that there are real differences between conventional analytics and big data, though you wouldn’t always know that from reading other books and articles about the topic, where the distinctions are often very fuzzy (see table 1-1 for a summary of the differences). I’ll

the future, customer acceptance, better data collection mechanisms, and sanity in complex customer variables will ensure that we can finally deliver on the analytics promise that lives in the data.

They are using customer “journeys” through the tangle of websites, call centers, tellers, and other branch personnel to better understand the paths that customers follow through the organization, and how those paths affect attrition or the purchase of particular financial services.

Let’s assume an organization has decided to pursue text analysis against customer service e-mails and social media commentary. What are the most critical problems to solve? Is understanding the general sentiment of the comments the priority? Is identifying specific individuals who need attention the priority? Is identifying trends in terms of how o