Why didn't you teach us this when I was at Baylor? She wasn't one of my students while she was at Baylor, but it wouldn't have mattered. I still felt the heat of her complaint. We were both at a conference to learn the latest in data-driven marketing but truth be told, no university was teaching anything about marketing automation and Big Data at the time—in fact, Big Data, as a term, didn't even exist yet. I couldn't have taught it, simply because there was no real body of knowledge from which to teach, only anecdotes.

So I did what professors do. I began to study and work on the problem. I began to test my ideas with executives and marketing professionals around the world in workshops, seminars, and conferences.

Quickly, I realized that there was a hunger for solutions, but because of the proliferation of marketing channels and the rapid development of Big Data, many marketers simply weren't ready. Some progress in Big Data and marketing technology had to be made first. But my research team and I soldiered on. With the aid of good people like Mary Gros at Teradata, Bruce Culbert at the Pedowitz Group, and Paul Greenberg of the 56 Group, I got opportunities to work alongside people like Phil Kaus at Cabela's, James MacEngvale at Gallery Furniture, and others who were willing to let me test ideas and see what worked. But the response from the marketing world was, well, lukewarm to put it mildly.

Then in 2013, everything changed—and I mean changed quickly. Suddenly, my presentations at conferences were jammed. Organizations were calling, asking for presentations on customer strategy and Big Data and attendees were lined up to talk after. I was getting calls from journalists and asked to comment on Big Data and marketing strategy. So it was time—time to get what we had learned into one place: this book.

Are you struggling with a strategy for Big Data? Have you bought marketing applications that you fear are underutilized or overpowered for what you can do? Do you wonder what the next thing is you should be doing—or the last thing you should have done and now it feels too late?

Big Data is no longer the future—Big Data is here. So is the marketing infrastructure. What's needed is the new set of strategic planning and execution skills needed to make the most of what Big Data and marketing technology have to offer. What's needed is Dynamic Customer Strategy.

Marketers, whether B2B or B2C, will find the Dynamic Customer Strategy approach works in making the most of Big Data. The goal with Big Data is to accelerate insight so that you can identify opportunities faster and respond to the data more quickly and automate to drive costs out of the value chain.

The book is organized into three parts. The first part describes the tools comprising the Dynamic Customer Strategy approach to Big Data. The second part details the Big Data strategy process of acquire, analyze, apply, and assess. The final part then identifies strategies for embedding Big Data and the Dynamic Customer Strategy into your organizational culture so that you can truly accelerate the insight and the benefits to be gained from them.

Big profits from Big Data? Absolutely. Data-capable marketing leaders? Positively. I've never wanted to teach the history of business—I've always wanted to be in the lead. So join me—let's accelerate the profits from Big Data.