8 Real-Life Business Success Stories Based on Big Data – Part 2

In the first part of our list of Big Data success stories, we described 4 real-life use cases of businesses across the globe adopting the Big Data to optimize their operations and gain more profit.

Today we continue the series by describing 4 more business success stories based on Big Data application into operations of various companies worldwide. The first part told of the following stories:

• The successful all-embracing Big Data endeavor of the aircraft and marine vessel propulsion system manufacturer Rolls Royce,
• The daily work on ensuring safe and efficient public transport systems operation in London,
• The integral implementation of a proprietary Big Data platform, Smoke Stack, to optimize operation for a chain of 514 restaurants across the US,
• The ongoing project to optimize the inventory for a multinational cruise operator, allowing them to leverage Big Data to add several extra dozens of millions of dollars to their bottom line.

While the industries vary, multiple companies are applying the Big Data analytics and embracing the fact leveraging the AI power is the best way to do business from now on. Here are 4 more of such companies:

• Telstra
• Xerox Corp.
• The Weather Company
• Avis Budget

Here is how these companies benefitted from applying the Big Data to their operations.

Telstra

This Australian telecom operator aims to deploy a Big Data analytical system to deliver predictive and prescriptive analytics on the performance of their networks. The system uses the vast data stores to determine the normal performance parameters of the network. In case some parameters begin to deteriorate (meaning some issues are about to arise or have already happened), the system initiates a series of smart alerts to corresponding specialists.

Aside from monitoring the baselines of the infrastructure performance, Telstra aims its Big Data project to provide valuable analytics in various other fields of business practices. From improving the call handling at their support center and all the way up to optimizing delivery truck schedule, providing more efficient infrastructure operations, etc. Such endeavor is quite tech-intensive and, while requiring large-scale computing and data storage resources, is sure to greatly improve the company’s positions in the globalized world of the 21st century.

Xerox

This international giant engages in providing office appliances and the accompanying services. For years the company was struggling to keep its support centers fully staffed, as people were getting tired of the meat grinder and were quitting the job regardless of the HR efforts, additional perks and benefits or any other bonuses the company might have thought of. Experienced professionals, hired and trained for a decent sum of money, were quitting in droves.

After going for the Big Data solution, the company was startled to discover the previous experience as a call center operator did not matter at all. Personality happened to be the key factor, as building strong teams with the spirits of partnership and mutual respect proved to be much more efficient, than filling the shifts with superstars, caring only of competition and the bonuses for the extra cases. Such a shift in approach resulted in Xerox reorganizing their hiring paradigm and lowering their support personnel attrition rates by 20%, saving the company millions of dollars long-term.

The Weather Company

This weather forecasting and information technology company was acquired by IBM and is now a part of their suite. Harnessing the Big Data collected from more than 100,000 weather monitoring sensors, specialized aircraft, apps in gadgets and various other devices, IBM Watson benefits from more than 2.2 billion unique data gathering points. This ensures the company is able to monitor the changing weather conditions real-time and warn the businesses should a potential danger to their operations emerge.

Why is it important? The losses and damages caused by the weather account for nearly $500,000,000 annually in the US alone. When the power-generating companies know of the incoming storms, blizzards and hurricanes in advance and can analyze their estimated routes, the rapid response teams can be better directed to repair the damage and restore the power supply. This helps avoid and/or shorten the business downtime and keep the property and lives safe while keeping the bottom line high.

Avis Budget

The world’s leading car sharing network went an extra mile to better understand their customers and tailor their services to better meet their needs and requirements. In order to do this, their IT services provider CSC developed an integrated solution aimed to analyze the lifetime value of the customers, based both on their rental records and service issues within the Avis Budget database and on public sources, like demographics, customer feedback, corporate affiliation and social media activity.

In addition to highlighting the loyal customers, worthy of some additional discounts, such a system helps to bookmark some potential problem-causers, who demand attention and personal promotions while actually being of little value to the company. Such an approach will help Avis Budget optimize their resource spending, better forecast the demand for their vehicle fleet allocation and optimize the pricing. And the riffraff customers will be pointed to the competitors, to be their headache. While a bit harsh, this is a pragmatic approach — and quite a feasible one!

Final thoughts: Is the Big Data so critical for success?

Throughout these 2 articles, we described how implementing the Big Data applications helped the companies earn and save millions of dollars. A question might arise though: is the investment into Big Data really needed? These companies are among the market leaders in their industries and they were able to invest millions in order to earn much more, but can a startup or a small-to-medium business afford it? Is applying such systems truly crucial?
The answer is a steady YES. As we have recently pointed out, integrating Big Data into the operations is essential for every business, big and small as you should use your Big Data before the competitors do it. In addition, there are quite a few readymade solutions available on the market, as well as services from cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud or Azure. All of this makes Big Data analytics tools quite affordable. If you think otherwise or want to share another success story — feel free to drop us a line!