The Internet of Things (IoT) is a revolutionary approach that will radically change our lives, our way of integrating with technology, and the way we do business and marketing. Companies have already defined a strategic plan for collecting and organizing data coming from the IoT. The next step is to align it with business strategy and create value from this data using existing approaches and new tools, like event stream processing.
Even though we have just taken the first step in the IoT revolution - with objects such as Nest, WeMo, Spiroscout and Nike FuelBand - this evolution will occur over a very short space of time. In a few years, we’ll all be diving into connected devices.
According to Gartner, there are nearly 5 billion connected devices throughout the world today, and they predict there will be more than 25 billion by 2020. Furthermore, Gartner estimates that IoT technology will be the standard for objects that we use in everyday life – we’ll have smart cars, smart washing machines, smart lighting and heating and more.
Consequently, companies will develop smart marketing, i.e. they’ll use streaming and historical data for digital marketing that’s individually-tailored to the consumer’s needs and desires.
The real-time opportunity
Thanks to IoT technology, companies will be able to collect real-time data about sales, including: Location (where a product was purchased); customers’ habits (why a product was purchased); and post-sale data, such as feedback and reviews.
The IoT will drastically reduce the timeframe for strategic planning and the continuous real-time updates will allow for continuous real-time adjustments to tactical actions. Likewise, customer care will be greatly improved through providing contextually appropriate responses to customers. Businesses will be able to meet customer expectations and needs in real-time and leave them satisfied with their purchase or experience. All of which will help maximize response to marketing campaigns and decrease the waste of resources.
But this scenario requires an unbelievable amount of data and data processing.
The case for continuous analytics
Think big; don’t stop at data collection from intelligent devices. The real value of the data generated by IoT is continuous analytics. Continuous analytics is the application of analytics to data while the data is in motion, and before it’s stored – it includes data manipulation, normalization, cleansing and pattern of interest detection. And continuous analytics incorporates not only the IoT, but also social network activities, data streams from satellites, networked machines, sensors, and Internet systems.
SAS Event Stream Processing is the technology that allows all these activities, from collection and management, to analysis and visualization of data, everything in real time, while data is being produced, and without disrupting a company’s existing systems. The solution offers, for example, a new way to personalize cross-selling and up-selling marketing activities to telecommunications companies by analyzing live activity data while customers are using their mobile phones. How? SAS Event Stream Processing can capture and analyze phone data while a call is still in progress, and can identify patterns of use. These patterns are then exploited to generate customized offers, allowing telco companies to create significant increases in revenue from its existing customer base.
Data scientists are already in a strong position to access, manage and unlock insights from big data flowing from the IoT to identify trends. A natural extension of their work is taking big data analytics into real time, using SAS Event Stream Processing.
The IoT is transforming the whole environment of one-to-one real-time marketing, driving marketers in the new digital era of Analytics of Things (AoT). Companies that want to succeed must plan a brand new strategy to take advantage of IoT technology. The revolution has just begun.
If you don’t want to fall behind, don’t miss the speech of Gül Ege, SAS Senior Director of Advanced Analytics R&D at Analytics 2015, Nov. 9-11 in Rome. It's the biggest EMEA conference and training event. Find out more about her talk The Power of Advanced Analytics Applied to Streaming Data. and find information about registration here. Hope to see you there!
