How Coca-Cola, Ford and Adidas succeed with self-service data analytics

Olivia Duane Adams, co-founder of Alteryx, explains how major brands are making the most of their data with self-service data analytics

Big data – a phrase often thrown around but seldom understood.

Gartner defines big data as “high-volume, high-velocity and/or high variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing that enable enhanced insight, decision making and process automation.” While detailed, this explanation is about as unhelpful as it is concise.

What is very clear, however, is that over the past decade, leveraging data has become essential for business success.

Research from NewVantage Partners‘ Annual Big Data Executive Survey 2018 revealed that almost all (97%) of the 57 large corporations surveyed were exploring either data analytics or big data.

However, harnessing data it’s not always straightforward. With data skills in short supply and demand for data-related roles set to continue to rise within the next four to five years, companies are increasingly establishing a culture of data analytics and bridging the gap with the right technology to fit the business needs.

While some brands still face challenges to make the most of the data they hold, Coca Cola, Ford and Adidas are three global industry giants that are successfully unlocking the value of their data through the use of self-service data analytics.

During his first year in business, Coca-Cola inventor Dr John S. Pemberton sold approximately nine glasses of Coca-Cola a day. Today, over 1.9 billion Coca-Cola beverages are enjoyed daily around the globe.

Coca-Cola uses a high-performance data analytics platform to merge, prepare, and analyse data from multiple disparate sources and make the insights accessible across the organisation. It’s the key to unlocking the value of their data.

“Every group in the business is dependent on data, from audit and finance to production and delivery,” explains Jay Caplan, senior business analytics manager at Coca-Cola. “The business needs to understand every single step of our customers’ journey to continue delivering on our promise of happiness. I remember building out a prototype for ten stores using a self-service data analytics platform. It ran in less than one minute. I was standing at my desk jumping up and down, saying, ‘This can’t be right!’ People outside my office were asking if I was okay. I did a little victory dance and yelled, ‘It worked!’ I can’t even imagine how long it would have taken me to build and run that kind of analysis.” Caplan recalls.

Using data analytics, Caplan was able to collate and summarise historical data and automatically generate and send over 600 personalised reports to restaurant owners. Caplan’s analysis enabled restaurant owners to understand and optimise their inventory, reducing out of stocks and increasing profit margins.

“One of my biggest wins as of late involves the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, a touch screen fountain that allows users to create their own perfect mixture of flavours. Consumers love it because they have the freedom to customise and choose what makes them happy,” added Caplan. Not only that but from the data collected, the analysts receive a level of insight into the Coca-Cola experience that has never been possible before that can in turn help to influence customer-led business decisions and product roadmaps.