VideoBackstage visitors, for example, indicated they wanted more weather information from the network. In response, the BBC devised an online system enabling programmers to access the data directly from the BBC weather center. Backstage has yielded other audience-conceived innovations as well. "We're seeing people taking traffic information and matching our data up with Google maps," says Cashmore. "This is all built by our audience — not us."
One viewer created a "BBC World News Widget" on Backstage, taking news stories from a network feed and putting them on a revolving earth. "That is such a fabulous way of contextualizing where a story is [taking place]," says Cashmore. "To see a story in Africa that pings to the part of Africa that it's about — all of a sudden it makes sense."
The experience has been surprising — and humbling. "Big organizations like to think they know how things should be done," Cashmore says. "But when you make your bare data available and people do something with it, it makes you wonder: 'Why didn't we think of that?'"
Esther Shein writes frequently about business technology.
Where in the World Is that Lead in San Diego?
When designers at Entellium began creating the latest version of the company's sales-management software, they looked long and hard at who would actually be using the program. What they found: the average salesperson is highly competitive, highly educated, and in his or her twenties or thirties. Not surprisingly, they also share a similar hobby. Says Dave Scott, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Seattle-based Entellium: "The consumption rate of video games in that particular demographic is huge."
So Entellium decided to create a customer relationship management (CRM) application that would mimic the look and feel of video games. Even the name of the application, Rave, is geared for the PS3 set. Activity maps in the software, which is aimed at small to midsize businesses, offer visually intuitive ways to manage client data, rather than a more typical grid-based view. Global sales rankings look a lot like player rankings in multiplayer online games. And so-called bragging-rights stats for each salesperson are somewhat similar to the "achievements" displayed for Xbox players.
The approach seems to be paying off. JobMonkey.com, an employment specialist also in Seattle, rolled out Rave in December. Kevin Lutgarten, vice president of the site, says the company had been keeping track of its sales leads with a mix of tools, from Excel spreadsheets to paper files. "It became more and more difficult to track who our good leads were and who had actual sales as opposed to prospects," says Lutgarten.
By contrast, Rave gives pertinent information at the top of the screen. And like many video games, it features a star rating system — only this one shows how hot a sales lead is. With it, says Lutgarten, "you can sort contacts from most to least important."
Unlike rollouts of more-traditional software, Lutgarten says there has been no resistance to using Rave at JobMonkey. His only beef? "It doesn't actually get the sale for me."
Entellium's rumored next product, a lifelike android called The Clincher, may solve that problem. — E.S.
In-flight Insight
If companies are increasingly turning to the Web to gather customer data, they are also turning to analytic software to make sense of that data. A legion of vendors, including Oracle, OutlookSoft, and SAS, offer the predictive programs. Rebecca Wettemann, a vice president at Nuclear Research, says the tools have not only become more robust, but also are easier to use — an enticing combination.
Management at American Airlines has found plenty to like about its predictive software, marketed by vendor SPSS. The airline uses the program to analyze the data from online customer surveys, which cover everything from food preferences to on-board entertainment. Last year alone, American received between 300,000 and 350,000 responses to the online polls. William Mitchell, director of customer research at the airline, says the tool allows American "to take large data sets and write relatively simple syntax or code to create all sorts of tables and output into any category someone wants."
The surveys often reveal the unexpected. For example, managers discovered that customers would rather book a flight directly from the AA Website, thus avoiding paying a fee that other travel-based sites require. Mitchell says the surveys also show that while customers want the hot-fudge sundaes served in first and business class, they are also "surprisingly health conscious," indicating a desire for lower-fat dessert options.
Some of the results don't exactly classify as stunners, however, particularly for anyone who gets on a plane on a regular basis. For one, travelers say they prefer assigned seating. They also want à la carte food items rather than boxed food. And they would be willing to pay a fee if they could confirm an earlier flight rather than showing up at the airport at dawn hoping to get on a standby list.
Nevertheless, Mitchell says the software enables American to analyze the data quickly — key when you're getting upwards of 15,000 responses per survey. And since the application can perform text mining, survey takers are encouraged to offer opinions that go well beyond "Choose one from the following list of 43 options." "We've found people on the Web to be very honest and open," notes Mitchell. "And they have given us very rich feedback." — E.S.
Reader Comments» Post a comment