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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Cincinnati Zoo is a MidMarket Engine

In an interesting development our local Cincinnati Zoo has been declared IBM midmarket engine of  the week.   I have been there many times, its a haven for things zoological and also botanical.  Both interests of mine.  It is always fascinating to see how the backroom of any operation works.  And Zoos are no different than others.  They are complex in many different ways.  They are a business, an enterprise with customers and assets, a research facility and scientific repository.

So it is natural that they have to deal with complex data challenges, and have a desire to utilize analytics to make predictions about their systems.  They would also like to be able to market to their loyal customers by tailoring services to them to ensure that the community will continue to visit and support.  You don't typically think of a zoo this way, but in these times all enterprises need to be smarter.

It is a great example of the midmarket enterprise.   All of which have similar challenges.    IBM has worked with Brightstar Partners to build a data warehouse and utilize that data to perform predictive analytic  operations to better solve their problems.  This has led to a 35% increase in food and retail sales.   And an expected increase of 50,000 visitors a year.  Very good for a midmarket operation that has been around since 1873.  I look forward to visiting it again.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

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