Data Crush: How the Information Tidal Wave is Driving New Business Opportunities

by Christopher Surdak

Winner of GetAbstract's INTERNATIONAL BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2014 The Internet used to be a tool for telling your customers about your business. Now its real value lies in what it tells you about them. Every move your customers make online can be tracked, catalogued, and analyzed to better understand their preferences and predict their future behavior. And with mobile technology like smartphones, customers are online almost every second of every day. The companies that succeed going forward will be those that learn to leverage this torrent of information-without being drowned by it. Balancing examples from giants like Amazon, Home Depot, and Ford with newer players like Rovio, Groupon, and scores of niche-market winners, Data Crush examines the forces behind the explosive growth in data and reveals how the most innovative companies are responding to this challenge. The book clarifies the key the proliferation of "big data" generated by a never-ending range of online activities (and the mobility that enables much of it); the seemingly infinite array of digital commerce and entertainment pathways; and the rising growth of Cloud computing. These and other factors combine to create an overwhelming universe of valuable information - all constantly updated in real time with billions of mouse clicks each day. It's daunting, but with this onslaught of information comes tremendous opportunity - and Data Crush will help you make sense of it all.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Sam Motes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat dated since it talks about the rise in data consumption by 2015 but even though dated its predictions are right on task. The author builds the case that the always on socially integrated app world coupled with paradigm changing augmented reality and the industry of things realities are going to inundate us in oceans of data and seriously disrupt the established brick and mortars if they don’t adapt. It opens a whole new world for companies to build individualized marketing campaigns through hyper customer intimacy though the inherent destroying of personal privacy is very troubling. The security concerns are two-fold one being companies using your personal data in ways you wouldn’t approve of and two the risk of data breaches providing untold treasures making the reality of them happening not a matter of if but when they will happen. For companies that manage through these risks and truly drive business value from the mountains of data at their finger tips the future is bright.

[Paul Rambaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave very good insight into the data of today and the digitally connected world we live in. Connectivity and people based marketing are currently at the forefront of the advertising technology industry. This book breaks it down to the basics and goes in depth as to what the past was like, how things are in the present and how the past and present will impact the future. Data is invaluable and will grow monumentally over the next few years. Act now or get left behind.

[Paul Mamani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr Surdak`s Data Crush was one of my first books I have read ever on Big Data.
It was around 2015 when Getabstract has spotlighted this amazing material in its annual selection of best books.

I found many interesting things in its 280 pages.
Now I have more notions about Big Data and how it is changing commerce, folks interactions, just right now and more in the coming years.
Technology has changed too fast in the las 30 years here in Peru but more in the other developed countries. It is unbelievable but real that what took circa 2 millenniums of work, developments and studies, nowadays with BD things go fast and faster as a sunlight from the solar system centre to the Earth just in 8 minutes.
With the introduction of super computers like Watson or D-wave things go like high frecuency trading….
This new era has many opportunities but challenges too

[Prasanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is an excellent resource to understand Big Data and know how it is impacting businesses. The projections made by the author, although astonishing, are not unrealistic. Knowing these trends and the movement in business environment is essential for every business. Apart form business owners and managers, the book provides enough ideas and information for entrepreneurs to use data to create new solutions and applications for the information hungry market. Read full review at http://bookreviews.infoversant.com/da...

[Marie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written to get business people to think about ways to alter their businesses to take advantage of the data that is available and can be generated. The scenarios of the future are interesting (and likely to happen). Unfortunately, there wasn't a single mention of the need for security of the available data. The book just dealt with all the fun scenarios that can be done with data about people and business processes.

[Jose Papo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read book. The title focus on Big Data but, in reality, the book goes deeper. It analyzes all the big technological trends like Mobile, Cloud and Social and how they are changing the world. Their examples are fantastic and the book gave me many ideas and tips about things to understand and use to create new products and services. Must read.

[Denise Morse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a definite data geek, I work in data, I live and breathe excel spreadsheets but this book just did not really speak to me as much as I was expecting. The information is interesting but given just how rapidly things change on the Internet, it felt outdated only a few short months later. Our data is out there and companies are using it for their personal growth.