This has long been a challenge, but because of the volume, variety and speed of electronic communication today, the challenge is now often much greater and can require even faster and more decisive action. But, how to be decisive in the face of a tidal wave of unstructured consumer communications? How to understand what people are really saying, what they are reacting to, what the problem really is, what the solutions are? The expectedly large and negative consumer reaction to new fees announced by large US banks in late 2011 is a case in point. Hundreds of thousands of accounts were lost in a few days—the equivalent of a year of losses under typical market conditions—by the time consumer sentiment was fully understood and corrective action could be taken.