InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

20 Great Ideas To Steal In 2012

Are you playing it too safe, IT leaders? Take these InformationWeek 500 projects along to rev up your next brainstorming session.

Start The Discussion | Stacey Peterson | September 12, 2012 00:01 AM

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Next-Gen Sentiment Analysis

Toyota has developed a social media and CRM tool that ties what's being said online about its cars to customer, sales, and quality data. The software also pieces together information that potential customers post online so Toyota can track them as they go through the buying process.

A California customer tweeted that he was deciding between a Lexus (a Toyota brand) and a BMW. The tool's development team followed him as he tweeted from a Lexus dealer, where he bought an ES 350, and continued following him post-purchase.

The tool took 60 hours to develop, largely using software Toyota already had. Oracle Endeca Discovery handles data discovery and search analytics, WiseWindow and DataSift aggregate social data, and Lexalytics analyzes sentiment.

Toyota is using the tool to improve customer service, product forecasting and quality, and lead generation. It plans to feed information to dealers in the future.