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ROLE OF CUSTOMER ANALYTICS IN THE PRESENT

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ROLE OF CUSTOMER ANALYTICS IN PRESENT
SCENARIO

CUSTOMER ANALYTICS

Customer analytics is a process by which data from customer behavior is used to help make key
business decisions via market segmentation and predictive analytics. This information is used by
businesses for direct marketing, site selection, and customer relationship management.
Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive
system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle at the
consumer. Customer analytics plays an important role in the prediction of customer behavior.

Customer analytics used in various fields:

 Retail
Although until recently over 90% of retailers had limited visibility on their customers,
with increasing investments in loyalty programs, customer tracking solutions and market
research, this industry started increasing use of customer analytics in decisions ranging
from product, promotion, price and distribution management The most obvious use of
customer analytics in retail today is the development of personalized communications
and offers and/or different marketing programs by segmentAdditional reasons set forth
by Bain & Co. include: prioritizing product development efforts, designing distribution
strategies and determining product pricing. Demographic, lifestyle, preference, loyalty
data, behavior, shopper value and predictive behavior data points are key to the success
of customer analytics
 Retail Management
Companies can use data about customers to restructure retail management. This
restructuring using data often occurs in dynamic scheduling and worker evaluations.
Through dynamic scheduling, companies optimize staffing through predictive scheduling
software based on predictive customer traffic. Worker schedules can be adjusted in
response to updated forecasts at short notice. Customer analytics allows retail companies
to evaluate workers by comparing daily sales to daily traffic in a store. The use of
customer analytics data affecting the management of retail workers in a phenomenon
known as refractive surveillance. The model of refractive surveillance describes how the
collection of information on one group can affect and allow for the control of an entirely
different group.
Criticisms of Use
As retail technologies become more data driven, use of customer analytics use has raised
criticisms specifically in how they affect the retail worker. Data driven staffing
algorithms can lead to irregular working schedules because they can change on short
notice to adapt to predicted traffic. Data driven assessment of sales can also be
misleading as daily traffic counters do not accurately distinguish between customers and
staff and cannot accurately account for workers’ breaks.[4]
 Finance
Banks, insurance companies and pension funds make use of customer analytics in
understanding customer lifetime value, identifying below-zero customers which are
estimated to be around 30% of customer base, increasing cross-sales, managing customer
attrition as well as migrating customers to lower cost channels in a targeted manner.
 Community
Municipalities utilize customer analytics in an effort to lure retailers to their cities.
Using psychographic variables, communities can be segmented based on attributes like
personality, values, interests, and lifestyle. Using this information, communities can
approach retailers that match their community’s profile.
  Customer relationship management
Analytical Customer Relationship Management, commonly abbreviated as CRM, enables
measurement of and prediction from customer data to provide a 360° view of the client.
DEFINITION
’’Customer analytics is defined as the use of analytics to study customer behavior for effective
business decisions through market segmentation and predictive analytics.’’

Customer analytics equips marketers with relevant information about customer behavior, helping
them take effective predictive business decisions. It helps businesses hone their direct marketing
or CRM efforts, improving customer experience through personalized interactions between the
brand and the customer on the basis of customer segmentation as per insights from the data. In
this article we define customer analytics and share key processes, trends and some examples of
how it contributes to business growth.
What Is Customer Analytics?

Customer analytics is the process of studying customer data accumulated across departments in a
company, for assessing, understanding and interpreting customer behavior across the various
stages in their buying journey.
Why analytics?

It leads to better decisions. Informed decisions. Data-driven decisions. It connects various data
points and sets to identify trends, patterns, anomalies and gaps. Luckily, the technology available
today, does not do just that, but also presents the findings in a way that a regular (right-brained)
marketer like you and me can make sense of and apply the insights and decisions to marketing
action plans and execution strategies.

The basic concept is simple enough. You have data –> you use technology to run
some analytics on it –> you get some actionable insight from it which will help you make better
decisions –> that can drive better marketing results & ROI.

So, what’s the catch? Well, there are a lot of different sources of data, there are lots of different
kinds of analytics (SEE BOX: Types of Analytics) and there are several use cases for which you
can deploy decision science solutions
 Additionally, customer analytics:

 Helps you increase customer response to promotions, strengthens customer loyalty and
consequently boosts sales revenues
 Tightens your overall campaign cost by letting you focus on buyers who are most likely
to make a purchase / perform a desired action
 Helps you identify unsatisfied customers and prevent brand detraction

With customer data analytics, you can create a more effective and efficient set of campaigns
based on stage of buying journey, browsing behavior, purchase history, demographics,
geographical details and so on. It is key to note that an organization’s technology stack and
audience management capabilities play a key role in both data collection and analytics.

Customer Analytics Framework: 3 Key Processes

Setting up a robust customer analytics framework certainly requires a strong technology stack,
but there’s more to it. Here are 3 key processes for planning customer analytics.
Key Trends In Customer Analytics

Some trends that are disrupting the customer analytics space:

1. Emerging sources of customer data

the increasing penetration of voice enabled smart devices, in-home automation and wearables is
unveiling a lot more about customer lifestyles and choices. Customer data from all these devices
combined with social media journeys, is any marketers’ newfound goldmine. While email clicks,
in-store visits, online purchases or browsing and content streaming still exist as important
sources of customer data, these new sources of unstructured data are able to reveal even more
interesting customer journey insights to marketers.
2. AI to make analytics more human-centric

Even though there are frequent speculations that AI and machine learning will take away the jobs
of analysts, more advanced systems present a rather positive picture. With newer updates, these
systems and tools are designed to work more efficiently in collaboration with human judgement.
In fact, over the coming years, AI enabled customer analytics systems are expected to possess
virtues such as empathy, data protection ethics apart from compliance checks and will be
designed to handle human-machine collaboration.

3. Cloud analytics goes bigger

With the growing amount of external data and expectations of speed and accuracy, the adoption
of cloud for analytics is witnessing growth. This is because, cloud brings in more agility into
analytics, and is more powerful yet cost-effective. Despite the benefits, complete transition to
cloud is also not that easy. Though businesses are taking baby steps in transitioning from
traditional on-premise analytics models to hybrid or on-cloud models, it is surely going to get
bigger in the years to come.

4. End-to-end integration for better decision making

Businesses are now adopting more integrated, end-to-end analytics processes to convert insights
into actions. This means customer data is combined with information from across departments
such as marketing, sales, customer service, and so on to get the best out of analytics. End-to-end
integration between customer data analytics and other business functions combined with external
social collaborations, provides deeper customer insights, allowing the marketer to make better
business decisions.

Customer analytics is set to see more exciting times as devices get smarter and churn out more
relevant real-time data. Now, let us look at some interesting examples of customer analytics
being used for business profitability and success in the real world.
COMPANIES USING CUSTOMER ANALYTICS

Many companies now use customer analytics not just for improved customer interactions or
customer acquisition and retention but also for improving their supply chain or for curbing
business risks. Here are some of the leading examples of companies using customer analytics to
their business advantage.

Netflix
Netflix knows the pulse of its audience so well that each time someone logs in, they find plenty
of material that matches their interest. With over 130 million subscribers across the globe,
Netflix gathers data from people of all walks of life. It extensively uses big data analytics to draw
patterns from people’s search and viewing history, and offers suggestions for their next watch
basis that. It goes beyond.Netflix gathers data across various aspects. One example is that it
knows which series you are watching and for how long you continue watching it, or at what
point you switch to something else. If say, 70 percent or more users who started watching,
finished all seasons of a cancelled show, Netflix will decide to launch another season, as this data
shows greater chances of people watching the new season as well.Through offering data backed
compelling, personalized choices of content, Netflix keeps its customers or subscribers glued to
its platform.

Amazon
Amazon gets access to a wide range of customer data, owing to its presence as the biggest
online one-stop shop for anything and everything you want. Through a strong recommendation
engine, that feeds on browsing data from users, Amazon helps its users make convenient buying
decisions instead of getting lost in the huge variety it offers.
In addition to what you buy, it gathers data about what you explore on the site, time spent
browsing each page and much more, to build a 360-degree view of the customer. It further uses
this information to not just help you find what you need much more conveniently, but also for
lookalike-modeling to reach out to other similar people with product recommendations.

Citibank
Citibank is a great example of using big data and customer analytics for customer retention and
acquisition. One of the ways they do it is by processing and analyzing customer data combined
 with machine learning algorithms to pitch promotional spending.Additionally, they keep track of
all transactional records to identify anomalies such as incorrect or fraudulent charges, if any.
Spotting such glitches early on or even before it occurs, using predictive modelling. This not
only saves the bank a lot of cost but keeps the customer trust intact. Citibank manages all this
through an in-house integrated big data customer analytics platform architecture.

In organizations, analytics enables professionals to convert extensive data and statistical and
quantitative analysis into powerful insights that can drive efficient decisions. Therefore
with analytics, organizations can now base their decisions and strategies on data rather than on
gut feelings.

Importance of customer analytics

 Knowledge of customer behavior enables the company to identify which customers are most
likely to respond hence reducing marketing costs.

 Customer attrition is significantly reduced by predicting which customers have a high probability
of defecting and in turn develop strategies to retain them.

 Provision of tailored offers and customized products increases customer loyalty and response
rates.

 Knowledge of customer behavior enables effective customer segmentation for a better

understanding of their needs and wants.

Key customer analytics in use today

1. Customer satisfaction analysis: Customers who are happy will come back again for more
purchases. This type of analysis determines whether the customers’ needs are being met – in
short, it determines whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with what the company offers.

2. Customer lifetime value analytics: This is the process of analyzing the entire relationship with a
customer in order to determine his or her value to the business. It determines how long a
customer stays a customer, their likelihood of making purchases during that period and their
 entire value in that timeframe. The main goal is to focus marketing strategies to the best
customers in order to increase the customer-business relationship.

3. Sales channel analytics: Sales channel analytics analyses all the different ways a product can be
distributed to the market and determines the most effective channel for better resource
management. Customers may be exposed to a different sales channel so it is crucial to determine
whether customers prefer to purchase physically or online.

4. Customer segmentation analytics: All customers are not equal. This process identifies sub-groups
within the customer base and splits them into segments depending on their purchasing power.
This allows the company to customize its marketing and communication efforts.
The importance of customer analytics in marketing

Consumers today have so many options regardless of what product or service they’re looking
for, and for marketers, it’s really important to use available data to better understand how to meet
consumer needs and influence behavior. By understanding what consumers are really looking
for, and how they behave when searching out products or services, marketers can work on
targeting the right audiences in the ways that will really appeal to them. By tracking behavior
and predicting how consumers conduct their searches, marketing firms are able to narrow down
exactly how to target the right customer, so that the supplier benefits in finding a customer, and
the customer benefits as they are able to find exactly what they are looking for. In analyzing data
and identifying consumer trends, marketers are able to build models that will help launch
marketing plans that reflect changes and consistencies in consumer behavior, to help plan for
future marketing initiatives.

For those interested in this fast-paced industry, Brandeis GPS is offering a course for the spring
2017 term in Marketing and Customer Analytics. The course will provide an introduction to
advanced analytics and measurement in the areas of social networking and media, web and
marketing analytics. The topics covered include the history, tracking, performance, optimization,
metrics, analysis, visualization, decision making, reporting and best practices in each of those
three areas. E-commerce will also be covered as it relates to web and marketing.

The Future of Customer Analytics

 A

CUSTOMER ANLYTICS IN HEALTH CARE

 RISK SCORING FOR CHRONIC DISEASES, POPULATION HEALTH

Prediction and prevention go hand-in-hand, perhaps nowhere more closely than in the world of
population health management.

Organizations that can identify individuals with elevated risks of developing chronic conditions
as early in the disease’s progression as possible have the best chance of helping patients avoid
long-term health problems that are costly and difficult to treat.

 AVOIDING 30-DAY HOSPITAL READMISSIONS

Hospitals and health systems are subject to significant penalties under Medicare’s Hospital
Readmissions Reduction program (HRRP), adding a financial incentive for preventing
unplanned returns to the inpatient setting.
In addition to improving transitions of care and deploying care coordination strategies, predictive
analytics can warn providers when a patient’s risk factors indicate a high likelihood for
readmission within the 30-day window.

 GETTING AHEAD OF PATIENT DETERIORATION

While still in the hospital, patients face a number of potential threats to their wellbeing, including
the development of sepsis, the acquisition of a hard-to-treat infection, or a sudden downturn due
to their existing clinical conditions.

Data analytics can help providers react as quickly as possible to changes in a patient’s vitals, and
may be able to identify an upcoming deterioration before symptoms clearly manifest themselves
to the naked eye.

 FORESTALLING APPOINTMENT NO-SHOWS

Unexpected gaps in the daily calendar can have financial ramifications for the organization while
throwing off a clinician’s entire workflow.

Using predictive analytics to identify patients likely to skip an appointment without advanced
notice can improve provider satisfaction, cut down on revenue losses, and give organizations the
opportunity to offer open slots to other patients, thereby increasing speedy access to care.

 PREVENTING SUICIDE AND PATIENT SELF-HARM

Early identification of individuals likely to cause harm to themselves can ensure that these
patients receive the mental healthcare they need to avoid serious events, including suicide.

EHRs once again offer a treasure trove of data to support suicide risk detection, says Kaiser
Permanente. In a 2018 study conducted by KP and the Mental Health Research Network, the
combination of EHR data and a standard depression questionnaire accurately identified
individuals who had elevated risk of a suicide attempt.

Using a predictive algorithm, the team found that suicide attempts and successes were 200 times
more likely among the top 1 percent of patients flagged.
  PREDICTING PATIENT UTILIZATION PATTERNS

In addition to helping organizations get ahead of no-shows, predictive analytics can give
providers a heads up when the clinic is about to get busy.

Care sites that operate without fixed schedules, such as emergency departments and urgent care
centers, must vary their staffing levels to account for fluctuations in patient flow. Inpatient
wards must have beds available for patients who need to be admitted, while outpatient clinics
and physician offices are responsible for keeping wait times low for patients.

Using analytics to predict patterns in utilization can help to ensure optimal staffing levels while
reducing wait times and raising patient satisfaction.

 MANAGING THE SUPPLY CHAIN

The supply chain is one of a provider’s largest cost centers, and represents one of the most
significant opportunities for healthcare organizations to trim unnecessary spending and improve
efficiency.

Predictive tools are in high demand among hospital executives looking to reduce variation and
gain more actionable insights into ordering patterns and supply utilization.

 ENSURING STRONG DATA SECURITY

Predictive analytics and artificial intelligence are also anticipated to play an important role in
cybersecurity, especially as the sophistication of attacks continues to increase.

Using analytics tools to monitor patterns in data access, sharing, and utilization can give
organizations an early warning when something changes – especially when those changes
indicate an intruder may have penetrated the network.

 DEVELOPING PRECISION MEDICINE AND NEW THERAPIES

As precision medicine and genomics gain steam, providers and researchers are turning to
analytics to supplement traditional clinical trials and drug discovery techniques.
“In silico” testing is a promising way to reduce the need to recruit patients for complex and
costly clinical trials while speeding up the evaluation of new therapies.

 BOLSTERING PATIENT ENGAGEMENT AND SATISFACTION

In addition to supporting chronic disease management strategies, cutting wait times, and
targeting therapies to produce better outcomes, predictive analytics can keep patients engaged in
other aspects of their care, as well.

Consumer relationship management has become a vital skill for both providers and insurance
companies looking to promote wellness and reduce long-term spending – and predicting patient
behaviors is a key component of developing effective communications and adherence
techniques.

CUSTOMER ANALYTICS IN RETAIL SECTOR

1. Behaviour Analytics

Some of the key challenges for retail firms are – improving customer conversion rates,
personalizing marketing campaigns to increase revenue, predicting and avoiding customer churn,
and lowering customer acquisition costs. These can be tackled with deeper, data-driven insights
on the customer. But today, there are several different interaction points for consumers to interact
with their companies, mobile, social media, stores, e-commerce sites and more. This causes a
substantial increase in the complexity and diversity of data you may have to accumulate and
analyse.

2. Using Big Data to Personalize In-Store Experience

Due to lack of a fool-proof and effective way to measure the specific impact of merchandising
decisions, merchandising has always been considered an art form in the past, associated with
aesthetics and not much else. With the substantial increase in online sales, a new shopping
format has emerged whereby the consumer physically research the desired products in-store and
then go ahead and purchase it online.

3. Customer Journey Analytics

Today it is very easy for customers to access any kind of information using channels like mobile,
social media and e-commerce. This makes decision of buying and purchases convenient for the
customers.

At the same time, customers have started expecting much more from businesses, like providing
consistent information, seamless experiences across channels that reflect history, preferences and
interests. Marketers need to continuously adapt with understanding and connecting with their
customers. This is possible when retailers have data-driven insights which help you understand
each customer’s profile and history across channels

4. Analytics on Operation and Supply Chains

Faster product life cycles and ever-complex operations tend to make retailers use big data
analytics to understand supply chains and product distribution to reduce costs. It is crucial for
retailers to gain a competitive edge in order to drive business performance and returns. Retailers
are well aware of the immense pressure to optimize asset utilization, budgets, performances and
service quality.

To increase operational efficiency, the key is use them to unlock insights hidden in log, sensor
and machine data. Such insights which include information about trends, patterns and outliers,
improve decisions, operations performance and reduce costs.

5. Trade Promotions Optimization

A report by Booz Allen states that a significant portion of the retailers lose over one-thirds of the
money invested in trade promotions. This is mainly due to the inability of decision-makers
to measure trade promotion effectiveness and ROI and profitably optimize spend by leveraging
data.
CUSTOMER ANALYTICS IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR

The manufacturing sector has used traditional forms of predictive analytics that was
often based on simple guessing techniques and forecast models since ages. But the
only drawback of this ancient form of predictive data analytics was that it was driven
by intuition and relied heavily on data acquired from unreliable and inaccurate
sources. However, thanks to the growing popularity of big data and internet of things
(IoT) enabled sensors and machines; predictive analytics techniques now leverage
advanced analytics services and algorithm models to uncover trends and gain
actionable insights. The modern form of predictive analytics is driven by the wide
availability and easy accessibility to large amounts of reliable, structured, and
accurate data from a variety of sources that facilitates strategic decision making in
the manufacturing sector.

 Predictive Analytics in Manufacturing Sector –

Improves Quality
Predictive analytics techniques and tools have a positive impact on critical
manufacturing processes. When organizations embed predictive and data analytics in
their manufacturing processes and production practices, it results in improved
quality. With the help of advanced data analytics, businesses can build a database by
collecting data, undertaking data cleansing, and storing it on a cloud based
infrastructure to further analyze and identify trends that drive the manufacturer to
devise effective action plans to improve manufacturing quality.

 Forecasting Demand in the Manufacturing

Sector
Advanced data analytics services and the internet of things enable manufacturers to
forecast demand by combining the past data and gaining a comprehensive
understanding of the manufacturing and production processes that help in identifying
gaps or trends. Predictive analytics enables businesses to identify and study data
 patterns by combing risk management and demand forecasting to drive production
and operational efficiency.

 Optimum Asset Capacity Utilization and

Preventive Maintenance
Predictive analytics allows manufacturers to make better use of machine cost,
schedule maintenance activities, monitor the machine activities, and automate the
processes with the help of sensors embedded in the machines. These sensors and
devices automate the data analysis, capture data from various touch points, and
facilitate preventive maintenance to reduce machine related issues. Preventive
maintenance will alert the producer or manufacturer about the issues, which ensures
that all the machines are operating at maximum efficiency. Manufacturing sector
companies can leverage market analytics and customer analytics among other
advanced data analytics services to ensure demand supply fulfil ments.

CUSTOMER ANALYTICS IN TELECOM SECTOR

The telecoms industry is one which not only sees a large customer base, but a customer base
who’s needs and desires are constantly evolving and/or shifting. On top of this, telecom firms
face cut throat competition, making it a highly dynamic and challenging industry. In such a
scenario, each decision taken becomes all the more crucial. It is therefore imperative for the firm
to take decisions based on extensive data analytics to ensure efficient and effective use of
business resources. Although analytics can be instrumental in the telecom industry in many
ways, some of the major applications include:

 Customer retention/improving customer loyalty:

With fierce competition between the numerous players in this industry, customer retention is
essential. Telecommunications are now much more than making calls and analytical tools can
help firms to identify cross selling opportunities and take impactful decisions to retain the
customer. Analytics can also help in identifying trends in customer behavior to predict customer
churn and apprise the decision makers to take suitable action to prevent the same. When dealing
with a large customer base, marketing across the board would be expensive and ineffective.
 Hence, analytics can help in better channeling marketing efforts, such as identifying target
groups and/or regions to launch pilot projects, so that the firm has better return on its marketing
investment.
 Network optimization:
It is crucial for telecom operators to ensure that all their customers are able to use its products at
all times. At the same time, firms need to be frugal when it comes to allocating resources to
network, because any unused capacity is a waste of resource. Analytics help in better monitoring
traffic and in facilitating capacity planning decisions. Analytical tools leverage data collected
through day to day transactions and help in both short term optimization decisions and long term
strategic decision making.
 Predictive analytics:
The traditional method of initiating something new based on gut feeling or intuition is outdated.
With the use of predictive analytics in all their business departments - telecos can predict the
approximate success rate of a new idea based on the past preferences of customers. This will in
turn provide telecom operators with great strategic advantage. Predictive analytics helps in
targeting the right customer at the right time based on their past behavior and choices. It also
helps in boosting revenue by proper planning and reducing the operational costs in the long term.
Lastly, staying advance always gives a competitive edge which is of utmost importance in this
highly competitive telecom industry.
 Social Analytics
The branding of telecom operators on social media plays a crucial part in customer gain and
retention. Data generated through social media can be interpreted into meaningful insights using
social analytical tools. The customer sentiment analysis, customer experience and positioning of
the company can be analyzed to make the customer experience richer and smoother. Also data
generated through such platform are more diverse both geographically and demographically and
hence helps in gaining insight into the real customer information.
We thus see how powerful analytical tools can act as a catalyst for business growth providing a
layout for proper planning and optimization of resources. Not only the present, but also future
trends, can be seen through analytics. Hence, such powerful tools should be leveraged now to
gain a long term uplift in business profit.

SOME COMPANIES USING CUSTOMER ANALYTICS

1. Amazon

The online retail giant has access to a massive amount of data on its customers; names,
addresses, payments and search histories are all filed away in its data bank.

While this information is obviously put to use in advertising algorithms, Amazon also uses the
information to improve customer relations, an area that many big data users overlook.

The next time you contact the Amazon help desk with a query, don't be surprised when the
employee on the other end already has most of the pertinent information about you on hand. This
allows for a faster, more efficient customer service experience that doesn't include having to
spell out your name three times.

2. American Express

The American Express Company is using big data to analyse and predict consumer behaviour.

By looking at historical transactions and incorporating more than 100 variables, the company
employs sophisticated predictive models in place of traditional business intelligence-based
hindsight reporting.

This allows a more accurate forecast of potential churn and customer loyalty. In fact, American
Express has claimed that, in their Australian market, they are able to predict 24% of accounts
that will close within four months.

3. BDO

National accounting and audit firm BDO puts big data analytics to use in identifying risk and
fraud during audits.

Where, in the past, finding the source of a discrepancy would involve numerous interviews and
hours of manpower, consulting internal data first allows for a significantly narrowed field and
streamlined process.

In one case, BDO Consulting Director Kirstie Tiernan noted, they were able to cut a list of
thousands of vendors down to a dozen and, from there, review data individually for
inconsistencies. A specific source was identified relatively quickly.

4. Capital One

Marketing is one of the most common uses for big data and Capital One are at the top of the
game, utilising big data management to help them ensure the success of all customer offerings.
Through analysis of the demographics and spending habits of customers, Capital One determines
the optimal times to present various offers to clients, thus increasing the conversion rates from
their communications.

Not only does this result in better uptake but marketing strategies become far more targeted and
relevant, therefore improving budget allocation.

5. General Electric (GE)

GE is using the data from sensors on machinery like gas turbines and jet engines to identify ways
to improve working processes and reliability.

The resultant reports are then passed to GE's analytics team to develop tools and improvements
for increased efficiency.

The company has estimated that data could boost productivity in the US by 1.5%, which, over a
20-year period, could save enough cash to raise average national incomes by as much as 30%.

6. Miniclip

Miniclip, who develop, publish and distribute digital games globally, use big data to monitor and
improve user experience.

Due to the nature of the company and sector, customer retention is a priority for Miniclip in
order to make games more profitable and, therefore, to support business growth.

Big data reporting, analysis, experimentation and machine learning data products allow the
company to measure the successful elements of their products and implement them in future
ventures, while also eliminating or improving the problematic components.

7. Netflix

The entertainment streaming service has a wealth of data and analytics providing insight into the
viewing habits of millions of international consumers.

Netflix uses this data to commission original programming content that appeals globally as well
as purchasing the rights to films and series boxsets that they know will perform well with certain
audiences.

For example, Adam Sandler has proven unpopular in the US and UK markets in recent years but
Netflix green-lighted four new films with the actor in 2015, armed with the knowledge that his
previous work had been successful in Latin America.
8. Next Big Sound

Next Big Sound (NBS) has figured out how to use the data from Spotify streams, iTunes sales,
SoundCloud plays, Facebook likes, Wikipedia page views, YouTube hits and Twitter mentions
to predict the next big thing in music.

The company's analytics provide insight into social media popularity, the impact of TV
appearances and many other nuggets of information that are invaluable to the music industry.
Artists can also use the data for their own promotion, thanks to a partnership between NBS and
Spotify.

Billboard now publishes two charts based exclusively on NBS’s data and they have worked with
companies such as Pepsi and American Express to help steer billions being spent brands on
music-related marketing and sponsorships.

9. Starbucks

Have you ever wondered how Starbucks can open three branches on the same street and not have
their business suffer?

The coffeehouse behemoth uses big data to determine the potential success of each new location,
taking information on location, traffic, area demographic and customer behaviour into account.

Making this kind of assessment before opening a store means Starbucks can make a fairly
accurate estimation of what the success rate will be and choose locations based on the propensity
toward revenue growth.

10. T-Mobile

The mobile network, like American Express, is combining customer transaction and interactions
data to predict customer fluctuations.

By utilising internal information on billing and customer relations management along with data
on social media usage, T-Moblie USA claims they halved customer defections within a single
quarter.