Using Web Data to Drive Revenue and Reduce Costs

Using Web Data to Drive Revenue and Reduce Costs

Presenters: Keith Cooper, CEO, ConnotateChristian Giarretta, VP of Sales

Engineering, Connotate

Moderator: Gina Cerami, VP of Marketing, Connotate

Date: March 12, 2013

Presenters

2

Keith CooperChief Executive Officer

Chris GiarrettaVP of Sales Engineering

Today’s Discussion

• Why Web Data?• Drive revenue• Reduce costs and streamline processes

• Automation Options

• Scoping Your Project• Five steps to success

• Evaluating Providers• Five questions to ask

• Q&A

3

The Web Provides the Largest Source of Data Ever Assembled…

4

News sites

Government sites

Job boards

Financial sites

Corporate sites

eCommerce sites

Regulatory sites

Retail sites

Social forums

Healthcare sites

State and local court sites

…and the Data Continues to Grow and Change at Unprecedented Rates• 1.2 zettabytes of new digital content created in 2011*

(zettabyte = 1B terrabytes)

• The Internet will double in size every 5.32 years **

5

* IDC’s The Digital Universe** PhysOrg.com

6

In Order to Use All of That Information…You Need to Find It, Filter It and Format It…

7

…Then You Can Turn Web Data into Profits

Sample Use Cases:Competitive intelligenceNews aggregationBackground checkPrice optimizationInvestment researchOnline ad usage reportsMarket researchRegulatory updates

Sales intelligenceBusiness risk assessmentData directoriesAggregate construction bidsSupply chain monitoringBrand monitoringVoice of the CustomerSocial media monitoring

8

Using Web Data to Drive Revenue

Deliver High-Value Directories: HG Data• Challenge/Opportunity

• Build the largest, most accurate database of B2B tech customer

intelligence

• Combine public and private content in unique ways to reveal new

insights

• Solution: Use automation to cost-effectively extract business intelligence from millions of Web documents

• 10,000+ agents built to date

• Highly granular database of 1M + profiles of enterprise technology

users

• Business Benefit• Successful go-to-market: disruptive technology replaces manual

process

• Extracting new value in business area long hobbled by stale sources

9

IDEX

Qualcomm

Alcatel-Lucent

AT&T Swisscom

Verizon

Vodafone

Bell Canada

Casio Computer

Research In Motion

BandRich Inc.

Kyocera

Fujitsu

Panasonic

Hitachi

Asahi Glass

Canon Inc.

Lion Corporation

Supplier to Customer Value Added Reseller

Fishbowl SolutionsCintra Software

Tata Consultancy

Law Firm of William Koy LLP

Distributor

NalcoAvnet Technology Solutions

Imation

Strategic Alliance

Reveals Customer Relationships Between Business Entities: HG Data

Gain Transparency Mid-Quarter to Better Predict Company Performance: Financial Firm• Challenge/Opportunity

• Gain daily/weekly/monthly visibility into inventory/sales of

companies and market segments where data is made public only on a

quarterly basis

• Solution: Continually monitor available inventory and other data posted on websites in those markets

• Use automation to capture precise indicators on an ongoing basis

• Analyze trends and make predictions

• Business Benefit

• Transparency supports more accurate predictions of financial

results to support smarter investment decisions

11

Gain Transparency Mid-Quarter: Web Page

12

Camera sales:•Check camera prices daily•Full-sweep of camera inventory weekly•Map trends, spot anomalies•Compare one or two targeted suppliers to overall segment averages

Web Page is Transformed into Usable Data

13

Enhance Risk Assessment: Business Information Provider• Challenge/Opportunity

• Deliver updates/alerts on changes in assigned risk status of counterparties to a financial transaction instead of just producing a static report

• Solution: Use automation to monitor websites for updates• Monitors sites for changes that affect a business entity’s assigned risk status – mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, de-listings, regulatory changes, sanctions

• Business Benefit:• First-to-market with a risk assessment service offering continual monitoring

• Fresh Web data is integrated into customer (financial institution) workflow – enhancing customer “stickiness”

• Automated Web data extraction solution delivered a 6-month payback

14

Web Sources

15

Web Page is Transformed into Usable Data

16

Price Optimization: Sigma-Aldrich

• Challenge/Opportunity

• Optimize product positioning in B2B market where buying

decisions can be motivated by a few dollars or cents

• Competitors’ prices are changing constantly

• Solution: Replace manual spot checking of prices with precise automated Web data extraction

• Continually extracts sizing/pricing on more than 150,000

products

• Acquired usable data for historical trend analysis

• Business Benefit• Optimizes prices to improve profit margins

• Reduced manpower devoted to data collection by 50%

17

Price Optimization Pays Off

18

Increase revenue2%- 4%

$8.75M - $16B for Fortune 500 Company

2012 Study:

Companies that successfully implement price optimization will realize 2 to 4% improvement in total revenue

19

Using Web Data to Reduce Costs

Automated Records Check Improves Speed and Accuracy: Tandem Select• Challenge/Opportunity

• Criminal records are highly structured; accuracy and reliability

is key for people making hiring decisions

• Deliver guaranteed turnaround time on accurate checks without

adding staff

• Solution: Replace manual processes to extract records directly from court websites on demand

• Business Benefit

• Average background check time reduced from hours/days to minutes

• Much better quality - far fewer errors – guaranteed turnaround

time

• In 12 months, order fulfillment increased 62% while operating expenses decreased $150,000

20

Automated Records Check (FetchCheck): Tandem Select

21

Standard customer order at Tandem site

Tandem’s application calls Connotate/FetchCheck with a Web services request

Agent extracts, transforms and normalizes data

Information is returned to calling application

Process takes between 6 and 20 seconds to complete

Improve Revenue Collection Processes with Accurate Reporting: Interactive Advertising• Challenge/Opportunity

• Billing reconciliation was taking weeks/months (14 people

overseeing daily data collection, 5 days/week)

• Usage data posted on multiple password-protected Web sites

(portals)

• Solution: Automated Web data collection accesses portals for highly-accurate reporting and billing• Reported data is 100% error-free; data is collected 365 days/year

• Business Benefit• Quality data supports timely, accurate billing (reconciliation in days)

• Aggregated views enable ad placement optimization increasing customer ad revenue 30 – 300%

22

Web Page is Transformed into Usable Data

23

1. Navigates the portal2. Precisely captures statistics

3. Turns data into Excel

24

Automation Options

Turning Web Data into Profits: Text

25

Turning Web Data into Profits: Files

26

A Closer Look at Different Approaches

27

Approach Considerations

Manual offshore No economies of scale; human error compromises quality.

Crowdsourcing

A viable approach for complex tasks like product matching of apparel for one-shot projects; may be less reliable for ongoing monitoring and long-term projects.

In-house or low-cost Web scrapers

Not resilient; scrapers break when Web page HTML changes, expensive programmers must fix scripts, increasing total cost of ownership (TCO)

Robust automation installed on-premise

High degree of control; better resiliency to change – reduced TCO however, project complexity and future needs may indicated hosted solution is better

Robust solution hosted by vendor

Highest resiliency; no maintenance burden – reduced TCO; 24/7 follow-the-sun support; infinitely scalable and no capital expenditures for hardware or IT resources.

Manual versus Automated Approaches

28

Your Data Needs To Automate or Not?

High-volume data monitoring Automate

Variety of sources Automate

Frequent updates and/or monitoring

Automate

Need for data post-processing

Automate

Small amount of data required just a few times a year from very simple sites

A manual approach may be adequate

One-time feed of very specific data

Purchase data from 3rd party

Product matching applications where unique identifiers are not available

May want to consider crowdsourcing

Polling Question: Web Data Collection

Are you currently collecting data from the Web?

Yes – we are doing this using an automated process

Yes – we are collecting Web data using a manual process

Yes – we are using BOTH manual and automated approaches

No – we are not collecting Web data

30

Scope Your Project: 5 Steps

Scoping Your Project: 5 Steps to Success1. Clarify what you want to do with

the data

2. Look at what’s happening manually today – find out how users are accessing the Web – these are targets for automation

3. Identify the sources you need

4. Narrow your scope….you may not need “everything”

5. Anticipate future requirements

31

32

Evaluating Providers: 5 Questions to Ask

Evaluating Providers: 5 Questions to Ask• Can it scale up easily and quickly? Look for a proven ability to handle high-volume, high-frequency

applications without draining your IT resources

• Is it resilient ?Can it withstand website formatting changes – or will it “break,” requiring

code fixes?

• How does it detect / deliver updates?You’ll save time and money with change detection with highlighting – the

ability to detect and deliver “just the changes”

• Does it support my operational workflows?Built-in job scheduling, resource shared access and other features can

increase efficiencies and coordinate workflow

• What are the deployment options?Flexible options for on-premise and hosted solutions should adapt to your

needs

33

Polling Question: The Value of Automated Web Data Collection

Do you believe automating Web data monitoring and extraction could add value to your business?

Yes – we are doing this now

Yes – we are planning a project in the near future

No – not at this time

I need more information before deciding

Here’s What Success Looks Like…

Create new and enhanced products and services faster

Predict company and market performance faster, better: gain transparency into non-transparent markets

Monitor competitor prices to optimize product

positioning

Automate reporting for

timely, accurate revenue

collection

35

… Connotate’s experts are ready to take you there

Q & A

Connotate will email a link to this presentation as well as a copy of the slides to you within 2 business days.

If you have an immediate need and would like us to contact you about a forthcoming project, please check the appropriate box in the last polling question or call (+1) 732-296-8844.

For more information, you may also visit www.connotate.com or www.connotate.co.uk.

36

Thank You

If you have an immediate need and would like us to contact you about a forthcoming project, please check the appropriate box in the last polling question or call (+1) 732-296-8844.

For more information, visit

www.connotate.com or www.connotate.co.uk

37