Why are companies in Africa - From Telcos to Big Ticket Retailers - blind to the immense possibilities of BigData?
There is a lot of talk about Big Data but in Africa we are playing at the fringes of this immense opportunity. From Telcos to Big Ticket retailers to National Postal Services with immense customer information on behavioral trends we seem to just stop there. What is hindering us? Is this too much Mumbo Jumbo? What can we do to unlock this mindset and tap into the treasure trove awaiting us on the other side? Ali Hussein CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd +254 713 601113 "The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb Sent from my iPad
Ali, Big Data (captured through CRMs) is used to analyze citizen/client or consumer (e.g. of healthcare) behaviour to offer better services? Yes? No? Some of the answers to your question are social. First, we do not care much for potential customers. We look for business "quickies" and good personal or businesses relationships are not developed that way. Loyalty is a very vague concept in all societies where personal fidelity is not valued or honoured. In our treacherous society, Customer/Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) systems are not prioritised. We are treated like unwanted or unplanned consequences. How much do the Top100.co.ke firms in Kenya invest in CRMs? If the Kenyan police, judiciary, hospitals and pharmacies invested more in CRMs, public health and security can be dramatically improved. Problem is that CRMs are viewed as expensive not valuable. It takes time/money to get them well deployed and utilized. :) On May 18, 2013 4:55 AM, "Ali Hussein" <ali@hussein.me.ke> wrote:
There is a lot of talk about Big Data but in Africa we are playing at the fringes of this immense opportunity. From Telcos to Big Ticket retailers to National Postal Services with immense customer information on behavioral trends we seem to just stop there.
What is hindering us? Is this too much Mumbo Jumbo? What can we do to unlock this mindset and tap into the treasure trove awaiting us on the other side?
Ali Hussein CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd
+254 713 601113
"The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb
Sent from my iPad
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That is good observation Ali. I think it boils down to exposure. If necessity is the mother of invention, how much "big data" problems do we have to necessitate this interesting science? With IBM setting up a research lab at CUEA, which is open to researchers, I don't think we have an excuse. Some ripe areas of research on big data in the region are 1. Shopping trends, 2. Google, FB, and twitter usage trends, 3. Meteorology. Do we collect enough data? -- ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva For Business Development Transworld Computer Channels Cel: 0722402248 twitter.com/lordmwesh transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
Muraya, Kivuva Thanks for your input. My take is that most of us have no patience for building organizations to last or we are just employees waiting for a pay cheque at the end of the month..sad but true. For as long as we don't tie performance to tangible results we will continue to look at such opportunities as theories to be read as a link from a blog post, twitter feed, LinkedIn or Kictanet. Let me demonstrate. A few weeks ago I berated Telcos in this country about sending useless and unnecessary spam to me and others. Guess what? Almost immediately after the SMSs doubled!! It's like they were daring me UTA DO? :) now I know for a fact that this particular Telco implemented SAS http://www.sas.com/ So what do you make out of that? SAS is a market leader in Business Analytics and Intelligence. In fact together with IBM they have literally been responsible for a new software segment - Enterprise Marketing Management. According to Gartner they are at the top end of the leadership quadrant in this space. http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1CPB65F&ct=121102&st=sb http://www.marketingscientists.com/ With this, one is forced to ask a question. Are these Multi-million dollar enterprise capacity building projects just a fade? Why invest so much money then fail to fully utilize them? Is it a cultural issue? Are we lacking in customer performance metrics? Or do we just not care? Or maybe our fat balance sheets and profits are luring us into a false comfort zone. Ali Hussein CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd +254 713 601113 "The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb Sent from my iPad On May 18, 2013, at 10:47 AM, Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> wrote:
That is good observation Ali. I think it boils down to exposure.
If necessity is the mother of invention, how much "big data" problems do we have to necessitate this interesting science?
With IBM setting up a research lab at CUEA, which is open to researchers, I don't think we have an excuse.
Some ripe areas of research on big data in the region are 1. Shopping trends, 2. Google, FB, and twitter usage trends, 3. Meteorology. Do we collect enough data?
-- ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva For Business Development Transworld Computer Channels Cel: 0722402248 twitter.com/lordmwesh transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
participants (3)
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Ali Hussein -
Kivuva -
S.M. Muraya