Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Barack Obama revolutionized the art of campaign politics through his innovative use of the Internet, social media and data analytics to reach voters and harness volunteers in two successful presidential races in 2008 and 2012.

Fast forward to the 2016 election, and solution providers are bringing big data to candidates throughout the field of presidential hopefuls, combining analytics with a new class of technologies such as social listening and identity relationship resolution software to give candidates the edge they need to clinch victory.

So far, the 22 current and former 2016 candidates have spent $3.69 million with 67 solution providers through the end of January, according to a CRN analysis of campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Money that in previous campaign cycles went to a select group of political consultants is now finding its way into the pockets of solution providers offering cost-effective cloud computing services.

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