Think BIG, Act SMALL: Use Case Series – Part 5 of 5 (Using Big Data in Insurance, Utilities, ECommerce, Hi-Tech Digital and Travel Industry)

In my research about Big Data, I came across an interesting fact: if you do a search in Google for ‘Big data’, you will get about 1,060,000,000 results in fraction of seconds. Really? The amount of noise and hype about Big Data created in business world from board room to conference meetings is unwarranted and most often created by vendors than the domain industry experts. I have been meeting with few of the industry business leaders and after my few meetings with customers and prospects about big data initiatives, I am seeing lot of What, Why, When, Where and How type questions. Among the few industry leaders in Telecommunications, Hi/Tech, Manufacturing, Utilities, very few are planning to work on Big Data POC/POV projects this year using Hadoop and mostly relying on 2013 plan and budget. Big Data is still in its infancy stage of it’s life cycle and alike traditional EDW/BI, it will take couple years to be part of nervous system of an organization. From what I have seen recently, most of the real big data initiatives that are currently in Production are by start-ups and upcoming companies that are working on new product line around real-time analytics and integration. Some of them are actually offering their products through cloud as SAAS and specifically extending it to AAAS (Analysis as a Service). The Cloud and Big Data computing has opened a new market for innovators.

Let’s look at some of the use cases for few traditional industries here:

Big Data use-cases in Insurance Industry

At the recent insurance industry trade shows, “big data” was the talk of the floor. The broad, vague term means different things to different people, though, and like many buzzwords suffers a bit from overexposure. But most people see the potential of advanced data and analytics to make insurance operations more efficient and effective. Here are few of the use cases that are very relevant to Insurance industry and has high ROI potential

• Fraud Detection & Analysis
• Personalized Pricing:
• Customer Sentiment Analysis
• Catatrophic Planning
• Call Detail Record
• Loyalty Management
• Social Media Analytics
• Advertising and Campaign Management
• Agents Analysis
• Customer Value Management
• Underwriting and Loss modeling

Big Data use-cases in Utility Industry:

With the proliferation of smart meters, utilities are finding themselves inundated with data as they build out the Internet-enabled, interactive power system called the smart grid. But according to Oracle survey, many utility companies have yet to exploit that data as they modernize the grid. “The average utility with at least one smart meter program in place has increased the frequency of its data collection by 180x– collecting data once every four hours as opposed to just once a month,” states the survey of 151 utility executives in the U.S. and Canada conducted in April. “Despite improvements, 45%of utilities still struggle to report information to business managers as fast as they need it and 50% miss opportunities to deliver useful information to customers”. Here are few of the use cases that’s candidate for big data implementation and analytics

• Smart Meters – Notifications and Alerts,
• Smart Meters – Real-time Usage Pattern Analysis
• Smart Meters – Predictive Analysis for Distribution of power
• Smart Grid – Weather Pattern and Real Time Usage and Distribution
• Manage Disasters and Outages
• Compliance Checks and Audits
• Customer Sentiment Analysis
• Customer Feedback and Call Detail Record Analysis

Big Data use-cases in ECommerce & Hi-Tech Digital Industry

• Association and Complementary Products – Big Data can be used as input to recommendation engines within websites like Amazon or Buy.com that can increase average order size by recommending complementary products on real time basis based on predictive analysis for cross-selling.
• Cross-channel analytics — sales attribution, average order value, lifetime value (e.g., how many in-store purchases resulted from a particular recommendation, advertisement or promotion).
• Event analytics — what series of steps (golden path) led to a desired outcome (e.g., purchase, registration).
• Right Offer at the Right Time
• Next Best Offer – deploying predictive models in combination with recommendation engines that drive automated next best offers and tailored interactions across multiple interaction channels.
• Large-scale click-stream analytics
• Ad targeting, analysis, forecasting and optimization
• Abuse and click-fraud prevention
• Social graph analysis and profile segmentation
• Campaign management and loyalty programs

Big Data use-cases in Travel Industry

Just think about every data point produced in one single business or pleasure trip, from the chosen time, airline choice, hotel destination, meals, entertainment decisions, and how that data can then be used to provide a deeper and richer consumer experience in a quicker and easier sale of services. As one industry publication points out it is the ability to personalize that will spur Big Data analytics and foster development of new applications and new services in the travel realm.

• Personalized Pricing for Travel – Aviation, Hotels, Vacation Packages and Cars….
• Customer Sentiment and Behavior Analysis
• Customer Loyalty Management
• Call Detail Record Analysis for Customer Experience
• Traffic Pattern and Congestion Management
• GPS Coordinated data processing for Geo-Fencing
• Social Media – Advertising and Campaign Management
• Social Media – Consumer Feedback and Interaction analysis

These are just few of the possibilities of big data use cases in these industries. Though the possibilities are endless, key to success is to have a strong framework for big data implementation and having the first step right in the direction.

After over whelming response and thousands of hits from across globe on Big Data use cases (5 part series), stay tuned for white paper about Big Data Framework – Concepts, Reference Architecture, Tools, Technologies and Techniques and Best Practices.

Ref:

a. http://practicalanalytics.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/big-data-analytics-use-cases/

b. http://www-304.ibm.com/easyaccess/fileserve?contentid=232107

c. http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/07/10/are-big-utilities-ready-for-big-data/

About Author:

Sushil is a BI industry thought leader and a Big data champion. You can also reach him at 949 391 8520 and follow him on his twitter @Pramanicks. His LinkedIn profile is @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/pramanicks. 

Sushil Pramanick is a Vice President – Analytics and Information Management (AIM Practice) with Encore Software Services. To know more about Encore’s Big data offerings and capabilities, visit us at http://www.EncoreSS.com or email at spramanick@encoress.com. Encore Software is a leader in Big Data implementations and consulting services.