Workshop on Big Data for B2B Marketing and Sales

Business-to-business (B2B) commerce refers to commerce transactions between businesses. In B2B, marketing and sales are both indispensable steps. Marketing attempts to reach and persuade a prospect, and sales process aims to convert a prospect or lead to a signed agreement or contract. Marketing consists of various forms, including advertising, public relations, social media, brand marketing, viral marketing, direct mail, conference sponsorship or exhibitions. Sales process typically involves more interpersonal interactions, in the form of cold calls, one-to-one meeting, networking, and anything (like trials, price discount, etc.) to engage the prospect or customer. Most of the time, the prospect or lead is coming from marketing efforts. With the availability of novel forms of digital media and mobile devices, as well as cloud computing platforms like Salesforce, unprecedented amount of data is collected for and during the processes. However, for all the costs incurred in collecting, storing and managing this data, not much business value is realized.