Humans like to count. We like to quantify. And where we can, draw out patterns that might help us make better decisions: how to market our services; how to improve our products; where to find the next opportunity.
We aren’t always good at it, drawing inaccurate conclusions and correlations from our data. And what we choose to measure isn’t always meaningful or helpful — the proclivity to obsess over vanity metrics speaks to that.
But the more we count, the more interesting it gets, the more potential connection we see, and the better our decisions become. Especially with the help of emerging technology far better suited to the world of large numbers and pattern recognition than our human brains.
And the number and type of data points are exploding. The number of IoT devices globally is estimated to be ~26bn and set to rise to ~75bn by 2025, measuring everything from steps, heart rate, facial expressions, internet usage, movement, shopping habits, mood, driving behaviour, food consumption, media preference, and a whole host of things we haven’t yet conceived of.
The opportunity here for organisations is self-evident — the chance to design products, create services, craft experiences and speak to customers in unprecedentedly sophisticated and effective ways. But only for organisations who prepare for this inevitability.
What data would be a game changer for your organisation?
What would technology have to look like for that to happen?
What is a realistic time horizon for that?
How ready is your organisation to respond to this opportunity?
What would the implications be if your competition were action on that data and you weren’t?
The simultaneous challenge for organisations will be to use this insight in a way that is transparent, fair and ethical in a world where their competition might not be. To think deeply about their relationship with customers and to be very clear on what constitutes manipulation that crosses a line and what is just good marketing. There will, of course, be regulation, but if the recent past has taught us anything, it’s that the pace of technology usually far outstrips our ability to effectively police it.
The responsibly will be ours.