If your organization is using manually created spreadsheets to manage important company data or if you are having trouble getting accurate, actionable, complete and timely information, you should contact LÛCRUM.  We specialize in helping our Clients to maximize the value of their data, and we would be delighted to help you.

The lunch was a lot of fun, as members of the LUCRUM team spent a little time enjoying food and conversation.  Every time we have these events I am reminded of the great collection of people I get to work with.  Thanks to all who put the lunch together and all who shared in the fun of giving and receiving junk and talking a little trash.

One of the leading voices in this conversation is Avinash Kaushik, who among many other things, is the author of the newly released book Web Analytics 2.0.  The book is great.  It is easy to understand, even for a non-technical marketing nerd like me, and offers up some very useful information on how to better understand and measure the activity on the web to get real results. Accompanying the book, is Avinash’s blog, entitled Occam’s Razor. One of his recent posts examined the concept of social media analytics, specifically with regard to Twitter, the popular online microblogging platform.

In the post Avinash highlights four useful tools for gathering quantitative and qualitative information out of Twitter – Klout, GraphEdge, TweetPsych, and Twitter Stream Graphs.  Each of these tools has different useful attributes, and hint at the emerging potential of social media analytics.  I particularly like Klout, as it offers up some pretty amazing insights.

Moving forward I am interested in seeing how social data analytics will grow more robust.  I imagine each of these tools having the ability to calculate multiple users simultaneously.  Another interesting idea would be the ability to run these tools on followers of your brand and then sub-segment the results on numerous variables.   Further, as online identities continue to aggregate with tools like Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect, it will be easier to track the conversations of individuals and groups of people across multiple platforms – providing businesses with rich internal and external insights on both a micro and macro level.

Where it really gets interesting to me (i.e. makes my head start to spin a little) is the idea of then combining this external data with internal company data.  For example integrating facebook, linkedin, twitter, blogs, and other sources of external with individual customer records in a crm system.  Then taking that data and running it against something like gps data, or transactional and financial data to create entirely new sources of information.  The potential is amazing, and as things like mobile technology, social platforms, online transactions continue to grow, the possibilities expand with them.

My thanks to Avinash for writing both a great blog post and a great book.  Both are helping me to think in new and exciting ways.  I hope you will take the time to check them out as well.

What about you?  What do you think about social media and data analytics?  What ideas excite you?  Where do you see the opportunities of the future?

Social Media Analytics: Twitter: Quantitative & Qualitative Metrics | Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik

As I was driving home last night listening to All Things Considered on WVXU, I was captivated by a story about a fun book that uses data to answer some interesting questions about when it is the best time to do things.  The book by Mark Di Vincenzo is entitled Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon, and it sets out to inform readers of the optimal time to engage in a wide range of activities – based on data.  The story is a very entertaining way of looking at what we do for our business clients, although we don’t get a lot of ketchup purchasing questions.

Whether you are a data junkie or just someone interested in knowing when is the best time to defrost your freezer or study for an exam, the story is worth a look / listen.  It is fascinating to see life analyzed in new and exciting ways.  While we can’t make more time for ourselves, increasingly we are becoming able to make more out of the time we are given.  (What we actually do with this time is fodder for another post.)  Information technology is becoming more ubiquitous, more powerful, and more useful for everyday people every day.  As data becomes more plentiful and more palatable, the ability to tweak our behavior and capitalize on opportunities that may otherwise not be apparent grows in both abundance and importance.  What an exciting time to be alive, watching data connect and transform our world.

New Book Explores Best Times For Almost Everything : NPR

In reality it took months to determine that there were in fact numerous clusters of our best customers, yet no master list that everyone could agree upon.  Marketing had its list, and so did sales, and accounting, and finance, and operations. Everyone was pulling different points of data from different systems, and thus getting radically different results.  We had multiple versions of the truth.  Sadly, we never did figure it out.  A month into the project, the company was bought out and we were pretty much all downsized out within a couple months – this actually ended up being a great thing for me.  Still, that experience has stuck with me, and taught me a valuable lesson – to be useful, data needs to present one version of the truth.

Had we been able to create this list quickly and accurately, we could have spent time trying to determine the best ways to serve our best customers.  We could have examined ways to get new customers that were similar to our best customers, convert good customers into great ones, and improved the results of the organization.  Instead we spent time and money simply trying to figure out whose list was the right list.  What a waste!

As the “marketing guy” I am not the utmost authority at LUCRUM on business intelligence and data architecture.  Still, having gone through that experience makes me genuinely appreciate the services we provide our customers.  I have been in their shoes – seeking the truth, seemingly finding it, wanting to move forward, only to have everything come to a screeching halt because of inconsistent, incomplete information.  It is a frustrating situation to be in, and I smile every time we solve such a problem for a Client.

If you are spending more time debating the truth as described by your data than you are determining what to actually do about it, you should talk to us.  We can deliver one accurate, actionable, complete, and timely version of the truth for you – saving you time, money, and a whole lot of aggravation.

Admittedly the project has not been without its share of challenges.  What to write?  Who will create content?  What to do about comments?  How to measure effectiveness?  Who else can we engage with this?  How can we be more transparent?  What are we trying to say to people and why?

I am happy to say that the project lives on.  In fact, we are renewing our commitment to making this project successful.  In the coming days, we plan to create new content daily.  This will involve new authors speaking about new subjects and showing new sides of our company.  We hope that in doing so we can paint an accurate view of the company and the value we deliver to our Clients, Employees, and Community.  Rather than having a few contributors periodically chime in on items of interest, we are taking a more structured approach to blogging.  We will begin following an editorial calendar that will reflect some of the recent structural changes within the company.  Not only will we talk data and business intelligence, but also community involvement and employee engagement.

We hope that you will enjoy the future of thefuturevalueofbusiness.com and strongly encourage you to take part in our ongoing dialogue by commenting, contacting, and engaging us as you see fit.

• Alan See – Berry Network
• Doug Ross – Western Southern
• Tony Blankemeyer – PicsMatch
• Joshua Smith – NCR
• Neil Arthur – Dayton Business Journal

The panel was great – Alan is a Marketer, Doug is an IT Guru, Tony a young entrepreneur, Joshua is an HR professional, and Neil a newspaper publisher.  They provided an excellent mix of viewpoints, backgrounds, and skills.   Each panel member contributed unique ideas to the conversation, and they worked surprisingly well with one another to articulate their views.  I dropped in my two cents from time to time as well.

Common themes included transparency, service, and innovation.  There was considerable discussion around the idea of using web 2.0 as a business tool for listening – both internally to the needs of employees and externally to customers, competitors, and influencers.  Finally, just about everyone recommended that the best way to understand web 2.0 was, as Alan See put it “to get in the water and swim.”

Interestingly there was considerable discussion around the measurement of social media.  I am fascinated by this concept, and view this as an emerging area of opportunity in the technology space.  The ability to measure not just activity on the social web, but to then link it to internal metrics and measures is fascinating.   I am currently exploring this space as part of my job here at LUCRUM, so it was good to hear so many questions about it.  (I will be discussing this more in upcoming posts, but suffice it to say I am excited about it.)

Andy Hickey, with the Technology First, had the great idea of having the tables construct questions during the lunch portion of the meeting at the begining.  I then called on the tables throughout the meeting to ask questions – sort of analog web 2.0 style.  We bounced back and forth between my questions and those of the crowd – all of which were exceptional.

I made a number of new connections at the meeting and picked up some great ideas as well.  My thanks to Andy, Ann, the panel, the crowd, and everyone who made the event so much fun.

If you were there, I would love to hear your thoughts on the event.  What did you like?  What didn’t you like?  What was the best question / answer you heard?  Who was your favorite panelist?  Chicken or beef?  Please share your comments…

Please join us as LÛCRUM presents “6 Days to Business Intelligence,” a breakfast presentation featuring Scott Provancher, Vice President, Campaign Director for the Fine Arts Fund in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Scott will share how LÛCRUM used his existing software, data, and infrastructure to transform his organization in just 6 days.  Learn how Scott is applying the tools created by LÛCRUM to save time, reduce errors, increase revenue, and solidify his organization’s future success.  Please RSVP on our contact us page or by calling Patrick Ryan at (513) 564-6979.

We look forward to seeing you at one of the two events. Register today as seating is limited.

Dayton, Ohio

May 12th, 2009
7:30am – 9:00am
Dayton Racquet Club
40 N. Main Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402

Cincinnati, Ohio

May 13th, 2009
7:30am – 9:00am
Microsoft
4605 Duke Drive, Suite 800
Mason, Ohio 45040

If that is not enough, check out these tips from software engineer Dan Hersam.  The cubicle can be a dangerous place.  Stretch, use proper equipment, and go easy on the Mountain Dew.  If these stretches are the most exercise you get in a given day, at least you will still be able to text.  Thanks to Lifehacker for the tips.

In this episode of LUCRUM Radio, Kevin I discuss, among other things, snow emergencies, the rubber chicken lunch, the history of the Social Media Breakfast, the upcoming breakfast featuring Pandora’s Tim Westergren, the importance of social media, the ways in which social media is changing the dynamic of the workplace, and tips for people wondering how to join in the conversation.

Thanks to Kevin for taking time away from shoveling his driveway, sledding, being a social media guru, and getting actual work done on this snowy Ohio day to share some of his unique insights.  I hope that you enjoy this episode of LUCRUM radio as much as I enjoyed

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SMB Cincinnati