As we’ve covered briefly in our GreyMatters e-newsletter over the last few months, the era of Big Data is upon us. Have you wondered where marketers stand on the Big Data topic? While not healthcare specific, some answers to those questions are available. Recently, the CMO Council and SAS published results of their cross-industry survey of world-wide marketers about Big Data. The results show that over 70% of the respondents are interested in using Big Data for predictive analytics and more than half indicated a general interest in developing a more complete online customer profile and abilities to put that profile to work. Is Big Data and obstacle or an opportunity? Not surprisingly the majority of the respondents said its both and they’re making progress toward using it effectively. Fifteen percent (15%) indicated its “full opportunity” and they’re ready, with people and technology, to use it while 5% indicated its “full obstacle” – they don’t have the people or technology to harness data for consistent and confident decision-making. Where do you stand? The results of this study can help us think through what we, as healthcare marketers, should be planning to do with Big Data and how to harness its value.  Things like:

• Do we have the right people?  We need a “data-guru” on our team who can not only report the statistics, but can help us think through the “what and how” questions too – what do we need / how do we harness the data / how do we use the data?
• Do we have the right tools?  We need more than just an analytical strategist on our teams; we also need the right tools. We have Web sites, content management systems and Web analytics solutions. But do we have predictive analytics solutions? Do we have systems in which to capture customer information and from which to mine the data? Are we efficient with using all of our technologies to enable decision support?

It’s time to plan for a much more customer-centric digital business strategy that is driven by analytical insight and supported by marketing technology. Our organizations will benefit from it and our customers are ready for it. You can learn more about the study through a recent eMarketer article or download a free executive summary of the study via the CMO Council Web site; the full study can be purchased there as well. And while I’m thinking of it - if you’re interested in participating in healthcare-specific marketing studies, let us know. Greystone’s Research Panel may be for you – learn more about it today.