Word-of-mouth references and first-person accounts are usually the best way to get the “real deal” on something. It’s how you can get unfiltered information that’s almost as good as having the experience first hand. With that idea in mind, I was more than pleased to hear George Blankenship share his
Theoretically, loyalty programs are supposed to motivate customers to be loyal. But does it always turn out that way? Evidence is mounting that points to the fact that loyalty programs condition customers to expect discounts, and they don’t always cultivate loyalty. And the danger with that discount-driven scenario is that:
Mobile technology and the advent of tablets and smartphones have transformed whole industries and are changing customer behavior in ways that impact marketers around the globe. More than just another channel, mobile is digital and social at the same time. It’s making the quest for marketers to stay in sync
Want to know how much the Target and Home Depot cyberattacks cost those companies? According to Forbes, the price tag for data breach expenses ran $146 million for Target and is estimated at $62 million for Home Depot. Even financial institutions, once thought better protected, are reporting massive security breaches,
Today’s self-parking cars are a marvel, but that’s nothing compared to what’s just around the corner: Autonomous vehicles that can taxi you efficiently around a city, onboard navigation systems that warn of bad drivers or traffic jams nearby and offer safer, quicker alternative routes; trucks that haul commerce safely and
There is no shortage of technology buzzwords today - digitization, big data, the internet of things, mobile, social, cloud computing, and so on. For marketers, all these buzzwords can be at once astonishing, thrilling, exasperating, potentially overwhelming, and sometimes even downright cliché. But together, they're all part of the ways that technology is rewriting
What if you could rank where you stand versus your industry peers when it comes to how effectively you're making use of your data through analytics? Now you can. Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at SAS, outlined an eight-metric test at today’s Premier Business Leadership Series
According to entrepreneur Gilad Elbaz, “The world is one big data problem.” And as a big data researcher and writer, Andrew McAfee is staking his career on it. McAfee spoke to a crowd of business and industry executives at The Premier Business Leadership Series in Orlando, FL, to put the topic
Considering the large investment every organization makes in people, the impact of hiring and retaining talent can’t be overstated. With the pace of change facing most marketing organizations, what I see specifically is the need to find and retain people that are innovative, agile and anything but complacent. A tall order?
Developing long-term, trusted business relationships doesn’t just happen. At the most senior levels, business takes place face-to-face. It’s about making true connections, sharing ideas, and connecting with the right people. The Premier Business Leadership Series (PBLS) offers just such an opportunity, a chance for business executives to build connections with
If, like me, you have children who are old enough to vote, you may have noticed what I have noticed. They’re different. They seem permanently connected to their friends via social media, rarely watch the news or read a paper, and they have many transient interests that seem to follow
Malcolm Gladwell, writer for The New Yorker and the best-selling author of Blink and The Tipping Point, delivered an excellent closing speech at the Premier Business Leadership Series in Amsterdam, with his cautionary tale on the possible effects of having "perfect information." The bestselling author talked about the dangers of expert failure, and the
"Big data" is a big deal for electric utilities. In a smart power grid, when you turn on the lights, you're generating data. When your neighbor plugs in his electric vehicle, he's generating data. When a heat wave causes retailers to crank up the air conditioning, they're generating data. All
In Amsterdam, harnessing the power of the (data) tide With more than 100 km of canals and 1,500 bridges, dikes and dams, Amsterdam has long been in tune with the tides. Today, as an economic tide tugs at Europe and many regions, organizations are coping with a flood of data
When SAS CEO Jim Goodnight talks about the development of SAS High-Performance Analytics, he always starts with the customer. After all, it was banking customer UOB in Singapore that first approached Goodnight three years ago about reducing the time it took to calculate risk factors on the bank's full portfolio.
In a recent blog post, I discussed how I enjoy working with the education industry because they are so eager and willing to help. While that post dealt with K-12, this one discusses higher education, specifically the University of Texas System and their public dashboard. If you are interested in
What do SAS technology partners think about the “big data” craze? Is it real or hype? And if it's real, what skills do you need to embrace big data opportunities? At our upcoming events, Analytics 2012 and The Premier Business Leadership Series, you’ll get the opportunity to ask these questions of our partners in
In 27 years at SAS, Keith Collins says his whole career has been about scaling to the enterprise. He wonders, "Why now do we call it big data? What will the next generation call it? Bigger data?" Keith led a panel of business leaders at the Premier Business Leadership Series
My colleague and friend Colleen Cruz led a roundtable discussion at #PBLS11, titled How to Boost Effectiveness with Marketing Operations Management (MOM). There was a robust discussion that brought out some of the main advantages of a marketing operations management solution, and I captured three main ones to provide a summary: Boost efficiency with
I’ve discovered that bestselling author Jim Collins is both a great writer and a great speaker because his keynote address at #PBLS11 has been absolutely riveting. And his lessons on greatness can certainly apply to marketing, so I’ve summarized it for us here: He started by stating that greatness is
When you Google “big data,” you get big data about big data. We are living in the age of information overload, which creates many challenges, including big data, information silos and integration issues. It was my great pleasure to introduce a panel of experts at The Premier Business Leadership Series
Scott Hudgins, VP of Customer Managed Relationships at The Walt Disney Company shared details about how Disney has approached CRM and the guiding principles and key learnings that have driven their success. They began their CRM process in 2001 knowing that most of their customers were somewhere in one of their
Jim Bampos presented in a session today at PBLS11 titled, Driving the Total Customer Experience with Data. He described the extraordinary journey he’s led his company on to manage customer experience and how it literally transformed EMC to be centered on the customer. Prior to embarking on that journey, EMC saw itself as a data
The Premier Business Leadership Series in Orlando was the backdrop for a number of news announcements from SAS. Here's a rundown: 1. Big Data research A new survey has found that organizations with formal data management strategies derive more value from data assets and outperform competitors. The survey, Big Data:
As a marketer, I couldn’t be more excited about the CMO panel on the main stage at PBLS11 . As previously mentioned, the CMO panel moderated by Professor Tom Davenport, included SAS CMO Jim Davis and his peers, Paula Puleo at Michaels Stores and Scott Hudgins from The Walt Disney
I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing General Colin Powell share his viewpoints about leadership as the keynote speaker for PBLS11. I have found that so much of what he’s shared is relevant for marketers, because great marketing happens by teams of people, all working for the same purpose. It’s an environment
I am thrilled to be at SAS’ flagship annual thought leadership event, the 2011 Premier Business Leadership Series. The theme is “Innovate, Optimize, Transform” and we have world leaders, best-selling authors and thought-provoking professors with great wisdom to share in one exciting event. It’s truly inspiring. Yet as compelling as all
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; … These lines are from the famous St. Crispin’s Day speech of Shakespeare’s historical play Henry V. King Henry V of England motivated his troops before the Battle
Dr. Yachen Lin, Chief Risk Officer of China Guangfa Bank Credit Card Center (CGB), was interviewed while at the 2011 Premier Business Leadership Series in Singapore. He discussed the analytics culture at CGB - explaining how CGB uses analytics to know its customers and manage risk. There are only 14
I had the pleasure to be the host of the Risk and Finance Insight Session on the second day of The Premier Business Leadership Series, where we discussed the subject of enterprise risk management and financial stewardship. With global, political and financial upheaval becoming the norm (and during the conference
