The real challenge of Big Data
By Edwin Kooge, managing partner and Natasha Walk and Peter Verhoef, co-founders and managing partners at Metrixlab Big Data Analytics.
Big Data is top of mind in many organisations because of the flood of data now available. There is a belief that analysing Big Data can bring substantial competitive advantages. However collecting and storing the massive data streams – although a challenge in itself – is only part of the story.
The ultimate question is how these new developments and possible competitive advantages can increase shareholder value.
This article introduces the Big Data Value creation model which shows how Big Data can significantly contribute to value creation for customers (Value to the Customer, V2C) and for organisations themselves (Value to the Firm, V2F). V2C and V2F are at the core of the ultimate objective of shareholder value creation. This objective can only be realised by merging relevant data streams.
One of the greatest challenges of big data is how firms can create value by merging data streams. The big data value creation model shows how merging data streams can realise value creation. This model has four elements, each dealing with the complexity involved in the need to merge data streams:
- Big data assets;
- Big data capabilities;
- Big data analytics;
- Big data value creation.
Big data assets
An organisation normally has many assets, tangible (i.e. buildings, factories) as well as intangible (i.e. brands, customers, goodwill, products/patents etc.). Only in the last decades have organisations realised that the data they store in their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems or that they collect from external sources like market research have also become valuable assets. Especially by investing in the right data and making good use of these data it is possible to realise:
- a successful and cost efficient process for acquiring the right customers;
- valuable and sustainable relationships with existing customers;
- loyal customers, preventing them from leaving the company.
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