Posts By: Dan Kimball

7 Tips for Leveraging Big Data

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Big data holds great promise for a variety of industries, but there are some things you should consider in order to take full advantage of it.

One of Kontagent’s clients, the CEO of a top social and mobile game publisher, recently commented: “When you’re learning how to ski, you learn pretty quickly that whatever direction you’re looking is the direction your skis ultimately will take you down the mountain. The same holds true for data: You really need to make sure the metrics you are looking at from the start are the ones that are most important to your business’ success. That is inevitably where your business will focus.”

That seems like a simple concept, but it’s also incredibly insightful, particularly when it comes to big data.

The business world has been abuzz about the ability to process petabytes of data at incredible speeds and ultimately leverage it for increased efficiency, engagement and profitability. The gaming industry, in particular, has been very good at turning big data into meaningful insights.

Other industries should take some notes from their counterparts at Zynga, Popcap, Playdom and other successful gaming studios that have figured out how to scale their businesses more efficiently. It’s been reported that the health care industry could see an additional $300 billion in value by leveraging big data. And, the retail industry could create efficiencies that lead to a 60% increase in operating margins. These are much bigger industries than gaming, with far-reaching outcomes if they can actually put big data driven decision-making to action.

So, what are some of the lessons learned that can enable organizations to effectively use big data to improve their businesses? Here are seven that we’ve witnessed firsthand here at Kontagent.

1. Decide on your key performance indicators (KPIs) upfront
If you don’t have the expertise to properly define these indicators out-of-the gate, enlist some help from service providers who have experience in building data science infrastructure. Then, operate your business around those KPIs.

Read the entire article at Mashable: 7 Tips for Leveraging Big Data

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How Does Zynga Really Make Money from Free Games?

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Source: The New York Times

Recently, I was talking to a colleague about how there is now technology that enables non-verbal brainwave communication between two people. Essentially, you put a device on your head that translates chemical synapses in your brain into patterns that are recognized as words, phrases or entire ideas. A person on the receiving end of this communication can then absorb these patterns in their own brain device, which will then interact with his chemical synapses. And, a conversation occurs.

It is absolutely mind-numbing to think about how much data needs to be processed in order to create patterns out of chemical synapses that an individual experiences at any given time. In fact, the adult human brain is estimated to contain from 100 to 500 trillion synapses! How could there possibly be a technology powerful enough (or scientists insightful enough) to process and interpret that volume of data, and then find a way to translate that into meaningful communication?

Well, on a much (much) (much) smaller scale, Zynga (public as of this morning) and other social game companies have achieved a similar feat. (Side note: VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi penned a great piece on the history of Zynga.)

In our view, the Internet has been through three defining phases of its short life in the modern era: Continue Reading…

Big Data in Social and Mobile Analytics

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You have massive amounts of data from your social and/or mobile apps. But, are you focusing on the right data to optimize your customer economics?

The rise of social and mobile applications has given way to big data in those spaces. We recently hosted a tech talk on the topic. Kontagent executives, CEO Jeff Tseng, CSO Josh Williams, along with Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Battery Ventures, Todd Papaioannou spoke on these points: Continue Reading…

Page Views Don’t Pay the Bills… Your Customers Do

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Kontagent helps customers measure KPIs like virality, retention and the lifetime monetization of their users.

The page view is dying a slow, painful death.

Here at Kontagent, we are passionate about data. Actually, let me be more clear: We believe that companies that develop a deeper appreciation of their customer data, and what it means to the health and growth of their business, have a massive competitive advantage.

I’ll take it a step further.

Companies that choose to ignore customer data, and don’t optimize their businesses around (meaningful) customer data patterns will fail in today’s social economy. Continue Reading…

Welcome to the Kontagent Kaleidoscope: A Blog on Big Data Patterns in Social, Mobile and Web

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You need the right lens to look at big data effectively.

Imagine you are two inches tall, and you are inside a giant kaleidoscope. You’re nose to nose with thousands of little bits of color. Lots of different shapes and sizes of all different materials and compositions. You sift through the pieces and try to form patterns. After trying your hardest to move the pieces around, you realized you’re too deep in the pile to identify any discernible patterns. You simply don’t have the ability to step away to gain perspective, while at the same time arrange the pieces in a way that makes visual sense.

What you need is the right lens. You need a simple way to peer into the pile and analyze its structure and composition. You also need to be in a position where you can creatively manipulate its appearance, pivoting your view in any way, and forming new patterns each time. Continue Reading…