Insight Community

Business analytics are playing an increasingly important role in helping companies gain the insight they need to make better decisions. How have you found this to be the case with your business? Please share your best examples with us of how analytics (CRM, dashboards, or other analytics capabilities) have improved the performance of your business. For an example, see this video clip by Malcolm Gladwell.

Responses for this case will be used in a whitepaper being created by Techdirt for TheCustomerCollective and included with the results of a survey we are hosting titled, "CRM Analytics."

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

While the threat to safety from driving and talking on a cell phone can be debated, there are already several laws around the US that prohibit such actions. However, there is no federal regulation -- just recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board that all states should restrict certain drivers from using cell phones while driving. So which states have enacted the most reasonable regulations against cell phone use while driving? Or (if there aren't any existing laws that you like) what kind of rules should be proposed to encourage common sense in driving? Are hands-free accessories really effective? Will factory-installed systems in the dashboard help? With GPS navigation and other advanced wireless services coming to more phones, what exceptions should be made (if any) to laws against driving while using mobile phones?

Now that CES has ended, what lessons from the show are there for Wall Street? What investment opportunities (either long or short) should Wall Street be paying attention to within or related to the consumer electronics space? While a few more obvious names are okay, we're really looking for something beyond the big, obvious names or the big, obvious trends. Think a few levels deep about how the events at CES will come to impact other (perhaps less obvious) markets.