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Leaders headed by Microsoft (NASDAQ MSFT), the world's biggest software company; Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), the No. 1 database developer, and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), the No. 2 computer maker, showed off new software and analysis tools to enable retailers to make more from the consumer dollar.

The company also said that using in-house software analysis permits retailers to forecast trends and have merchandise made quickly to capitalize on them. Its “birth of a trend” analytics has determined what it calls “steampunk,” or a science-fiction and fantasy mix based around gothic machinery and 19th-century geniuses like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells will be a big trend in 2013.

Big Data is forecast to drive $34 billion of IT spending in 2013 and create 4.4 million IT jobs by 2015, but it is currently still a solution looking for a problem, according to analyst firm Gartner.

While businesses are keen to start mining their data stores for useful insights, and many are already experimenting with technologies like Hadoop, the biggest challenge is working out what question you are trying to answer

The amount of data in our world has been exploding, and analyzing large data sets—so-called big data—will become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation, and consumer surplus, according to research by MGI and McKinsey's Business Technology Office.

For example, a retailer using big data to the full could increase its operating margin by more than 60 percent.

important factor of production, alongside labor and capital.

These are few of the benefits of implementing a good quality CRM All of your clients’ information is stored in one place, it’s easy to update and share with the whole team. Updates by colleagues should be saved immediately. Every member of your team will be able to see the exact point when your business last communicated with a client, and what the nature of that communication was. CRMs can give you instant metrics on various aspects of your business automatically.  Reports can be generated. These can also be used to forecast and plan for the future. You will be able to see the complete history of your company’s interaction with a client. Calendars and diaries can be integrated, relating important events or tasks with the relevant client.  Suitable times can be suggested to contact customers and set reminders.

Finding one system that will fit your needs in one package may not be possible, so be aware that you may need to customise it to fit into your company. There are infinite possibilities here so don’t get too carried away as costs will rise accordingly.

Ensure that the CRM works on mobile devices and can be accessed remotely. Employees aren’t necessarily sat at their desks when it needs to be used or updated. Real-time updates are necessary for ensuring that clients aren’t contacted twice with the exact same follow up.