WO2015103698A1

WO2015103698A1 - System, method and/or computer readable media for data ingestion, cleansing, transformation, visualization, insight generation, recommendation engine-driven actions, advertising deployment and optimization

Info

Publication number: WO2015103698A1
Application number: PCT/CA2015/000024
Authority: WO
Inventors: Aran HAMILTON; Brandon KANE
Original assignee: Vantage Analytics Inc.
Priority date: 2014-01-11
Filing date: 2015-01-12
Publication date: 2015-07-16

Abstract

The system, method and/or computer readable media according to the invention bring together into an easy-to-use interface, best practices of: data ingestion, data cleansing and/or transformation, visualization, insight generation, recommendation engine-driven actions, advertising deployment and/or optimization.

Description

SYSTEM, METHOD AND/OR COMPUTER READABLE MEDIA FOR DATA INGESTION, CLEANSING, TRANSFORMATION, VISUALIZATION, INSIGHT GENERATION, RECOMMENDATION ENGINE-DRIVEN

ACTIONS, ADVERTISING DEPLOYMENT AND OPTIMIZATION

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The system, method and/or computer readable media according to the invention may be alternately referred to herein, for example, as (a) the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable media, (b) the system, method and/or computer readable media, (c) the Vantage platform, and/or (d) the platform.

[0002] The Vantage system, method and/or computer readable media are the only ones which are known to combine the various functionalities into a single easy-to-use interface. Some of the Problems Solved

[0003] In today's market it simply may be unreasonable to spend time collecting and/or analyzing the data without being able to immediately act on new insights. Customers may expect real-time engagement and/or business success may demand it. Advantageously, the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable media may preferably put the "Action Screen" right next to (and/or physically, temporally, notionally and/or metaphorically nearby) the "Insight Screen". The system, method and/or computer readable media may preferably remove, reduce, alleviate and/or obviate costly cycles between understanding a business and driving it forward.

[0004] The expensive sophisticated database systems on the market today may not be available on a software as a service ("SaaS") basis. Prior art systems may not be easily adopted. The prior art may not support collaboration and/or strategy implementation. Unfortunately, prior art analytical and/or predictive capabilities may have required deep expertise in data manipulation programming which may have been beyond most potential users.

[0005] The Vantage system, method and/or computer readable media may preferably allow users to take action, preferably immediate action, via marketing automation tools and/or business apps. The Vantage system, method and/or computer readable media may preferably enable users to save time and/or money course-correcting with integrated campaign management and/or analysis. The Vantage system, method and/or computer readable media may preferably enable users to react at the pace of the market, and/or to become more successful by being an expert in their business, apart from any expertise which may have been heretofore required in data science.

[0006] The Vantage platform may preferably fills an important void after basic spreadsheet analysis and/or expensive, complex and/or installed data analysis software systems. The Vantage platform may preferably allow accessibility and/or democratization of data analytics. Democratize in this context may preferably mean to make something more broadly available to a wider range of people, and/or to make it possible for all people to understand. The Vantage platform may preferably allow accessibility and/or democratization of data analytics by integration of powerful services into a template-driven environment (such as, for example, ones based on hosted ecommerce solutions like Shopify).

[0007] The Vantage platform may preferably allow otherwise complex analysis and/or unattainably powerful analytics (normally reserved, for example, to large companies with sophisticated staff, large budgets, and/or powerful computer systems) to be accessed and/or leveraged by unsophisticated users.

Background of the Invention

[0008] The Vantage platform may preferably include, involve, utilize, and/or be associated with a freemium and/or self-serve model. Such freemium model may preferably work by granting free/unpaid access to a subset of the Vantage platform's features and/or functionality to a broad marketplace. When users seek features and/or functionality beyond that which is freely granted, they are able to "upgrade" to a premium account status at an appointed price, e.g., a monthly fee.

[0009] The Vantage platform may preferably collect data from many companies and/or creates a two-sided market (preferably enabling and/or facilitating premium services such as benchmarking against third parties and/or otherwise).

[0010] The Vantage platform's freemium and/or self-serve model may preferably position the company in a high value and high ease of use (and/or low complexity) quadrant, as shown in Figure 1.

[0011] In the above model of the marketplace, an attractive quadrant may preferably be the one in the top right (as indicated by the star). In this quadrant, a solution may be perceived as having a high value for money and/or a high ease of use.

[0012] Many prior art software solutions may be described neither as having high value for money nor as being easy to use. For a prior art comparison, see Figures 2 and 3.

[0013] Excel - Many managers at medium sized companies may use Excel for analysis. Excel may have many great features, but pivot tables may have their limits. Excel may be widely available, inexpensive, and/or easy to get started.

[0014] SAS - May offer a comprehensive set of advanced predictive analytics tools, but it may be targeted at data analysts. In most cases code may need to be written to use any of the SAS modules. It may be very expensive.

[0015] Custora - May include standard modules for analytics and/or dashboards but may include few advanced tools and/or ways to hook into other systems for taking action. [0016] RJ Metrics - May include reporting and/or dashboarding. May have many features but may not be self-service. May be associated with professional services to get started and/or make changes.

Prior Art Disadvantages

[0017] Prior art systems may have been dis-integrated and/or siloed environments that may not have been linked and/or may not have been capable of being easily linked.

[0018] Prior art systems may have involved siloed environments between data (analytics), interpretation, and/or marketing strategy planning. Prior art marketing automation systems may have created time delays in execution. As a result, marketing campaigns may have suffered from being "non-realtime", ineffective, and/or wasteful.

[0019] The prior art systems in the silos all may have required fairly sophisticated staff with fairly advanced data analytics skills, programming knowledge, large budgets, and/or powerful computer systems to run.

[0020] It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages and/or shortcomings associated with the prior art, to provide one of the aforementioned needs or advantages, and/or to achieve one or more of the aforementioned objects of the invention and/or to solve one or more of the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0021] Minimal education and/or skills may preferably be required to use the Vantage platform. The invention may preferably reduce, minimize, eliminate, alleviate and/or obviate any requirement for skills, education, and/or sophistication, preferably at least in part by affording users an ability to work with a single integrated tool. With use of the invention, there may preferably be reduced, minimal and/or no time gaps between disparate systems, and/or reduced, minimal and/or no data translation challenges, transformation requirements and/or interpretation issues which might otherwise trip up a user. Indeed, the invention may preferably enable a single, unsophisticated user to perform steps that may likely otherwise require multiple people holding various valuable, rare, and/or generally mutually exclusive skillsets.

Some of the Advantages of the Invention

[0022] Advantages of the present invention may include one or more of the following, among others:

a. Reduced time for implementation - preferably a single system; preferably no links required between systems.

b. Reduced costs for implementation - preferably one system and/or platform only.

c. Reduced personnel requirements for use - preferably one system; preferably not multiple hires.

d. More efficient translation of data into insight - preferably seamless conveyance of data, preferably without time delays and/or data drops.

e. Higher quality insights - preferably fewer errors; preferably enables more relevant and/or time sensitive insight.

f. Improved performance - preferably enables more relevant action, preferably because of better time sensitivity; system preferably delivers higher success rate, preferably if initial actions are more time-relevant, and/or preferably channel relevant (preferably due to Vantage system's auto-recommendations); preferably enables pricing, product, and/or marketing campaign optimization to take place in real time.

General Structure of the Invention

[0023] Figure 4 is a high-level architectural drawing of the invention. [0024] Integrated connections - These may preferably be pre-built connectors that may preferably pull data in from other systems. They may preferably be pull-based where some trigger in the Vantage system may preferably fetch data from an external system, and/or push based where the Vantage system may preferably listen for notification events from the other system.

[0025] Business Analytics Workbench - This may preferably be the user interface that may preferably expose some and/or all user-facing components of the system. It may preferably contain visualizations of data, insights and/or other outputs from the system. It may preferably allow a user to interact with the system, preferably to trigger actions and/or other outputs.

[0026] API - This may preferably be the integration layer that the workbench and/or partner applications may preferably use to communicate with (other) components of the Vantage system.

[0027] Predictive Analytics and/or Data Mining Components - These may be low level modules that may preferably perform the actual analysis. Some examples may include survival analysis, forecasting, decision trees, regression models, cluster models, and/or higher level components that may preferably incorporate one or more of these components into a functional group. An example of a higher level component may preferably be customer lifetime value.

[0028] Action Outputs - Preferably when a user and/or system trigger initiates action (for example starting an email campaign and/or a Facebook ad retargeting campaign), the Vantage system may preferably use these output components to actually perform the action. These may preferably be pre-built connectors similar to the ones on the left hand side of the above diagram, preferably except that in this case data may preferably be flowing out of the Vantage system. Some of the Operating Principles

[0029] Inputs may preferably be from a number of common cloud-based business services. Examples: Shopify API, Magento GO API, Big Commerce API.

[0030] Data may preferably be ingested (e.g., replicated into the Vantage system environment, preferably so it has a local copy for analysis), cleaned (e.g., to remove invalid and/or incorrect data, clip outlier values, standardize data, link different objects, and/or remove duplicate data), transformed and/or prioritized.

[0031] Data may preferably be visualized in an easy-to-consume and/or understandable format.

[0032] Insights may preferably be automatically drawn from newly ingested and/or translated data and/or from other data sets within the system.

[0033] Insights may preferably be pieces of information that may preferably be of value to the end user, but may be difficult to obtain without the assistance of an analytics package. They typically may include many different pieces of data, possibly transformed, aggregated, and/or manipulated, and/or they may generally relate some low level data to a higher level business metric. For example, the repeat customer rate for the past 30 days may require data about all transactions in the past 30 days, which customers made the purchase, and/or whether or not they had purchased before. Aggregating all this data into a single number, and/or showing how it changes over time, may preferably provide insight that the user may not otherwise have been easily accessible.

[0034] The data sets may preferably include, among other things, third party datasets in related and/or unrelated businesses, and/or publicly available datasets (such as, for example, gender coding by name, and/or mapping of IP addresses to geography), but there are many other possibilities. [0035] Preferably, comparisons may be made and/or benchmarks may be created. Comparisons and/or benchmarks may preferably be created, for example, by looking at how a particular user's data compares to aggregated data across many users. One possible example may preferably be comparing a particular merchant's repeat customer rate to that of other merchants in similar lines of business. A baseline could be created, and/or merchants could be informed whether they are above and/or below the baseline for businesses in their sector. Other comparisons and/or benchmarks may be created, for example, by looking at how a particular user's data compares to that same user's data at one or more other times.

[0036] Extrapolations and/or forecasts may preferably be performed, and/or analyses may preferably be conducted to allow the invention to assess the data and/or its impact. Impact may typically be financial. The forecast and/or analysis may preferably create a what-if scenario that may make certain assumptions, and/or may preferably provide a numeric output, preferably to allow the system to compare different possible scenarios. For example, assume a benchmark may tell a merchant that their average basket size may be well below that of other merchants in the same line of business. The system may preferably create a scenario where a campaign may preferably be sent out to users likely to respond, and/or offer an incentive for making larger purchases. Preferably assuming a certain response rate, the system may preferably then gauge the possible impact of the campaign as the potential revenue. Other possible campaigns may preferably be considered and/or the ones with the highest potential impact may preferably be presented to the user, preferably to take action on.

[0037] A "Circumstance" may preferably be created, preferably with and/or in view of the comparisons made, benchmarks created, extrapolations and/or forecasts performed, and/or analyses conducted. For example, the system may preferably compare the digested data of one store with similar stores to note that the "repeat customer rate" was below a norm. [0038] Possible actions and/or reactions may preferably be played and/or evaluated. The system may preferably look at each possible scenario and/or its potential impact to prioritize them. The possible actions and/or reactions may preferably be played and/or evaluated as potential strategies for dealing with the Circumstance. Scenarios may preferably be planned, preferably much the same as how impacts may be calculated. Scenario planning of the various options may preferably allow the invention to make recommendations, preferably without the input of the user. For example, the system may preferably run scenarios for "reconnection campaigns" to address the low repeat customer rate and/or, based on other campaigns previously tracked, select email as the most appropriate channel to attempt to increase the repeat customer rate, and/or using a subject line of "Long time no see!" It may fall within the scope of the invention for such a subject line to be automatically generated using linguistic algorithms, and/or automatically copy-pasted from one and/or more previous campaigns as is. Preferably, however, the Vantage system may choose from templates entered, and/or allow the user to choose from among them and/or to create their own.

[0039] The user may preferably be provided with an opportunity to shape, configure, customize and/or control the recommendations output by the system. The user may preferably have input into the process and/or may reject or revise one or more of the system's recommendation and/or need not accept the recommendation as-is. Preferably in this manner, the user may preferably shape the strategies for action, and/or receive an appropriate projection of the impact of one and/or more actions. This configuration of the recommendation may preferably enable or assist the user to alter the parameters of the recommendation. Some or all of the calculations that go into the impact of the action recommendation may be decided by the system, but may preferably be altered by the user. For example, the user may preferably decide to also offer a discount in the email, change the number of recipients for a campaign, change the size of the control group, and/or change the expected response rate, among other things.

[0040] The invention may preferably then allow a simple selection of one or more actions for implementation to then take place. For example, preferably a single click may allow the user to deploy the recommended email to the recommended list of past customers on the recommended date at the recommended time, with the recommended control group not receiving an email, but the list being automatically split into two target groups, each receiving a different percentage discount.

[0041] The invention then may preferably automatically optimize the campaign over time. The system may preferably monitor the performance of all actions taken within the system. Preferably from this monitoring, the system may form a baseline for an expected behaviour for each type of action. Future actions may preferably then be improved, preferably based on the learnings of previous campaigns, and/or current campaigns may preferably be adjusted in real time, preferably based on their performance against expected baselines. For example the system may preferably note that a 10% discount email performed only marginally better than an 8% discount, and automatically send the control group the smaller discount, saving margin, protecting revenues.

Alternate Embodiments of the Invention

[0042] According to the invention, the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable medium may additionally or instead focus on a solution for bricks and mortar businesses as opposed to e-commerce ones. Connectors may preferably be built into point of sale systems to extract data that may not be generally available otherwise. Some of the insights, recommendations and/or actions for bricks and mortar businesses may preferably be different than those provided in e-commerce applications, since in many cases bricks and mortar stores may not possess the same information about their customers that e-commerce retailers preferably do. For example, bricks and mortar businesses may be unlikely to have email addresses for customers. Some modules of the Vantage system may preferably be able to be used in both scenarios. For example, pricing recommendations may preferably apply to both online e-commerce and offline commerce. For merchants that sell both online and offline, such embodiments may preferably provide a comprehensive way to analyse all the data from their entire operation.

[0043] According to the invention, the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable medium may additionally or instead offer an installed software solution as opposed to a hosted (SaaS) solution. Providing an installed software package may preferably involve additional components for installation and/or updating of the on-premise software. Deploying the software on-premise may preferably mean it would have access to some private data not available to a cloud-based SaaS platform, though it may (but need not necessarily) also lose the ability to benchmark across multiple organizations. Most of the modules and/or components of the platform may preferably be used on-premise, preferably without modification.

[0044] According to the invention, the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable medium may additionally or instead involve custom installations as opposed to API integrations. The core pieces of the Vantage system may preferably remain the same. Integrations may preferably be to custom systems in addition to or instead of to standardized ones that are widely used. Custom installations may preferably allow the Vantage system to integrate with proprietary systems that may be built in-house. Custom installations may preferably, but need not necessarily, require and/or allow components of the Vantage system to be flexible enough to handle wider use-cases, and/or to be customized with each installation. [0045] According to the invention, the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable medium may additionally or instead make the software available in other mechanisms than through an app store. This aspect of the invention may preferably be deployed as a standalone system which may preferably allow users to self-register and/or upload their own data, rather than or in addition to installing Vantage system software into some existing platform. Users may preferably be responsible for providing their own data, and/or additional components may preferably allow users to map their data into a core Vantage system, and/or to identify potentially important fields like identifier columns and/or relationships between datasets.

Some of the Differences Over the Prior Art

[0046] The differences between the prior art and the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable medium may preferably include one or more of the following, among others:

a. One integrated solution

b. One user / manager

c. Low user sophistication requirements

d. No requirements to pass data between systems, translate it

e. No requirements for expensive systems to implement and/or manage the solution

f. No requirements for expensive, highly trained programming staff to operate g. No on-premise specialty software/hardware required

The advantageous utilities of the system, method and/or computer readable medium may preferably include one or more of the above, among others. Some of the Possible Applications for the Invention

[0047] The possible applications of the Vantage system, method and/or computer readable medium may preferably include one or more of the following, among others: e- commerce applications, non-ecommerce applications (e.g., general business analytics), online applications, offline applications (e.g., bricks and/or mortar), loyalty and/or rewards applications, and/or offer optimizing applications.

[0048] Some of the components for analytics may preferably be applicable to other possible business scenarios. For example, in the loyalty and/or rewards space, some of the components around forecasting and/or lifetime value may preferably be reusable, preferably with a modified currency of points in addition to or instead of dollars spent.

[0049] For example, the system and/or its visualization components may preferably be used to identify and/or flag for a business manager anomalies in attendance by employees, and/or patterns in missing inventory.

[0050] In the case of loyalty and/or rewards applications, the system may preferably enable identification of commonly paired basket items in an e-commerce setting and/or may preferably be used to project and/or recommend an appropriate reward and/or goal target for a customer. Similarly, an engine according to the invention may preferably gauge propensity to try and/or buy certain products and/or, in e-commerce, may preferably be applied to forecast uptake rates of possible discounts and/or offers in the coupon business.

[0051] In one or more of these cases, additional components and/or existing components and/or modules may preferably be repurposed for another of them. In other applications, further connectors for obtaining data may preferably be used to get data into the system. Some of the output connectors may preferably be able to be re-used for certain kinds of action. For example, if an email is to be sent out, the connectors that were built for marketing emails may preferably be repurposed to send out another kind of email through the same channel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES AND

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figures 1 to 4 are described hereinabove.

Figure 5 (Slide 1) Dashboard

[0052] According to the invention, metrics may preferably be filtered by category and by time period. The Vantage system may preferably provide business managers with key metrics to understand their business including such topics as customers, marketing and/or operations. The system may preferably calculates rates and/or many other statistics, preferably to produce relevant metrics.

Figure 6 (Slide 2) Drill Down

[0053] According to the invention, clicking on one or more metrics on the dashboard may preferably cause the system to display a drilldown view, preferably showing more detail ~ for example: a histogram showing distribution; a line chart showing history; and/or one or more tables showing detailed records. For the historical drilldown, the system may preferably display data for all time, zoom into specific time periods, and/or provide a sliding window, preferably so a user can view any time period.

Figure 7 (Slide 3) Explore - Choose Dataset

[0054] The system may preferably track multiple datasets, preferably containing records about different business objects. The system may preferably present a visual representation of the datasets— preferably containing, for example, basic information about each dataset and/or allowing the user to choose which dataset(s) to work with.

Figure 8 (Slide 4) Explore - Field List [0055] According to the invention, if the user chooses to zoom in on a data field, the system may preferably display further information, such as information about the field's characteristics, and/or a larger visualization of the field's data. When the user chooses to explore a data field further, the system may preferably present them with options such as how to explore, filter, and/or visualize the data. The system may preferably show a representation of each field in the dataset. This may preferably give the user more information such as the distribution of data within each field. This may preferably be a chart.

Figure 9 (Slide 5) Explore - Table View

[0056] According to the invention, the user may preferably choose to aggregate data by such characteristics as row, column and/or summarize data using average, sum, count, and/or unique count. According to the invention, as the user chooses which fields to explore, the system may preferably aggregate the data and/or display it as a table. According to the invention, the user may preferably also choose to filter the data being aggregated, by selecting a characteristic such as field, criteria, and/or value(s)

Figure 10 (Slide 6) Account Creation / Install 1

[0057] According to the invention, the system may preferably be very simple to implement from an app store. In this depicted example, a single click from the Shopify App Store, may preferably allow the user (e.g., a business manager with control of the store) to grant access to the store data to the Vantage system.

Figure 1 1 (Slide 7) Install 2

[0058] According to the invention, preferably when installing from an app store, the user / store manager may preferably simply need to know basic information such as the store name. If the user is logged in to Shopify, this step may preferably be skipped. Figure 12 (Slide 8) Install 3

[0059] The system may preferably request basic required information such as details regarding product, orders, and/or customers. In the depicted example, permissions may preferably bw managed by the app store (e.g., Shopify App Store).

Figure 13 (Slide 9) Dashboard

[0060] The system may preferably create alerts to highlight big changes and/or significant variation from benchmarks. The system may preferably provide business managers with key metrics to understand their business including such topics as customers, marketing and/or operations. The system may preferably perform trend analysis and/or forecasting on the data (and/or display it) to help the user understand how the business is faring. The system may preferably prioritize metrics (and/or allow the user to prioritize them as well). Then the system may preferably make recommendations of potential courses of action given the circumstances. The system may preferably recommend marketing campaigns through various media, customer relationship management actions, and/or price and/or product changes, and then may preferably offer integrated tools to implement. The system may preferably allow the user to monitor and/or optimize campaigns in real-time.

Figure 14 (Slide 10) Campaign Create

[0061] The invention may preferably then allow a simple selection of one or more actions for implementation to then take place. For example, a single click may preferably allow the user to deploy the recommended email to the recommended list of past customers on the recommended date at the recommended time, with the recommended control group not receiving an email, but the list being automatically split into two target groups, each receiving a different percentage discount. Figure 15 (Slide 1 1) Campaign Monitor

[0062] The system may preferably display a description of and/or a number of key metrics from the campaign-in-progress. Graphical visualization may preferably be an important part of that display. The system may preferably track the details of the campaign across multiple target groups

Figure 16 (Slide 12) Campaign Monitor 2

[0063] The system may preferably display a description of and/or a number of key metrics from the campaign-in-progress. The system may preferably track the details of the campaign across multiple target groups.

Conclusion

[0064] The foregoing description and the accompanying slides have been presented for the purpose of illustration and are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.

[0065] Naturally, in view of the teachings and disclosures herein, persons having ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that alternate designs and/or embodiments of the invention may be possible (e.g., with substitution of one or more components for others, with alternate configurations of components, etc). Although some of the components, relations, configurations and/or steps according to the invention are not specifically referenced in association with one another, they may be used, and/or adapted for use, in association therewith. All of the aforementioned, depicted and various structures, configurations, relationships, utilities and the like may be, but are not necessarily, incorporated into and/or achieved by the invention. Any one or more of the aforementioned structures, configurations, relationships, utilities and the like may be implemented in and/or by the invention, on their own, and/or without reference, regard or likewise implementation of any of the other aforementioned structures, configurations, relationships, utilities and the like, in various permutations and combinations, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, without departing from the pith, marrow, and spirit of the disclosed invention.

[0066] Other modifications and alterations may be used in the design, manufacture, and/or implementation of other embodiments according to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is limited only by the claims hereof and of any patent applications claiming priority herefrom.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An application platform embodied in a system, method, and/or computer readable medium, wherein the application platform is for collecting and/or analyzing data and forthwith acting in real-time on new insights arising from this collection and/or analysis, and/or wherein the application platform supports collaboration, strategy implementation and/or course-corrections with integrated campaign management and/or analysis, and/or wherein the application platform enables wide accessibility and/or democratization of data analytics, wherein the application platform comprises: a) an "Insight Screen";

b) an "Action Screen" physically and/or temporally nearby the "Insight Screen";

c) one or more marketing automation tools and/or business apps, which enable users to selectively take action, preferably immediate action, via the marketing automation tools and/or the business apps;

d) data is preferably collected many companies and/or a two-sided market is created, preferably enabling and/or facilitating premium services such as benchmarking against third parties and/or otherwise;

e) integration between data (analytics), interpretation, and/or marketing strategy planning, preferably with a minimum of training being required and/or without appreciable time delays in execution;

f) integrated connections, preferably pre-built connectors that may preferably pull data in from other systems, preferably pull-based where some trigger in the application platform preferably fetches data from an external system, and/or push based where the application platform preferably listens for notification events from the other system; g) a business analytics workbench, preferably a user interface that preferably exposes at least some user-facing components of the system, preferably containing visualizations of data, insights and/or other outputs from the system, and/or preferably allowing a user to interact with the system, preferably to trigger actions and/or other outputs;

h) an API, preferably an integration layer that the workbench and/or partner applications preferably use to communicate with (other) components of the application platform;

i) predictive analytics and/or data mining components, preferably low level modules that preferably perform the actual analysis (for example, survival analysis, forecasting, decision trees, regression models, cluster models, and/or higher level components that preferably incorporate one or more of these components into a functional group, e.g., customer lifetime value); and/or

j) action outputs, wherein preferably when a user and/or system trigger initiates action (for example starting an email campaign and/or a Facebook ad retargeting campaign), the application platform preferably uses these output components to actually perform the action, preferably using pre-built connectors whereby data preferably flows out of the application platform; and/or whereby:

k) a single, unsophisticated user is enabled to perform steps that otherwise would require multiple people holding various valuable, rare, and/or generally mutually exclusive skillsets; and/or

1) advantages of the present invention comprise: (1) reduced time for implementation - preferably a single system; preferably no links required between systems; (2) reduced costs for implementation - preferably one system and/or platform only; (3) reduced personnel requirements for use - preferably one system; preferably not multiple hires; (4) more efficient translation of data into insight - preferably seamless conveyance of data, preferably without time delays and/or data drops; (5) higher quality insights - preferably fewer errors; preferably enables more relevant and/or time sensitive insight; and/or (6) improved performance - preferably enables more relevant action, preferably because of better time sensitivity; platform preferably delivers higher success rate, preferably if initial actions are more time-relevant, and/or preferably channel relevant (preferably due to platform's auto-recommendations); preferably enables pricing, product, and/or marketing campaign optimization to take place in real time.

2. An application platform according to claim 1 adapted for use in a template-driven environment.

3. An application platform according to one of claims 1 and 2 which includes, involves, utilizes, and/or is associated with a freemium and/or self-serve model, preferably one which works by granting free/unpaid access to a subset of the platform's features and/or functionality to a broad marketplace and, when users seek features and/or functionality beyond that which is freely granted, they are able to "upgrade" to a premium account status at an appointed price, e.g., a monthly fee.

4. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein inputs may preferably be from a number of common cloud-based business services (e.g., Shopify API, Magento GO API, Big Commerce API).

5. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein data may preferably be ingested (e.g., replicated into the application platform environment, preferably so it has a local copy for analysis), cleaned (e.g., to remove invalid and/or incorrect data, clip outlier values, standardize data, link different objects, and/or remove duplicate data), transformed and/or prioritized.

6. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein data may preferably be visualized in an easy-to-consume and/or understandable format.

7. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein insights may preferably be automatically drawn from newly ingested and/or translated data and/or from other data sets within the system.

8. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein insights may preferably be pieces of information that may preferably be of value to the end user, but may be difficult to obtain without the assistance of an analytics package; typically including many different pieces of data, possibly transformed, aggregated, and/or manipulated, and/or generally relating some low level data to a higher level business metric (e.g., a repeat customer rate for the past 30 days may require data about all transactions in the past 30 days, which customers made the purchase, and/or whether or not they had purchased before, and/or aggregating all this data into a single number, and/or showing how it changes over time, preferably provides insight that the user may not otherwise have been easily accessible).

9. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein data sets preferably comprise: third party datasets in related and/or unrelated businesses, and/or publicly available datasets (such as, for example, gender coding by name, and/or mapping of IP addresses to geography).

10. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein comparisons are made and/or benchmarks are created, preferably for example: by looking at how a particular user's data compares to aggregated data across many users (e.g., comparing a particular merchant's repeat customer rate to that of other merchants in similar lines of business, such that a baseline is created, and/or merchants are informed whether they are above and/or below the baseline for businesses in their sector); and/or by looking at how a particular user's data compares to that same user's data at one or more other times.

1 1. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein extrapolations and/or forecasts are preferably performed, and/or analyses are conducted to allow the application platform to assess the data and/or its impact; impact preferably and/or typically is financial; wherein the forecast and/or analysis preferably creates a what-if scenario that makes certain assumptions, and/or preferably provides a numeric output, preferably to allow the system to compare different possible scenarios (e.g., assume a benchmark tells a merchant that their average basket size is well below that of other merchants in the same line of business, the application platform preferably creates a scenario where a campaign is preferably sent out to users likely to respond, and/or offer an incentive for making larger purchases and, preferably assuming a certain response rate, the application platform preferably then gauges the possible impact of the campaign as the potential revenue, and other possible campaigns are preferably considered and/or the ones with the highest potential impact preferably are presented to the user, preferably to take action on).

12. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 1 1 wherein a "Circumstance" preferably is created, preferably with and/or in view of the comparisons made, benchmarks created, extrapolations and/or forecasts performed, and/or analyses conducted (e.g., the system may preferably compare the digested data of one store with similar stores to note that the "repeat customer rate" was below a norm).

13. An application platform according to claim 12 wherein possible actions and/or reactions may preferably be played and/or evaluated, with the application platform preferably looking at each possible scenario and/or its potential impact to prioritize them; wherein the possible actions and/or reactions preferably are played and/or evaluated as potential strategies for dealing with the Circumstance; wherein scenarios are preferably planned, preferably much the same as how impacts are calculated; wherein scenario planning of the various options preferably allows the application platform to make recommendations, preferably without the input of the user;

14. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein the user is preferably provided with an opportunity to shape, configure, customize and/or control the recommendations output by the application platform; and/or wherein the user may preferably have input into the process and/or may reject or revise one or more of the application platform's recommendations and/or need not accept the recommendation as- is; preferably in this manner, the user preferably shapes the strategies for action, and/or receives an appropriate projection of the impact of one and/or more actions; and/or this configuration of the recommendations preferably enables or assists the user to alter the parameters of the recommendation.

15. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein a simple selection of one or more actions for implementation is enabled to take place; preferably for example, a single click enabling the user to deploy a recommended email to a recommended list of past customers on a recommended date at a recommended time, with a recommended control group not receiving an email, and with the list being automatically split into two target groups, each receiving a different percentage discount.

16. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 15 wherein the campaign is preferably automatically optimized over time; wherein the application platform preferably monitors performance of all actions taken within the application platform and, preferably from this monitoring, forms a baseline for an expected behaviour for each type of action, with future actions preferably then being improved, preferably based on learnings of previous campaigns, and/or current campaigns preferably adjusted in real time, preferably based on their performance against expected baselines.

17. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 16 additionally or instead offered as an installed software solution and/or as a hosted (SaaS) solution.

18. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 17 wherein users can self- register and/or upload their own data, rather than or in addition to installing application platform into some existing platform.

19. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 18 adapted for include one or more of the following applications: e-commerce applications, non-ecommerce applications (e.g., general business analytics), online applications, offline applications (e.g., bricks and/or mortar), loyalty and/or rewards applications, and/or offer optimizing applications.

20. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 19 further comprising visualization components which are preferably used to identify and/or flag for a business manager anomalies in attendance by employees, and/or patterns in missing inventory.

21. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 20 adapted for use in loyalty and/or rewards applications, wherein the application platform preferably enables identification of commonly paired basket items in an e-commerce setting and/or preferably is used to project and/or recommend an appropriate reward and/or goal target for a customer.

22. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 21 further comprising an engine which preferably gauges propensity to try and/or buy certain products and/or, in e- commerce, preferably forecasts uptake rates of possible discounts and/or offers in the coupon business.

23. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 22 wherein metrics may preferably be filtered by category and by time period, preferably providing metrics including such topics as customers, marketing and/or operations.

24. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 23 wherein clicking on one or more metrics on a dashboard preferably causes the application platform to display a drilldown view, preferably showing more detail ~ for example: a histogram showing distribution; a line chart showing history; and/or one or more tables showing detailed records

25. An application platform according to claim 24 wherein, for the historical drilldown, the application platform preferably displays data for all time, zooms into specific time periods, and/or provides a sliding window, preferably so a user can view any time period.

26. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 25 wherein multiple datasets are preferably tracked, preferably containing records about different business objects, with the application platform preferably presenting a visual representation of the datasets ~ preferably containing, for example, basic information about each dataset and/or allowing the user to choose which dataset(s) to work with.

27. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 26 wherein, when a user chooses to zoom in on a data field, the application platform preferably displays further information, such as information about the field's characteristics, and/or a larger visualization of the field's data; and/or wherein, when the user chooses to explore a data field further, the application platform preferably presents the user with options such as how to explore, filter, and/or visualize the data; and/or wherein the application platform preferably shows a representation of each field in the dataset, preferably giving the user more information such as the distribution of data within each field, preferably as a chart.

28. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 27 adapted to enable selective aggregation of data by such characteristics as row, column and/or summarize data using average, sum, count, and/or unique count; and/or wherein as a user chooses which fields to explore, the application platform preferably aggregates the data and/or displays it as a table; and/or wherein the user may preferably also choose to filter the data being aggregated, by selecting a characteristic such as field, criteria, and/or value(s).

29. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 28 wherein a single click from an app store preferably allows a user to grant access to the app store's data to the application platform.

30. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 29 wherein alerts are created to highlight big changes and/or significant variation from benchmarks.

31. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 30 wherein the application platform preferably provides key metrics to understand any particular business analyzed including such topics as customers, marketing and/or operations.

32. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 31 wherein trend analysis and/or forecasting is preferably performed on the data (and/or wherein such data is preferably displayed) to help the user understand how the analyzed business is faring.

33. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 32 wherein metrics are preferably automatically prioritized (and/or the user is allowed to prioritize them).

34. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 33 wherein recommendations of potential courses of action are preferably automatically made given the circumstances.

35. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 34 wherein the application platform preferably recommends marketing campaigns through various media, customer relationship management actions, and/or price and/or product changes, and then preferably offers integrated tools to implement; and/or wherein the application platform preferably allows the user to monitor and/or optimize campaigns in real-time.

36. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 35 wherein the application platform preferably allows a simple selection of one or more actions for implementation to take place.

37. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 36 wherein the application platform preferably displays a description of and/or a number of key metrics from the campaign-in-progress; and/or wherein graphical visualization are preferably displayed; and/or wherein the application platform preferably tracks details of the campaign across multiple target groups.

38. An application platform according to any one of claims 1 to 37 wherein the application platform preferably displays a description of and/or a number of key metrics from the campaign-in-progress; and/or wherein the application platform preferably tracks details of the campaign across multiple target groups.