Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization · Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization:...

Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization: Why Operationalizing Data in Real Time is the Key to Transformation

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Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization

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Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization

Why Operationalizing Data in Real Time is the Key to Transformation


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CONTENTSBig Data’s Public Sector Takeover � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4

Big vs� Real: What Gives? � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4

Volume vs� Value � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4

Digital Transformation and the Rise of Customer Experience � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 5

Capitalizing on “The Moment” by Combining Big Data and Real-Time Data � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 6

How Real-Time End User Experience Happens � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 6

The Importance of Data Management in Agency Transformation � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 7

If You’re Not Leveraging Data in Real Time for Your Mission-Critical Applications, You’re Not Doing It Right � � � � � 8

The Only Time is “Now” � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 8


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BIG DATA’S PUBLIC SECTOR TAKEOVERBig data projects have proliferated across the public sector over the last decade�

Whether driven by legal and policy compliance or by organizational improvement, state and federal agencies have created entirely new divisions focused specifically on delivering the sweeping transformations promised by big data projects�

It’s clear: from cyber security to economic analysis to citizen segmentation, the benefits and uses of big data in the public sector are real and practically endless�

But, just as in the private sector, it can sometimes be hard to wrap one’s head around big data, especially as it relates to the buzzword/concept that has recently usurped it in those circles: real-time data�

BIG VS. REAL: WHAT GIVES?Wikipedia defines real-time data as “information that is delivered immediately after collection,” but this definition lacks certain key dimensions of the real-time equation�

Namely—it doesn’t take into account the use or ingestion of data from multiple sources and systems at once� Nor does it mention instantaneous adaptability that also takes historical data into account�

Real-time data isn’t just an immediate response, it’s an ongoing, ever-adapting data conversation that allows you to consistently and proactively adapt to your customers’ needs and impulses, and even DRIVE or DICTATE your customers’ needs and impulses as you wish and according to your goals�

This unique and powerful ability of real-time data speaks to the limitations of big data and the reason why so many big data projects have been failing of late: because they’ve been too myopically focused on VOLUME instead of VALUE�

VOLUME VS. VALUEThe harsh truth is that a lot of big data projects have failed to deliver on their transformational promises, and in many cases these projects have ended up being shelved altogether at a huge loss for the organizations that championed them�

Why?

To answer this question, we need to look at big data’s defining characteristic—or make that characteristics, plural: what is commonly known as “the 3 Vs”:

All three of these (volume, variety, and velocity) have increased considerably over the last 10 years�

But there’s a V missing here, and that’s “value”�

How do you generate value from the data you’ve been collecting so diligently in your data lake?

It turns out that is pretty hard to do�

Volume Variety Velocity

Whether you call them

customers, warfighters,

end users, citizens, or

mission partners, today’s

tech-savvy users require

real-time personalized

experiences that can

be accessed from

anywhere in the world.


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And that’s because your data is only as valuable as the speed and extent to which it can be operationalized� If you take the five main types of data typically dumped into today’s most powerful data lakes—individual data, relationship data, activity data, behavioral data, and environmental data—and run static analyses against them, it’s useful but nowhere near as useful as being able to operationalize the data: that is, use it to build impactful, customer-facing, mission-focused and mission-critical applications via real-time analytics and search�

But why do you, as a public sector entity, even need these types of applications?

To answer that question, let’s look at how data creation and customer expectations in every sector have changed over the last decade�

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND THE RISE OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCEIt used to be that data was only created by people inside an organization� They’d do their work and thereby create information, or data, and at night the computers they used would process this data and update their files.

But as more and more data started pouring in from more and more sources and channels, the organizations using this data began to see the value of it beyond just processing and historical analysis, digital transformation arrived, and the data world shifted into real time�

In the commercial world, companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Sony significantly upped the bar by using their data to raise customers’ expectations of what a “customer experience” could be� Companies across industries started realizing that no matter what business they’re in, the customer experiences they provide needed to match these new expectations and new standards or they were quickly going to the way of the disrupted: out of business�

In parallel, public sector and federal agencies have realized that legacy business models that rely on manual, human-based interactions and processes are not only inefficient but pose operational and security risks that can’t be overlooked at scale�

Real-time personalization at scale became critical in daily life when people began buying smartphones and tapping their way into websites and applications from wherever they happened to be at the moment. This created an influx of data, and with that data, a huge opportunity for enterprises: a chance to learn behavioral preferences at the granular level and apply that insight to current interactions�

This real-time but historically informed dance between the customer and the company eventually became foundational for “customer experience”� You still needed to provide “good service”, but suddenly what mattered most was how well you used what you knew about the end user to personalize that service as it’s happening in real time whether it’s happening via the web, an app, or over the phone with a service rep�

This paradigm is not unique to corporations, it is equally imperative in government agencies looking to modernize their operations and services�


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CAPITALIZING ON “THE MOMENT” BY COMBINING BIG DATA AND REAL-TIME DATAThe private sector is expected to spend well over $60 billion on big data technology by 2020, and government agencies are also investing heavily in big data�

In short, there’s a staggering amount of spend being dumped on big data, and for good reason: big data is clearly still very useful�

There’s a strong case to be made for business intelligence, business process optimization, hypothesis testing, and all the other things you can do with big data, and as we previously mentioned, you can use existing big data solutions to discover key patterns in historical data, which is extremely valuable�

But when it comes to the success of your mission, it’s ultimately about how you interact with your end users that determines a win versus a loss� Regardless of whether your “customers” are internal end-users, citizens, mission partners, warfighters on a battlefield, or other agencies, you need real-time capabilities, and big data by itself can’t provide those�

While big data can supply customer, mission, or operational insights via things like segmentation, process optimization, and targeting, if you want to provide rich, contextualized experiences in the moment, you need to be combining big data and real-time data to ensure you are delivering powerful, real-time end user experiences�

HOW REAL-TIME END USER EXPERIENCE HAPPENSThe actual process of producing real-time end user experiences occurs in three phases:

Step 1. Data influxYou have a large volume of data being processed in real time and generated by countless devices, interactions, applications, programs, timelines, and touchpoints�

This relates to not just what the end user is directly doing with you but also other real-time data relevant to that interaction (such as location, preferences, demographics, social media interactions, etc�)�

Step 2. Real-time data analysisThe application’s underlying data must be hyper responsive to the end user’s preferences, habits, and interactions� That is, it must be able to take this incoming slew of data and use it with existing legacy systems and big data to surface powerful and immediate insights in real time�

ENGAGEMENT CONTEXT

Where are you?

What are you doing?

What mode are you in?

What’s your intent?

What’s happening around you?

Who’s with you?

INSIGHTS

R-F-M

Profitability

Lifetime Value

Credit Risk

Share of Wallet

Opportunity

Loyalty

Satisfaction

Retention

Needs

Attitude

Persuadability

RELATIONSHIPS

Household

Social

Organization

Places

Memberships

INDIVIDUAL Identity Name Age Gender Employment Portfolio

WHAT DOES A REAL-TIME VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER NEEDS?

ACTIVITIES

Transaction History Purchases, Payments, Bills, Invoices, Statements

Service History Requests, Tickets, Complaints

Engagement History Calls, Emails, SMS, Web journey, Store visits

Social Media History Posts, Check-ins, Likes, Awards Preferences Method, Content, Frequency

Marketing History Offers, Responses, Coupons


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This part is critical�

Simply analyzing data as it comes in is not good enough; the real-time data needs to be combined with data from a variety of other sources to give the complete real-time picture and make it correctly actionable at the moment it’s needed�

Step 3. Combining actionable insights to impact end-user interactions in real timeThis means making in-the-moment, real-time customer experience actually happen via digital channels or end user service interactions, and having technology that can make this happen automatically�

THE IMPORTANCE OF DATA MANAGEMENT IN AGENCY TRANSFORMATIONBeing able to comprehensively manage and create value from ALL end-user interactions is imperative to being able to provide the rich, contextual, in-the-moment experiences users demand, and you can achieve this via a data management platform�

Here are some things to consider when choosing a data management platform:

1. Is it designed to power your applications with comprehensive data?You want a data platform that can handle all types of workloads—business operations, search, analytics, etc�—in an integrated platform without having to deal with multiple systems for pieces of data�

2. Does it integrate big data and real-time data at scale?Remember the whole point of all of the above—you need both big data and real-time data to make your real-time agency transformation initiatives work� The best data management systems incorporate powerful real-time analytics and do it in a way that doesn’t make your database administrators have to worry about “ETL”—extracting, transforming, and loading�

3. Can it handle all different types of agency data?The best data management systems can incorporate all of the data models, including graph, key-value, document, and column. This gives you the flexibility to process and analyze data in many different ways, which ultimately translates into a much richer experience and relationship with the end user�

4. Is it always on?This is becoming a very key differentiator between data management systems. Being “always on” means not having a single point of failure and being able to scale without increasing your chances of a failure� Features such as “cross datacenter replication” allow this to happen and allow your company to handle the distributed, quickly growing, always-on nature of cloud applications�


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IF YOU’RE NOT LEVERAGING DATA IN REAL TIME FOR YOUR MISSION-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS, YOU’RE NOT DOING IT RIGHTToday’s end users are the same as the applications they’re using: highly distributed, hyper-connected, and always on�

To be able to support this kind of information dispersion and scale, and thus improve citizen engagement while optimizing operations, government agencies are having to rethink the technology infrastructure on which they’re building and deploying business and mission-critical applications�

This requires moving to a modern architecture that puts data at the center of your organization� You can do this by choosing the right data management platform that allows you to leverage big data, legacy information, and real-time operational data�

THE ONLY TIME IS “NOW”With government agencies as much as the private sector, the new end-user experience can be encompassed by one word: NOW�

And it’s how you capitalize on “now” that counts� Every touchpoint, every device, every interactive moment, and every piece of data increases the potential payoff of real-time operational optimization exponentially.

And that’s because data points no longer exist in isolation: they communicate with each other, they talk, they interact, they blend and separate and divide, and this real-time process makes them far more valuable than the sum of their parts� If you take big data and add to it the ability to use real-time data for real-time insights, you’re combining two of the most powerful technology advancements of our age, and you’re empowering your organization to truly transform and become the modern, world-class agency it strives to be�

That’s an investment worth making�

Ready to get started? Go to www�datastax�com to start learning about applying big data and real-time data to key use cases, such as fraud, supply chain, logistics, IoT, and much more�

http://www.datastax.com

Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization · Real-Time Data and Public Sector Modernization:...

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