Businessmodel of DataSift

Customer Segments

DataSift claims to have over 1,000 customers from more than 40 countries. Its products and services are aimed at businesses that require in-depth aggregation, management and filtering of detailed social data in order to provide more accurately targeted products and services and identify customer demographics.

These customers principally comprise social app developers, marketing and advertising agencies, brand marketers and market researchers.

Value Propositions

DataSift’s key values are in the functionality and reliability of its Human Data Platform and the breadth and variety of its social data.

The Company’s products and insights help customers to identify where and how businesses generate revenue, to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of marketing schemes, to improve customer relationships and to examine operational efficiency.

The Company’s data streams are customisable, comprising only the sources that are selected by users, offering information more than 20 data sources, including from social media giants Reddit, Tumblr, Facebook and Google.

DataSift’s products and services can be easily managed and accessed through the Company’s mobile and desktop websites, enabling users to track their data streams and manage their accounts at any time.

Channels

DataSift’s products can be viewed on the Company’s mobile and desktop websites at www.datasift.com.

Customers can also make enquiries with regard to products via the website, however, sales must be completed through direct discussions with the DataSift sales team. Once purchased, users can log in to DataSift’s cloud-based platform via the Company’s website.

Customer Relationships

DataSift’s products are sold through its sales team, with each customer receiving a bespoke data stream, comprising information from a sources selected by the customer.

DataSift provides after sale support to all of its customers, providing self-service resources such as webinars, tutorials, technical user guides, FAQs and documentation through its website.

The Company also hosts the DataSift Forum and a community discussion board, where users can interact with one another, collaborate on issues and post questions directly to the DataSift team.

Additionally, DataSift operates a blog, where it discusses topics both related to the Company and to social data topics more broadly, and keeps users updated developments to the platform via its Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

Key Activities

DataSift owns and operates a cloud-based social data platform that facilitates social data aggregation, filtration and analysis solutions, providing access to real-time and historical social data to uncover insights and trends focusing on brands, businesses, financial markets, news, and public opinion.

The Company also provides training, data optimisation and insight, outsourcing, data enrichment and data categorisation services. DataSift also manages partnerships with a number of companies in order to provide an efficient and comprehensive data platform to its customers.

Key Partners

DataSift partners with a number of companies to provide comprehensive streams of social data to its customers. Its partners primarily derive from the tech sector, specifically companies operating within the social analytics space, comprising application providers, social intelligence firms, consumer insights agencies, and social media research companies. These partners include big data marketing firm Black Swan, social intelligence platform Circus Social, social media intelligence firm Faveeo and social media analytics company Crimson Hexagon.

The Company also has a number of tech partners from which it aggregates its social data, including Tumblr, Google, Instagram, Wikipedia and Wordpress. Until 2015 the DataSift was also in partnership with Twitter, having access to the company’s firehose of data. The two companies have since parted, with DataSift quickly taking up partnership with social media giant Facebook. The Company is also reported to have a strategic alliance with operational intelligence provider Splunk, integrating the DataSift platform into Splunk’s data products.

Additionally, DataSift has released an API, allowing software developers to create integrated social data solutions using the DataSift platform.

Key Resources

DataSift’s key resources are its technology, its IT infrastructure, its personnel and its partners. Searches of records held by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified no patent applications recorded in DataSift’s name or in the name of MediaSift.

The way in which DataSift’s sales model is organised means that the Company’s sales employees play a key role DataSift’s operations, as do its technical support team.

Cost Structure

DataSift’s costs relate primarily to the development and maintenance of its platform, the maintenance of its IT infrastructure, the retention of its personnel and the management of its various partnerships. In particular, DataSift accrues costs in relation to the data it receives from its data providers, which charge varying fees.

The Company also accrues fixed costs relating the operation of its four offices in the US and the UK.

Revenue Streams

DataSift generates revenue through the sale of various social data aggregation and analysis solutions and products, and subscriptions to its Human Data Platform. The Company primarily generates revenue through subscriptions to customised data streams, aggregating data from a range of online sources. These streams are bespoke and do not have regular prices.

Pricing is calculated in terms of data processing units which measure the computational complexity of the processing performed as part of DataSift’s service. This is dependent on how many sources are included in a stream, with some data sources commanding higher prices than others. All streams have a fixed cost, which can be presented in terms of daily costs. Some streams also incur a variable cost, as there are some data suppliers that charge additional fees for their content.