Data Storytelling for Disruptors

Disruptive innovations have become common in these 'postnormal' times. Organisations that seek to be disruptive are fusing big data analytics with storytelling to nurture better business cultures. Narratives and data stories encourage participation in innovation. We share our recent experience and insights into data storytelling and disruptive innovation.

Data-driven entrepreneurs

Leading a business intelligence project can be like bootstrapping a startup. Doing it well demands the mindset of a data-driven entrepreneur, along with BI tools that leverage open data and enable an agile approach.

Data-driven entrepreneurs are individuals responsible for successfully applying their resources to transform data into actionable insights and profitable opportunities. They may be analysts, managers, or executives who work in an established organisation or are independently in charge of a startup. Their goal remains the same either way: to persuasively propagate the power of data into the lives of others, so that decisive actions can be taken quickly to grow income, reduce risk and save money.

Buy locally, my dear Watson

Investigating the potential of an artificial intelligence that could assist midsized organisations in making smarter purchases locally.

In the pursuit to save money, some of those responsible for procurement and purchasing have hopped on the bandwagon of offshoring and taken advantage of the globalisation of suppliers, neglecting their local economies. Consumers have been making similar choices, turning away from local purchasing toward buying online. What some may deem progress, others experience as draining the life out of their local High Street.

To achieve a mix of local and global, a clearer understanding of product/service's supply chain must be available, both for consumers, and those involved in business. Imagine the day when Watson, the cognitive computer that defeated humans at the quiz show 'Jeopardy' in 2011, develops a heart. Who knows, with IBM's recently announced business unit, The Watson Group, along with its $1 billion initial investment, anything may be possible in the years ahead.

Winning BIG with Self-Service BI

Experts indicate that midsized organisations can win BIG by outsourcing business intelligence to a self-service provider in the Cloud.

Business Intelligence has long been considered a challenge for midsized organisations. With costly systems overburdening IT departments, there is a failure to focus on the changing needs of business users. New business intelligence services in the Cloud are inviting IT departments to outsource their biggest data challenges to data specialists who can deliver a single version of the truth to multiple business users, on demand.

Mobile Shoppers with Smart Assistants

In a future when shoppers have the assistance of artificial intelligence, will you have the Big Data to guide them to your store?

How often do you see someone shopping at a store with a smartphone in hand? Mobile devices will continue to augment customer experiences in ways that retail executives ought to know about. Consider a scenario: A future when the tastes of mobile-empowered customers are satisfied with the help of intelligent personal assistants. As smartphones grow smarter with apps like Siri and Google Now, users will shop more intelligently with greater satisfaction.

The winds of disruptive innovation

Disruptive Innovation involves simplification. Clay Christensen, who coined the term, didn't quite put it that way, but explained how his theory represents the transformation of a complex and expensive product used by experts into something more accessible for a larger population.

In this way, it is also a strategic move. By targeting the bottom of a market with simplicity, the innovation disrupts the legacies of overly-complicated and costly competitors. You may enjoy hearing his examples in the following video.