SAP AG announced at last month’s CTIA 2013, SAP Consumer Insight 365, a pilot initiative of a new cloud-based offering that will unlock the value of big data, providing brands and market research and media companies with a new source of consumer insight.

The service will be powered by the SAP HANA platform and will allow enterprises to gain insight from the analysis of massive amounts of aggregated and anonymized consumer data residing in operator networks in real time. This market intelligence will ultimately allow brands to strengthen relationships with consumers through more targeted and context-specific marketing efforts.

According to SAP, there are more mobile devices in the world than there are people and the proliferation of mobile devices has significantly changed the way people communicate, live and engage with each other at work and in their personal lives. As more consumers get connected around the world through mobile devices, smartphones and the Internet, all of these interactions create massive amounts of data and the sheer volume and scale of this data has made analysis difficult.

With SAP Consumer Insight 365, data from operator networks will be analyzed through advanced analytics providing population level insight as well as high-definition detail through an intuitive Web portal, without drilling down into user-specific information. All mobile network operator data will be stored discreetly and individually partitioned within a global network of SAP data centers.

Guy Rolfe, global mobile practice leader at Kantar Mobile, however, says: "The challenge is that this data is on a scale not seen before, therefore any service that can address this will create a new empirical data source that will not only complement existing research methodologies, but will also enable brands to better connect to consumers."

For years, brands and market research, as well as media companies, have worked with traditional methods of monitoring and measuring the changing behavior in consumers brought about by the proliferation of smart, connected devices. These include surveys, polling or purchasing research that captures and analyzes consumer data and market trends. However, mobile operators have a remarkable source of consumer insight and market intelligence within their own networks. Leveraging the extensive partner network of SAP, which includes over 990 mobile operators, SAP Consumer Insight 365 seeks to dramatically change the way organizations acquire mobile consumer intelligence to better understand relevant market and customer trends.

According to Gartner Inc. "the financial demands of storing and managing big data will lead 30% of businesses to directly or indirectly monetize their information assets by trading, bartering or outright selling them by 2016. Many enterprises are starting to appreciate the real market value that their harvested information assets have within their own industries or beyond. However, the lack of expertise in handling big data and developing information products will create an opportunity for the growth of specialist intermediaries, acting as information brokers or resellers."

"By working with major mobile operators worldwide and by gathering input from a number of the world's leading companies within the media, research and analytics sectors, we intend to provide our enterprise customers with a rich, reliable consumer insight analytics service," said John Sims, president, SAP Mobile Services. "Accessed through an intuitive, searchable portal and real-time service packages based on simple subscription models, our new cloud-based analytics solution will change the way companies acquire mobile consumer intelligence, which is made possible using SAP HANA. This will allow brands to have a much more engaging relationship with their customers through timely marketing campaigns that are relevant to consumer's interests and lifestyles."

SAP Mobile Services, a division of SAP, is a global leader in mobile interconnection and mobile consumer engagement services. It provides mobile operators with unparalleled capabilities in global messaging interconnect, data roaming and an array of IPX-based services and enables enterprises to engage with their consumers through innovative mobile marketing and communication solutions. SAP Mobile Services helps businesses process 1.8 billion messages per day, reaching more than 990 operators and 5.8 billion subscribers across 210 countries.

By MediaBUZZ