How to use big data, Qualtrics style.

• Author: Christensen, Lisa
• Position: Around Utah

Provo -- While "big data" gets vilified for making it difficult to get answers from the glut of information at a business' fingertips, the problem Is more in how It's used, according to speakers at the QUALTRICS Insight Summit.

"It's not the depth of data problem that's holding people back. It's a breadth of data problem," says Ryan Smith, CEO and founder of Qualtrics. "To be fast, you have to break down the data silos yourself."

In an effort to make breaking down those silos a simpler task, Smith says, Qualtrics was unrolling a new product, the Insight Cloud, to help connect different data sets, including information previously gathered by other Qualltrlcs programs like Qualtrics 360, Employee Engagement, Site Intercept, Target Audience and Vocalize.

The summit's keynote speaker Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics and Think Like A Freak, says gathering data is one thing, but gathering the correct data and using it correctly is another. And when looking for a specific, hard-to-get set of data, a researcher has to get creative and think about how to go about their research to hit upon the most correct results. "The circumstances under which you ask the questions are more important than the circumstances under which you gather data," he says.

Understanding what customers want can help companies cater to them, says Bruce Temkin, founder of the Temkin Group. Companies should anticipate what the customer will be looking for when encountering their company, make their services accessible on mobile, see value as a service and use continuous insights to give better customer services. The power of a company's culture should not be overlooked, either, he says.

"Your customer experience is a reflection of your...