Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Ron Bodkin, CEO of Think Big Analytics (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: These are IT applications you are talking about, right?

Ron Bodkin: It is an application for technology vendors, supporting and servicing products that might be sold into IT [departments].

SM: Let’s do another couple of use cases like this that have the paradigm of multiple, diverse data sets and formats.

RB: We have also done work with a marketing services firm that has rich offline data feeds from diverse data sources around personally identifiable information and also increasingly information from online consumers. In that space there is an interest in an architecture that allows combining those data sets, building better models, and pushing them back out to allow for distribution of capabilities tailored to each customer.

SM: When you say offline databases, what are we talking about?

RB: Information about physical purchases, information from credit bureaus or information about changes of address – the kind of information reflected in consumer demographics, life events, interests, etc.

SM: Is that a real-time use case?

RB: Like a lot of things, the real-time event can be having real-time access to that information. Having information about a change of address, for example, is not a real-time feed. But you have a combination of combining data that gets updated periodically in batches, and data that is being updated near real-time in the online or other direct measured world.

SM: Is there anything else you would like to add?

RB: Fundamentally, we believe there is a definite need for strong domain expertise and that understanding how to use the best technologies to deliver results is important. If you think about websites as a system of engagement, there are elements that have to be tailored and driven based on the personality and the nature of the company. Everyone, in building their website, is going to take best-of-breed capabilities and integrate them. They are not going to invent a payment gateway for their website. They are going to use effective products for that. But the integrated whole – the system of engagement – reflects their personality and warrants investment based on their data and competitive position. We are working with customers to help them achieve those kinds of results that are unique to them based on the best technology that is out there.

SM: Thank you, Ron. It was nice talking to you.

RB: Likewise. Nice to talk to you, Sramana.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Ron Bodkin, CEO of Think Big Analytics
1 2 3 4 5 6