Data Crush: How the Information Tidal Wave Is Driving New Business Opportunities

The Internet used to be a tool for telling your customers about your business. Now its real value lies in what it tells you about them. Every move your customers make online can be tracked, catalogued, and analyzed to better understand their preferences and predict their future behavior. And with mobile technology like smartphones, customers are online almost every second of every day. The companies that succeed going forward will be those that learn to leverage this torrent of information—without being drowned by it. Balancing examples from giants like Amazon, Home Depot, and Ford with newer players like Rovio, Groupon, and scores of niche-market winners, Data Crush examines the forces behind the explosive growth in data and reveals how the most innovative companies are responding to this challenge. The book clarifies the key drivers: the proliferation of “big data” generated by a never-ending range of online activities (and the mobility that enables much of it); the seemingly infinite array of digital commerce and entertainment pathways; and the rising growth of Cloud computing. These and other factors combine to create an overwhelming universe of valuable information—all constantly updated in real time with billions of mouse clicks each day. It’s daunting, but with this onslaught of information comes tremendous opportunity—and Data Crush will help you make sense of it all.