Category Archives: library research

05-Creating & constructing good solutions, 99-Applying business intelligence, business databases, evaluating evidence, library research

Iron Maiden and Data Analysis: How one Heavy-metal band used data to profit from a revenue-stealing platform

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Applying data analysis definitely isn’t always the most exciting field- certainly not as fun as seeing a heavy metal band say Iron Maiden live for instance. With the constant shrinking revenues from traditional album recordings many bands are increasingly reliant on live shows- especially older bands who’s catalog of albums can be easily downloaded in a matter of minutes at no profit to the band or label. This leads them down a road of never ending farewell tours in the same reliable but boring locations.

Enter Iron Maiden: The international super group undoubtedly has fans all over the world but has struggled with their selection of where to tour, despite being one of the most iconic acts in industry. In an innovative use of data analytics for the music industry the band now weighs illegal downloads by location to help determine demand. This has paid off huge in their recent South American tours whereas prior data say that it would have been a disaster and complete opportunity loss. Their most recent tour gained them the distinction of “One of six groups that outperformed the industry” including live documentary sales and one concert alone in Sao Palo that grossed them over $2.5 million. South American attendance and revenue also trumped their previous averages in NA and the EU too.

Hail the Iron Maiden data wonks!

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/iron-maiden-using-bittorrent-analytics-to-plot-tours-20131226

99-Applying business intelligence, business databases, library research, Uncategorized

Traditional and Crowd Sourced Business Intelligence

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Going into grad school, one of my main goals was to change jobs and change industries.  Needless to say, I knew that I had a lot to learn, both in and out of the classroom.  In retrospect, I took a three-pronged approach to acquire the business intelligence that helped move me from me from point A to point B:

1) Talk to anyone and everyone who worked in the space.  I mean everyone. Through networking opportunities, I was able to land some informational interviews with industry leaders that were happy to share their experiences.  There is no substitute for the value of their insights that both informed me and reinforced my desire to be a part of the industry.  Even more valuable – and directly responsible for my eventual success – was the help of classmates that had significant experience working for food and beverage companies (you know who you are!).  Their willingness to help was undoubtedly the turning point for me, and the shared knowledge of industry dynamics and lingo was instrumental.  I truly believe gaining direct knowledge from peers and mentors is the best way to gain business intelligence.

2) Industry publications: Being familiar with the current landscape of an industry is critical in making a big transition.  So many resources are available to help deepen understanding and industry knowledge, and not just the usual suspects.  I was able to stay on top of emerging food and beverage trends by following leaders on Twitter and other social media platforms.  This awareness was integral during the interview process.  However, as Ann Cullen, on of our business librarians, was quick to point out: consider the source.  Industry publications can be motivated by all sorts of outside forces, so this must be considered.

3) The old fashioned way: research.  In my meeting with Ann, we walked through so many examples of deep resources available to us.  It’s truly amazing how much data there is out there, and it’s up to us to refine our skills on how to find it.  Luckily, our business librarians are there every step of the way to support.  In addition, she showed me several great methods to make the search easier.  My favorite trick is to narrow a google search by using “inurl,” which can search for any keyword within a specific website.  Another great tip is using the tilday symbol (~), which searches for any synonym of a key word.  Using tips like these have helped me become more efficient in my research, and the mountain of information out there seems a little less daunting.

What research tips can you share?  Do you agree with my three-pronged approach mentioned above?  Have I forgotten any good source?

99-Applying business intelligence, business databases, library research

Conducting Competitive Intelligence Market Research

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As part of my MP project this semester, I am focused on learning how to conduct competitive intelligence market research and tips and tricks on how my work team and I can to do this more effectively and efficiently. On About.com, I came across a 7-step, detailed breakdown of how to conduct Market Intelligence Research. See below.

  1. Determine Your Research Objectives
    • First you must determine your primary and end goal based on audiences who will be utilizing the information
  2. Evaluate Existing CI Data Collection Strategies
  3. Determine CI Data Collection Strategies
  4. Set Up Access and Integration Systems
  5. Establish Analysis and Reporting Processes
  6. Plan Dissemination
Planning
    • Planning for getting your information to the correct audiences – for example, how often will you report?
  7. Write the Story
    • Most market research is best presented to audiences in the form of a story and to do so, your CI audiences should understand how the data was collected and be made confident of that data through corroboration processes.

These were some good tips that I have already started and will continue implementing with my team at work as we continue conducting market research.

http://marketresearch.about.com/od/market.research.techniques/ht/How-To-Conduct-Competitive-Intelligence.htm

06-Building a case, 99-Applying business intelligence, business databases, evaluating evidence, library research

Data credibility challanges impact all BI research

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The posts concerning data credibility are absolutely spot on – but their relevancy doesn’t stop with challenges around hard data.

Reading through them, the observations that jumped out:

  • repercussions if the information is inaccurate
  • need to analyze and ensure the integrity of the data
  • shifting focus on going to the actual source of the data rather than applying a Band-Aid approach to the bad data
  • Chevron’s use of a process to ensure that the right decisions are made using the right information

All of these can be applied to the entire business intelligence process, including the identification, access and analysis of secondary information, including data.  Think about data you locate in industry trade publications, in Wall Street analyst reports, even in sources of market research, such as Marketline/Datamonitor, Euromonitor, or EIU.  You can’t just take the data for granted, assume that it is correct.  You need to question, probe and understand many facets, including the originating source of the data, methodologies around the data gathering process, the accuracy, integrity and bias of the source of the data (both original and published) which includes understanding something about the intended audience and purpose/motivation for the data creation/use as well.

And like Chevron, you must have a process (remember the  discussions around the necessity for “Planning the Work” and “Working the Plan” in your fall’13 MP class and the spring’14 BI workshop).  Having these in place provides you and your team with a framework that, if applied correctly, helps ensure that you avoid using bad data, using unsubstantiated insights for your analysis and recommendations.

Last Fall in MP, Professor Noonan introduced you to a few BI frameworks, and we briefly mentioned a few more in the BI workshop.  I am attaching more detailed discussions around 4 of these frameworks (what we are calling Business Intelligence Briefs) which speak so directly to your data credibility threads.

Business Intelligence BRIEFS-4_Information Gathering Plan Business Intelligence BRIEFS-3_Four Avenues for Gathering Intelligence Business Intelligence BRIEFS-5_Owners of Information and Motivations Business Intelligence BRIEFS-2_Five Dimensions of BI