school

school.

that would be

preschool
elementary school
high school

then

college.

amazing how time flies.

I was once in preschool. in kindergarten. coloring. telling time. learning how to write my name.

now i teach preschool. and i love it.

engage in the present. that's how to do it.

Analyze This

Sweet Analytics,'tis thou has ravished me!

-Marlowe, Christopher
c.1592 Doctor Faustus (published1604), act1, sc.1.

Back then, life was simple. And then came Google, which actually made it simpler. So, there's quote that mentioned analytics and Google making life simple, and that's because now there's Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is something I hear in class a lot. By the way, this is the last blog required for our data mining class under Mr. Mon Duremdes and there has been a lot discussed about analytics, particularly about Web Analytics.

According to the Web Analytics Association, Web Analytics is the tracking, collection, measurement, reporting, and analysis of quantitative Internet data to optimize websites and web marketing. Since times have changed (duh!) and online is how we pretty much do everything, Web Analytics can be really helpful.

Okay. Web Analytics tool. Google Analytics. Check. Check. But how can you actually make this really cool tracker to work for you? How can it succeed? All you see in that dashboard are crooked graphs, numbers, and a lot of reports that you try so hard to understand. According to the book Web Analytics: An Hour A Day by Kaushik, Web Analytics is rather complex, and it is always optimal to step back from the tools and reports and first understand the basics.

What we not-much-technical-stuff inclined people should actually do is to try to look at our vision, how we approach with web analytics. We shoud start with the right mind set.

What do we consider before web analytics?

First, focus on customer centricity. Ask yourself what purpose does your website do for you or your company. Your website should not only focus on gathering clickstream data just to monitor website traffic. It should serve its purpose. Focus on the WHY DOES MY WEBSITE EXIST question.

Sometimes sites are only viewed or even scanned, people do not even bother to look at what you're trying to tell them. Viewed pages are just viewed pages. You don't measure success by the number of your visitors. They have to buy something. They have to comment. They have to reach the "Thank You" page and then you can say your site is a success.

If you get your site purpose in line with what you want to achieve, web analytics will follow.

Second, solve for business questions. Be different. Your business may be the same as your neighbor's but hey, stand out. Have a differnet strategy of delivering customer value. Focus on your business questions and not just reports. try to answer questions like "How can we achieve revenue increase in the next quarter?" or "What are our customers' problems with the website?" These questions can help you analyze your reports in the long run.

Answering these questions can actually help you or your company gain competitive advantage.

Third, follow the 10/90 rule. Spend 10% on your tools and 90% on brain power or people. People are the assets of the company, not the tools. High- end web analytics tools are expensive and they can generate massive amounts of reports but do not succeed in giving results.

Successful web analytics come from your people.

Fourth, hire great web analysts. People who

• used more than one web analytics tool extensively,
• visits web analytics groups and blogs,
  
• visit websites and web pages before diving in to the analytics,
  
• understand technicalities,
• are comfortable in both quality and quantity
• are explorers
• communicate effectively
• are street smart

And last, identify optimal organizational structure and responsibilites. Choose your business team wisely. Strategize. Your team and staretgy should always jive.

Again, relating these discussed components with the Telecommunications Industry or specifically SMART Communications, the company has to consider these things to be successful. It has to find ways of optimizing its web presence. Even though they have strong visibility in the market, it always pays to have more. And you can get more through the web.

My group mates are also into web analytics. Read blogs by Camille, Charles, Julie and Ikah.

Who are you?

This blog post is for our Data Mining subject under Mr. Mon Duremdes, which explores Online reputation and how it affects you as a person.

Reputation. Impression. How others see you...

These are just a few things a person needs to give importance to when it comes to personal interaction. In the cyberworld, we also interact with others so there's this thing called Online Reputation. With the growing number of social networking sites and with information literally at your fingertips, you can be loved or hated just by looking at your website. People can "Google" you and voila! they know you.

Online Reputation is how people see you over the internet. Reputation can actually be negative or positive. It will just depend on the person which reputation to build up and either can cost you BIG. Online reputation is a factor that affects you as a contributor to the society, as a person.

So what's the big idea? Why is your online reputation so important?

I came across an article about monitoring your online reputation and it had this comment which also happens to be a song:

"I don't give a damn about my reputation!
You're living in the past, it's a new generation!
Hey, a girl can do what she wants to do
And that's what I'm gonna do!
And I don't give a damn about my bad reputation
Oh no No, no, no, no, no, no, no Not me Me, me, me, me, me, me!!!"

Interesting! This girl actually has online reputation. You be the judge.

The world today is officially radical and more so, transparent. It's radically transparent. It is the Information Age after all. Google is already a household term. You need recipes? Google it! (Recipes? Now that's really household.) But you get my drift.

Google has changed the way people do research. No more big books and it is very transparent. Google can actually give you millions if not, billions of results for every word search you make. Every detail you can find. Every blog, site and profile can present lots of information and more importantly, criticisms which are actually really interesting to read if you ask me.

People are talking about you online. Who would not want to read juicy gossip and negative articles about others? The cyberworld has no more reservations. People say what they want to say, compliments and complaints both. It's a free (virtual) world.

So, how would you like other people blogging about you? Cool right? But that depends on the content of the blog.What could they be saying about you? How can you actually monitor your online reputation? How can you turn it all around and use these conversations to your advantage?

Here's a good news. According to the book Radically Transparent by Beal and Strauss. There are a number of do-it-yourself monitoring tools available over the internet. There's

• Google Alerts - where you can check your sites just like e-mail
  

• bloglines.com - free service where you can check favorite blogs and sites for monitoring reputation
  

• netvibes.com - where you can use feeds to regularly check your online image
  

• feedblitz.com - where you can market your sites or blogs for building up online reputation
  

• Copernic Tracker - keeps you updated on new things or posts from different sites
  

If you also want to monitor brand profiles, there's LinkedIn, Naymz and Facebook. These sites allow you to see how people respond to your favorite brands and even manage your own brand. These sites are used by professionals to broaden their network and build relationships.

The book also discusses

• how you should define who you are, create and develop your online personality.
• thinking twice before sending e-mails and posting content over the internet and
  
• creating a positive image.
  

Being radically transparent is actually a bit of a shock from our past culture of being reserved and modest. Nowadays, people react to their experiences by what they truly feel and sometimes do not even mind if they hurt or offend others online.

Online reputation or reputation itself is something that's easily forgotten or neglected because of today's culture and lifestyle. Rumors about you might have already spread online and you're the last to know. The internet is the biggest database and something about someone is bound to be in it.

Monitoring your online reputation is just as important as guarding your physical self from forces outside that may harm your integrity. As graduating students, I believe that our online reputation may very well indicate what kind of persons we are. Companies that we will apply for can research about us and not even consider calling us for an interview. That would be bad.

Our group monitors our assigned company through Google Analytics. We can actually see what's going on in the company and its competitors through updates. The Telecommunications industry is facing a lot of issues right now that might make or break their reputation. Issues like the "Prepaid Load Validity","Spam Messages", etc. Monitoring tools can actually make or break their reputation as bloggers can jump at this situation for criticism.

My group mates also discussed meaningful posts about online reputation. You can see Camille's, Chabby's, Julie's and Ikah's blogs.

Discover Data, Discover Value

Recently, our data mining professor, Mr. Mon Duremdes has discussed the importance of data warehouses and data marts. Using volume warehouses like Makro and smaller retailers as an analogy, we actually came to understand how these large banks of data can work for a company. In line with that, this is another blog post exploring data mining and its impact to business students like me and Telecommunications, our chosen industry.


Acoording to the article "Discovering hidden value in your data warehouse" from thearling.com, data mining is the extraction of hidden predictive information from large databases and according to an article I read, gold mining is the process of removing gold from the ground.

Data mining and gold mining are very similar. The large databases are likened to the ground, other data is like the dirt and soil and the value we find in data is the gold. Since the beginning of history, gold has been a highly sought after material which can be compared to the value we look for in databases.


Extraction.Value in the "dirt". Refinement.


Data mining, a product of intensive research and development, supported by technologies like massive data collection, powerful computers and many data mining algorithms is now very much ready. As mentioned in my previous post, it can now be used to one's advantage and gain.


It is an established fact that data mining provides the dynamics to businesses today and this is because data mining is not what it used to be. It has already evolved from the retrospective, static data delivery to a prospective and proactive information delivery which makes it a very practical tool nowadays.

After data is refined and filtered, it can be used to predict
trends, patterns and things that are likely bound to happen.
Ensuring better decisions and optimized solutions,
it brings value to businesses by cutting costs and
even improving yield.

Trends and patterns are very important to businesses like Telecommunication companies. By exploring patterns, they can actually see how their network is used and the people using their network. Using these trends, they can also predict what might happen during seasons like the summer and other holidays. They can also use this information to market their products to their subscribers. An example would be the growing number of students needing internet connection at home. This fact could tell them that marketing their broadband and internet services near schools and places where students hang out would increase their revenues.


How exactly does it work? Data mining uses a technique called modeling. Modeling is like finding answers to things you don't know. Searching for hidden facts, sniffing tracks left by others, all of which that can lead to what you look for. This technique can be compared to looking for treasures or investigation. Another technique is called prospecting. This is the process of identifying the target markets and catering to them spot on.


Again, relating to techniques used by Telecom companies to finding subscribers, through data mining, they can now study their subscribers' spending patterns, call and text patterns and the repetitions. They now know what advisories and updates to send their users. These updates are the kinds that, somehow appeal to the mobile phone users and which are likely to be read, bought or subscribed to.


The article also said that data warehouses and business analysis tools should work hand in hand. The data warehouse should work in your favor. So, the more the data collection is, the more value can be gathered from it. Just like gold mining!


The second article discussed data mining techniques and the difference between statistics and data mining is explained. Actually, I also thought that data mining is also like statistics with all the data and everything BUT that was a common misconception. Statistics, in some way, works for data mining as it is a tool in the process of data collection and analysis. As statistics deals with risk and uncertainty, data and its organization helps reduce the risk by presenting useful information through the collated data.

Statistics and data are actually partners to achieving results. Smart Communications and other telecommunication companies cannot work without studying the information they need.

Let's say a company finds out that their product sells best during a certain season or to certain market segment like teens, this information can be used to enhance and reinforce marketing, promotion and sales force. The company can now find ways to make the product sell more.


It has been mentioned a lot of times that many use data mining but there are only a select few who can use it to gain advantage.This is also true when discovering hidden value in data. Discovering the value in your data can be hard work like mining gold. Therefore, the perspectives to consider should be clear and can be used by the users. Data should work to your advantage.


Finding ways to earn using your information? That's hidden value!


Data, like gold, has to be tried and purified by fire. That's when you find the value you look for. Data is valuable. One discovery can lead you to another.


Read more about discovering hidden value in your data in Camille's, Chabby's, Julie's and Ikah's blogs.

about me, my studies and data mining

Name: Danielle Benig
Nickname: Deedin(n. dee-din)
Year Level: Senior
School: De La Salle Canlubang yeah!
Course: Business Administration - Management
Blog Purpose: Data Mining
Professor: Sir Mon Duremdes

i ♥ everyday, books and music.

I took up the course not knowing what exactly I'd learn from it but as I went through it in all my subjects I actually came to love it. College, for me, has also been a way of self-discovery. It's a stepping stone and it slowly changes the way I look at things and in a way lifts me to the "real" world.

So far, I can say that I am still in good terms with my studies.

Data Mining, as what I've learned so far, deals with discovery, a very present aid to today's business generation where information is crucial.

"Information Age: Where Knowledge is Power."


:)

Advantage is actually Gain

Technologies are drastically changing the way we look at businesses. It practically has a new face. These technologies are called "disruptive technologies". It sounds bad but it isn't. It has but a great influence in decisions, businesses, progress and even pop culture. This blog post explores how these technologies play a vital role in today's society and is a partial requirement for our Data Mining class led by Mr. Ramon Duremdes.

There are also posts about gaining advantages in IT written by my classmates Camille, Charles, Julie and Ikah.


From the article "Competing on Analytics" by Thomas Davenport, I saw this really interesting statement

Some companies have built their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze and act on data.

which says that the collection and analysis of data are actually some of the pillars of a successful business. According to the article, organizations are rapidly transforming into information gobblers which is true. Today's organizations compete on business intelligence and analytics not just because they can but because they should.

Everybody wants to gain advantage and what better way to have it by checking out what others do and have. This is what they call the democratization of information access. This democratization brought about a big difference in how organizations do business today.

Businesses now know everything about their consumers... what products they want, how they want it, how much they are willing to pay for it and everything essential to their business. Business processes has become a last concern for differentiation. This gives businesses a total advantage and room for growth. Business Intelligence has come a long way from what it is years ago.

Since it is very useful in today's business generation, the decisions they make, whether big or small strive to be the best and are the best because of Business Intelligence. A lot of major players in different industries use Business Intelligence solutions that helps them get ahead of competitors. Companies like Procter & Gamble, Marriott International and UPS are already using these technologies to remain on top of their game.

überanalytics!

Business intelligence understands what it takes to be successful. A lot of websites that we see and use everyday are not just regular sites. From what I found out, these sites are extremely analytical and they follow a "test and learn" approach to business changes.

Although many organizations now use software analytics and these so called disruptive technologies, it is still a matter of making the information useful to drive the performance of the business. All organizations have access to information. Not all organizations have access to the right information.

Drastic changes in business intelligence, sophisticated networks, powerful processing, inexpensive storage all contributes to solutions that work. Not only is an organization concerned about "what happened" but it is also concerned about "what's happening now" and "what's likely to happen". These whats are crucial. These whats are the very heart of why a company wants to gain competitive advantages.

INTELLIGENCE is exploring every possibility. Every detail. Every room for improvement and growth.

How are Information Technology and gaining competitive advantages useful for telecommunications? Very.

A telecommunication company cannot work witveryhout networks, without intelligence, and more so without information. It is like working with nothing. Nothing will happen. Information is the air telecommunication companies breathe. Business intelligence is its blood. Without both, all these telecommunication companies will all be useless. Dead.

To be able to cater to the needs of subscribers, companies like Smart and Globe rely on information.

Are there limitations to these disruptive technologies? I think that the possibilities are endless. A lot has been going on with technology back then, how much more now? Sooner or later, businesses will know every single detail about their consumers, which is honestly a bit scary.

All in all, Business Intelligence is a very powerful tool for gaining competitive advantage. This tool should be used intelligently to achieve results.