As you’re reading this the chances are you have or will take the red pill.
The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. Taking the blue pill ends your relationship with the changing world. The red pill allows you to stay in Wonderland and see how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
The reference to the “The Matrix” reflects the decision millions of people make on a daily basis when “digitising” their life. The online world, after all, is a second life where there are no boundaries. A world in which you may behave differently to offline. You need to be more careful online though as actions become increasingly trackable and in the most part recorded for eternity. The decision to take the red pill should therefore be a conscious one.
This point is being made as a lot of people using online tools don’t realise what equations are being used to interpret behavioural data. Looking back at how Dunnhumby grew to its current strength, working with Tesco to form what we all know as the Tesco Clubcard, is a small form of this. Following the trial of Tesco Clubcard in 1994 the first response from Tesco's then-Chairman Lord MacLaurin was "What scares me about this is that you know more about my customers after three months than I know after 30 years."
Imagine the exabytes (equal to one quintillion bytes – that’s 19 digits) of data that currently aren’t being analysed to produce killer insight like the supermarkets weren’t doing prior to 1994. The potential that can be gained from this is nothing less than game changing. Taking the red pill now becomes more serious within life, as a lot like “The Matrix” once it’s taken there is no going back. Would you stop using Tesco Clubcard because you don’t like them knowing everything about you? It’s unlikely because you get benefits from this relationship.
As the internet becomes more entrenched within our lives, so too do business relationships with us (especially digital natives), and the data’s value increases exponentially. This is the reason why, when I was speaking to a Marketing Manager at a Business Intelligence Symposium last week, he made the statement that O2’s data is more valuable than their brand.
In a world where everyone has taken the red pill, entering a digital world, effective use of data can be pictured by imagining how online game achievement systems can be applied to the ”real world” e.g. recognising when somebody walks in to a shop and rewarding them for their visit. Welcome to the Matrix (skip to 21mins)
Categories:
Data
