MediaPace : Setting the pace for business-to-business dialogue

Webscraping, Clipping, Encapsulation, Ripping, Surfacing ... Call It What You Want - The Value of Web Data is Undeniable

Having just returned from the TDWI event in New Orleans it’s undeniable that many of you want to consume unstructured web data and use the data for your business intelligence initiatives. 

According to the “Capturing Web Data and Content for BI” session presented by Mark Madsen of Third Nature, 45% of people report that web pages are being accessed for data now; and that number will increase to 80% in three years.  They’re looking for public census data, competitive pricing information, published industry data posted by industry associations and government sites, production data, industry benchmark data, sentiment data and more.   

The session was quite informative but presented the challenge of making sense out of unstructured web data for consumption by the BI team to be a difficult task that requires intimate knowledge of web integration tools, web application frameworks and application architectures.  While it’s important for the IT team to understand and appreciate these nuances, all the business user should be concerned with is:

• Can I get the data I want…   when I want it?
• Can I personalize delivery and presentation of the information to suit my needs?
• Can I store it for future analysis?
• Can I share it with others if I choose?
• Can it the data be mashed up with other internal data?
• Can I do this without any programming knowledge or IT assistance?

It was great to see and hear how more and more people are relying on web data for their business intelligence needs as it only reinforces the value web data provides.  But where were the vendors and success stories focusing on scalable solutions that could handle all that unstructured web data?   Where were the solutions that are enterprise class but don’t require a programmer’s thought process and skills to harness the value of the web?  Think I’ll reach out to some BI departments and present them with a scalable, enterprise class solution!

Posted by:
Gina Cerami
Director of Marketing, Connotate
gcerami@connotate.com

Outside the Cube Goes International

A couple of weeks ago, completely on a whim, I hopped a plane and joined a friend for 12 days exploring India. The majority of my time was spent in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, and the financial capital of India

With a metro population of over 20 million people, one of the most incredible things I experienced was the traffic. Watching cars, rickshaws and motorbikes move about the streets was like watching rivers collide at the opening of an ocean. It seemed chaotic, and almost impossible to manage, but somehow things all flowed together.

As the fourth-largest economy and one of the foremost emerging markets in the world, India operates at high speeds and on different terms, and like the traffic, it might be difficult for us to comprehend the overall business environment. But while the rules of the road may be a bit different, the same basic principles apply.

The media landscape of India is not quite like that in the U.S. They consume more print media products and aren’t “quite there yet” in terms of digital, but the rate at which its economy is growing is incredible, and that equates to potential for incredible growth opportunities for partnering companies if the correct groundwork for that partnership is laid.

The possibility for growth and the potential for ROI is huge if you put in some effort. If you want to ride the roads over there, you have to take the time to read the map and get acquainted with the lay of the land before hopping in the driver’s seat and kicking it into gear.

A partnership starts with presence. If you want to do business over there, you have to go there. You must take the time, make the trip, meet the people, and learn the lingo, so to speak; get a better understanding of how things truly work from ground zero and take it from there.

Posted by Wally Koval