Nielsen, Microsoft Partner to Democratize Data for Consumer Goods
Nielsen and Microsoft have partnered for on a newly developed enterprise data solution that democratizes one of the largest consumer data sets in the world: Nielsen Connect, powered by Microsoft Azure.
Much like Spotify (which is powered by Nielsen’s Gracenote) helped the music industry recover from the digital upheaval in its go-to market strategy by leveraging metadata for consumers to create the playlists they wanted and allowing music industry executives to focus on finding new musical talent, Nielsen Connect can be used in much the same way for the fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) market. It will use reference data as a service, noted John Tavolieri, President, U.S. FMCG and Retail and Chief Technology and Operations Officer at Nielsen during a press event.
“Nielsen Connect enables data to be an enterprise asset,” Tavolieri said, adding that companies have been managing data but not unleashing its power for growth. “It allows FMCG industry to get back to innovating product,” he added.
Nielsen Connect is inspiring companies to glean more value from their data and sparking a movement for the industry to reimagine its approach to data strategy. Through advanced analytics and artificial intelligence services built on Azure, Nielsen Connect is helping companies integrate data assets to more easily spot emerging trends, diagnose performance gaps, and act faster on opportunities to grow.
“The first critical step toward digital transformation, especially among retailers, is breaking down the barriers between customer and operational data to fuel insights for the business,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business. “Because retail happens wherever customers are and whenever they choose, Nielsen Connect provides high reliability at a global scale 24/7. Microsoft is a natural partner for Nielsen, trusted by global enterprises to protect their data and power their critical business solutions.”
Grounded by the richest data available in the fast-moving consumer goods space, Nielsen Connect brings clarity to what's happening in the market from every angle. Nielsen’s deep media and consumer measurement (including retail point-of-sale data, consumer panel, e-commerce, fresh food and cross-platform media data), is integrated with a robust variety of data sources, including data provided directly from clients as well as from Nielsen Connect Partners. Nielsen’s reference data, which provides structure to the world’s most robust retail and shopper information, powers this system to make integration across data sources and countries simple. Within this open and agile platform running on Microsoft Azure, customers can easily access data sets via APIs and connectors, allowing them to extract the data they need to fit their own technology strategy.
The joint Microsoft and Nielsen solution will serve as a one-stop-shop in creating scalable, high-performance data environments that enable greater real-time collaboration for faster results. Through this strategic alliance, the two companies will continue to work toward a mutual vision of an open and connected data universe, empowering a new generation of solutions for the FMCG retail marketplace.
