While mobile devices and wireless internet access is allowing billions to connect through ecommerce and social networking, the business world is clamoring to decode the immeasurable mountain of data being collected. When it comes to margins and bottom lines, those that find themselves able to decipher this “big data” effectively is promised to see those margins improve, their productivity skyrocket, and of course see a healthy addition to their bottom line.

Director of Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Gary King, agrees and told the New York Times, “It’s a revolution. We’re really just getting under way. But the march of quantification, made possible by enormous new sources of data, will sweep through academia, business and government. There is no area that is going to be untouched.”

When looking at the current state of the marketplace, how can we benefit from this technological revolution and what roles do e-commerce and the social medium play in our own successful endeavors?

The Current State of “Big Data” Technology

Honestly, the potential for this aspect of technology is relatively untouched despite the prevalent buzz around the topic of big data. With 80% of the 1.5 billion social network users active on a daily basis and 70% of the world’s companies partaking as well, the idea of implementing a social media strategy has probably been drilled into your head by now.

Those that seem to reap the greatest rewards include companies that feel their brands recognition and customer’s perception plays a large role in their overall success. Also, firms with a highly knowledgeable workforce, a digital distribution channel, or need a way of building up corporate credibility will find social networking, alongside their e-commerce efforts, can increase margins by as much as 60% according to a study conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute.

“Big Data” and eCommerce Technology

When it comes to technology effecting operating margins and bottom lines, one of the most common and efficient ways it is used is through e-commerce. You set up a website that acts like the foundation for everything else your company does. It’s where customers will find out more about you, your product, your brand message, sign up for newsletters, and of course buy your product or service.

When used correctly, an ecommerce strategy allows companies to use this data collected from the customers interactions to not only segment its customer base in a way that allows the company to offer special individualized or targeted personalization to their clients, but it also allows them to add value through other programs like customer loyalty.

At the same time a company is then able to use this same data to begin to develop its next generation of products and services based on what is selling and what customers are saying. Expand this out further and a company can use the data of others in their industry to determine the average pricing and overall demand for a product and where their company falls compared to the competition.

“Big Data” and Social Media Technology

Enter into the mix the social media aspect. Social media, aside from being one of the hottest buzzwords of the new millennium, is by far one of the most effective tools available to companies looking to use their data to better service their markets.

Social media technology can help with both organizational functions and across an entire enterprise.

On the organizational side, social technology can help with product development by simply implementing what customers are saying into the product itself or to create a new co-product that fulfills the markets need.

Within the operational and distribution aspects of the business, social technology can be used to leverage social interactions as a way of forecasting and monitoring an industry or even as a way of educating the public on business processes.

For marketing and sales, social media offers additional customer insights, a popular and widely used channel in which to relay marketing communications and to facilitate customer interactions. In addition, the sales and marketing team can generate and foster new sales leads while conducting social commerce.

When it comes to customer service, social technology allows a company to shorten its response times to customer concerns which in turn results in an improvement in overall customer satisfaction.

Social media technology is useful for improving the collaboration and communication between all the parties involved in a transaction or project and can be used to match talent to task both inter- and intra-organizational.

The key to successfully taking advantage of today’s technology is having the right partners and the right tools. Remember, the more data you have, the more accurate you will be once you decipher it. Generating and gathering this information can be overwhelming and no one can say they have a firm handle on all the available data, although getting started now means being one step closer to a more streamlined and profitable business.