Big Data. This phrase has been lumped in with the marketing buzz-words of 2015. But don’t hastily overlook the big business implications of big data in your association.
Our partner tableau released a white paper this year about the Top 8 Big Data Trends in 2016 (I encourage you to download it!) which includes the move from SQL queries, the need to prep common end-users for data discovery, and how big data is getting faster. But what about 2017, 2018, and beyond?
Predict the Future
Your member data is far more powerful and valuable than you may think. With the power of large data sets, associations can start to track their member data across time and tease out member behaviour and trends. With the new analytical power coming from your common AMS or analytics system, membership managers now have the key to accurately predict the future of revenue, growth, and the ability to side-step issues before they arise.
New Job Role: Chief Data Officer
Once you realise the value of data, you’re going to want to put a professional in charge of capturing, monitoring, and reading it. The Chief Data Officer (and his or her staff) will commit themselves to communicating data like a story. Have the CDO monitor your member interactions across your website, database, and face-to-face events to paint a real-time picture of your constituents.
You can also use data you already have to measure member engagement as it relates to your strategic goals. Check out how protect your association’s data through Aptify cloud hosting.
Big Data for a Big Life
Big data is going to start weaving its way into everything that we do, not just at work. Check out this video from Teradata describing the user experience of lifestyle items lead by data.
We see Google do this daily. Google aggregates all the data it collects about you from various searches, emails, and purchases and creates a web experience tailored for you. This experience is so subtle, a lot of people don’t even realise it’s happening. Now extend this to your phone, your car, or your travel experiences and you can see the power of data driving personal experiences in your everyday life.
