The Value of Business Analytics: Identifying the Path to Profitability

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE: SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

One recent example of the importance of effective up-front planning I was involved in revolved around using social network analysis to predict viral churn in telecommunications. Key to successful delivery was:

• Creating a flexible planning framework
• Relying on rapid, iterative delivery
• Focusing on creating reusable standardized processes

The background of the project was fairly straightforward. The company in question was interested in knowing whether it was possible to identify who was likely to churn based on customers’ relationships with those who had churned in a prior period. Making things slightly more complex, the company was interested in testing the validity of the approach using only social network data. As such, we were not provided any customer information, or usage patterns over time, or any other factors that would normally be used to predict churn.

Making things even more complex, we had agreed that we would deliver the entire project within six weeks, including all data management, analysis, knowledge handover, and presentations. As if that were not enough, I was also dealing with an application of analytics that the team had had no experience doing before. And although I had previously dealt with similar applications, such as agent-based-modeling and relationship-driven marketing, I was acutely conscious that my level of direct experience was relatively low.

As such, I decided to build the entire approach around planning ...