February 5, 2013

Big Data Continues . . .

Feb. 5, 2013 at 09:40 AM | By Todd Gibby | Comment Count

In my last post, “Big Data, Big Opportunities, Big Challenges Part 1,” I shared some of my reactions to the explosion of big data and its potential impact in higher education. I received a lot of comments (private and public) and I thought it would be great to share one comment in particular.

Hobsons follower Dan comments:

“I agree a key challenge is implementation, but I believe that is more business than technical. For example, 20 years ago in retail they asked, ‘how are our products selling?’ Ten years ago they asked, ‘how are our customers buying?’ Two years ago they asked, ‘Who is influencing my customer?’" (scroll to bottom)

Great questions! I like to address this in two ways. First, I like to respond to Dan’s points and then second relate it back to higher education.

I completely agree with Dan that it is about business challenges far more so than technical ones. I think what Dan is saying is that any successful implementation depends upon a comprehensive business plan. This plan should appropriately identify the objective/s of the implementation, the human and business components necessary for a streamlined initiative, and a well-developed timeline, including performance measures, as a point of reference and accountability.

This reminds me of a recent article on the importance of collaboration and partnership on campus featuring Intelliworks client Becky Vasquez. According to Becky, there are three phases to forging successful partnerships on campus during implementation: Pre-implementation, Implementation, and Post-implementation.

I think the significance of building out a comprehensive and manageable strategy as well as encouraging cross-departmental collaboration is what Dan was getting to when he commented that Big Data implementation will be a greater “business” challenge rather than “technical.” What’s more, this will inevitably impact higher education in the following ways:

Big Data storage and the issue of privacy will be the single most important challenge institutions will need to address pre-implementation.
Student recruitment and outcomes will be transformed as a result of real-time insights from real-time data.
Check it out - How GA Southern is using predictive analytics for targeted segmentation and prospective behavioral analysis.
Check it out - How school districts are leveraging student data to enhance student achievement.

Second point, what are the “big data” questions pertaining to higher education? I think it has gone something like:

How can I send out 10,000 view-books/brochures?
Whom should I target to make my numbers/goals?
How can I find students to craft a class that meets our strategic initiatives?
How can I start conversations with prospects that attract successful students?
How can I build a system to help facilitate consistently, authentic life-long relationships?
How do we define data in a manner that is adopted and embraced across the institution?

There is no doubt that Big Data will impact higher education. It surely is already impacting the corporate world and is expected to continue to do so over the next decade. As Dan suggested, successfully implementing Big Data in a way that will not only provide security and business intelligence will be a key “business” challenge that institutions will need to address through all phases of implementation. It is my belief that this can be achieved through the development of a comprehensive strategy and cross-campus culture of collaboration and partnership.