About the Book

This book provides "how to" advice and a series of pragmatic methodologies (with accompanying hands-on exercises) for helping organizations leverage big data analytics to power, or re-wire, their value chains. Organizations struggle identifying where and how to leverage these new structured and unstructured data sources and new big data technology innovations to delivery business value. Consequently, many organizations default to taking a technology-led approach to their big data strategies.
Leading companies find ways to leverage data -- especially new sources of data -- to tease out new insights about their customers, products, operations, competitors and markets. And these organizations leverage these insights to improve their customer experiences, create new, more compelling products and create new sources of competitive differentiation.

About the Author

Bill Schmarzo is the Chief Technical Officer for Enterprise Information Management for EMC. Bill is referred to as the "Dean of Big Data" where he is responsible for setting strategy for EMC's Big Data consulting business. He has been immersed in the worls of big data for more than 20 years with experience in data warehousing, business intelligence and analytic applications. Previously, Bill was Vice President of Advertiser Analytics at Yahoo. As EMC's Big Data evangelist, Bill speaks around the world. He created the Business Benefits Analysis methodology that links an organization's strategic business initiatives with their supporting data and analytic requirements, and co-authored with Ralph Kimball a series of articles on analytic applications. He has also served on The Data Warehouse Institute's faculty as the head of the analytic applications curriculum.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction 1 The Big Data Business Opportunity The Business Transformation Imperative Walmart Case Study The Big Data Business Model Maturity Index Business Monitoring Business Insights Business Optimization Data Monetization Business Metamorphosis Big Data Business Model Maturity Observations Summary 2 Big Data History Lesson Consumer Package Goods and Retail Industry Pre-1988 Lessons Learned and Applicability to Today's Big Data Movement Summary 3 Business Impact of Big Data Big Data Impacts: The Questions Business Users Can Answer Managing Using the Right Metrics Data Monetization Opportunities Digital Media Data Monetization Example Digital Media Data Assets and Understanding Target Users Data Monetization Transformations and Enrichments Summary 4 Organizational Impact of Big Data Data Analytics Lifecycle Data Scientist Roles and Responsibilities Discovery Data Preparation Model Planning Model Building Communicate Results Operationalize New Organizational Roles User Experience Team New Senior Management Roles Liberating Organizational Creativity Summary 5 Understanding Decision Theory Business Intelligence Challenge The Death of Why Big Data User Interface Ramifi cations The Human Challenge of Decision Making Traps in Decision Making What Can One Do? Summary 6 Creating the Big Data Strategy The Big Data Strategy Document Customer Intimacy Example Turning the Strategy Document into Action Starbucks Big Data Strategy Document Example San Francisco Giants Big Data Strategy Document Example Summary 7 Understanding Your Value Creation Process Understanding the Big Data Value Creation Drivers Driver #1: Access to More Detailed Transactional Data Driver #2: Access to Unstructured Data Driver #3: Access to Low-latency (Real-Time) Data Driver #4: Integration of Predictive Analytics Big Data Envisioning Worksheet Big Data Business Drivers: Predictive Maintenance Example Big Data Business Drivers: Customer Satisfaction Example Big Data Business Drivers: Customer Micro-segmentation Example Michael Porter's Valuation Creation Models Michael Porter's Five Forces Analysis Michael Porter's Value Chain Analysis Value Creation Process: Merchandising Example Summary 8 Big Data User Experience Ramifi cations The Unintelligent User Experience Understanding the Key Decisions to Build a Relevant User Experience Using Big Data Analytics to Improve Customer Engagement Uncovering and Leveraging Customer Insights Rewiring Your Customer Lifecycle Management Processes Using Customer Insights to Drive Business Profi tability Big Data Can Power a New Customer Experience B2C Example: Powering the Retail Customer Experience B2B Example: Powering Small- and Medium-Sized Merchant Effectiveness Summary 9 Identifying Big Data Use Cases The Big Data Envisioning Process Step 1: Research Business Initiatives Step 2: Acquire and Analyze Your Data Step 3: Ideation Workshop: Brainstorm New Ideas Step 4: Ideation Workshop: Prioritize Big Data Use Cases Step 5: Document Next Steps The Prioritization Process The Prioritization Matrix Process Prioritization Matrix Traps Using User Experience Mockups to Fuel the Envisioning Process Summary 10 Solution Engineering The Solution Engineering Process Step 1: Understand How the Organization Makes Money Step 2: Identify Your Organization's Key Business Initiatives Step 3: Brainstorm Big Data Business Impact 1 Step 4: Break Down the Business Initiative Into Use Cases Step 5: Prove Out the Use Case Step 6: Design and Implement the Big Data Solution Solution Engineering Tomorrow's Business Solutions Customer Behavioral Analytics Example Predictive Maintenance Example Marketing Effectiveness Example 1 Fraud Reduction Example Network Optimization Example Reading an Annual Report Financial Services Firm Example Retail Example Brokerage Firm Example Summary 11 Big Data Architectural Ramifi cations Big Data: Time for a New Data Architecture Introducing Big Data Technologies Apache Hadoop Hadoop MapReduce Apache Hive Apache HBase Pig New Analytic Tools New Analytic Algorithms Bringing Big Data into the Traditional Data Warehouse World Data Enrichment: Think ELT, Not ETL Data Federation: Query is the New ETL Data Modeling: Schema on Read Hadoop: Next Gen Data Staging and Prep Area MPP Architectures: Accelerate Your Data Warehouse In-database Analytics: Bring the Analytics to the Data Cloud Computing: Providing Big Data Computational Power Summary 12 Launching Your Big Data Journey Explosive Data Growth Drives Business Opportunities Traditional Technologies and Approaches Are Insufficient The Big Data Business Model Maturity Index Driving Business and IT Stakeholder Collaboration Operationalizing Big Data Insights Big Data Powers the Value Creation Process Summary 13 Call to Action Identify Your Organization's Key Business Initiatives Start with Business and IT Stakeholder Collaboration Formalize Your Envisioning Process Leverage Mockups to Fuel the Creative Process Understand Your Technology and Architectural Options Build off Your Existing Internal Business Processes Uncover New Monetization Opportunities Understand the Organizational Ramifications Index