be an exciting one: there will be bigger and bolder efforts from digital marketers, and an evolving relationship between advertisers and consumers. What trends do you predict for 2010? Don't forget to share your point of view below.