On a recent trip to South Africa, jointly hosted by Knowledge Factory and SAS Institute, Boston-based Data Miners' Principal, Michael Berry came out strongly against this perception.
Berry says that the analytics projects being undertaken by numerous local corporations are every bit as sophisticated and in some cases, more innovative than those he's seen elsewhere in the world: "And the great news for South African companies is that one of the most widely accepted practises in this space internationally, namely the use of 'geo-demographics' in analytics, has more relevance to the South African market than what it has in the US and many European countries.
"In South Africa, far larger distinctions can be drawn between people in different stages of life and with different needs, desires and cultural backgrounds."
This means that an increased number of options exist for marketers in the local market. Greater geographical and cultural diversity, whilst posing a significant challenge for mass marketing campaigns, provides a greater ability for the tailoring of offerings to a company's specific target markets.
However, only through having the requisite market data and undertaking an analytics or business intelligence project, can businesses begin exploiting this diversity.
Berry says South Africa is also in a strong position in terms of the adoption and use of analytics in the daily running of businesses: "Add to this natural appetite for business intelligence, the strong competencies South African corporates have at their disposal through specialists like Knowledge Factory and the power of SAS Institute software, it's no surprise that the country has a burgeoning market for analytics and business intelligence."
