Dealing with data on a massive scale, the United States Postal Service is one of many organizations tackling the challenge of trying to stay customer-focused in a data-driven business environment. Speaking at Hewlett-Packard, Co.’s recently concluded HP Vertica Big Data Conference, Jim Cochrane, CIO and executive vice president of USPS, shed some light on the Big Data processes and obstacles that the postal service faces.

Cochrane talked about the science of mail, and how companies are using what they know about customers to send more effective marketing mail. Fonts, colors and other particulars affect how likely customers are to buy or pass on marketed products. The USPS, he explained, deals with how to keep mail relevant to people.

How the USPS uses data

The postal service is mapping data from hundreds of thousands of devices at once, tracking packages all over the country and transmitting that data cross the country in real time. Dealing with that data is a difficult thing to solve, and it can be just as difficult to convince people in an organization to buy into it. Cochrane recommends that CIOs make sure the information is credible and convince people that they are giving them more tools with better information at a faster rate than they even need, and those people will buy into it.

Owning, sharing data

From Cochrane’s perspective, one mistake CIOs sometimes make is thinking they own the analytics. He said CIOs will lose if they try to take over the entire operation without working with other people within the business. Instead, they must find the middle ground so that the business owns the outcome. Data is a corporate asset that needs some type of consistent governance. To do that, a CIO needs to instill an analytics culture and help everyone within the organization buy into it.

The questions organizations need to ask, he stressed, are: “What is your data solution? What is your people solution? What is your technology solution? What is your cultural solution?” To be effective, you need to answer all four and make sure you solve the right problem.

You can watch the complete keynote from HP Vertica BDC 2014 right here.