Big Data

Sales and the ethics of

2013: the year of Big Data

►Bradley Manning came to trial having

made public “what the US ambassador

really thought”

● Problem 1: concentration of risk

● Problem 2: over-widespread access*

►Edward Snowden revealed PRISM

● Industrial scale data interception

● Spooks trying to keep us safe by reading

al-Qaeda’s email and probably others’

* Not all have access to everything but “Almost 5 million people have a U.S. security clearance; About 1.4 million of those lay claim to "top-secret" clearance.” USA Today 10 June 2013

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What is

Big Data?

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Definitions vary, but

► Most search engines don’t just search, they remember your

searches.

► e-commerce sites don’t just remember what you ordered, but

they watch how long you spend on the site, when you return

and more.

► Insurers are beginning to use Big Data; they decide whether

to insure you or not, not just on the basis of your proposal

form, but on what else they can find out about you.

► Job interviewers probably research candidates’ social media

footprint (NB this can be viewed as discriminatory).

► Weather forecasts will soon improve by using “OpenSignals”

atmospheric pressure data from our mobile phones.

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The potential for acquiring even bigger data is immense.

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Data used to look like this about 12 bytes/inch

Now they’re stored on these

1TB stored on paper tape would stretch to the moon and back

almost three times

The cost of storage is now so cheap, 3p buys enough capacity to store where someone has been and who they have called for a year, probably for a decade or more. In December 2013 disk storage cost under 3 pence/GByte on eBay.

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It’s intimate Many of us freely share details:

► Almost all the people we know.

► Who we speak to, when, and where we were at the time.

► Who emails us.

► How fast we accelerate when we drive our cars.

► What route we took to work.

► What temperature we keep our houses and offices.

► Which direction we’re facing.

► … where and when we spend cash.

We give this information away!

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You probably guessed the source! ► It combines your contacts from LinkedIn, Outlook and other sources

in a useful or spooky manner … depending on your perspective

► The most recent Galaxy S4 has the following

● Accelerometer

● Geomagnetic compass

● Geographic Positioning System

● Gyroscope

● Proximity sensor

● Barometer

● Hygrometer

● Ambient thermometer

● Light meter

● The S4 even knows when you are looking at it!

► Many of the apps we use on our smart phones require us to grant access to much of this data.

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Pervasive and persistent

“25% of smartphone owners

aged 18-44 say they can’t recall

the last time their smartphone

wasn’t next to them”

IDC and Facebook 2013

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More data from “the Internet of Things”

All sorts of things can now be connected to the internet: fridges, vacuum cleaners, central heating systems, burglar alarms, lighting, hi-fi, cars and more.

Some cars will already call the emergency services if you crash. Soon your car will contact your PA (a computer) to tell it that it needs servicing. Your PA will check for a day you’re working from home and book the car in for a service. The car will already have told the garage which parts need replacing.

By 2020 expect to hear someone in the pub on whatever comes after Facebook tell of their woes on the day their house crashed!

Coming next the human genome: your unique 3GB code is available for under $6,000 down from $95m in 2001!

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Even big business has been rattled by governmental activity… perhaps because some of their businesses depend on acquiring large volumes of data?

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With all this data, how far have we got in our quest for wisdom?

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This is what is available through analysing search histories using Google Trends:

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Some things are predictable

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December peak for champagne

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Interest in royalty

Press

report

Kate and

Wills split

Royal

Wedding

Birth of

Prince

George

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Saturday is Pizza night in the UK

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Taxes loom in January

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The economy

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But this peak is swine ‘flu

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Is validation the only problem with our use of Big Data?

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Sadly not, let’s look at an advertisers’ use of Big Data.

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How not to nurture a sale

► I visited a well known web retailer to find a

casual blue shirt.

► I found one, but I wasn’t quite sure.

►So I didn’t buy.

►This is what happened next…

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After a few days …

► I felt I was being stalked by a blue shirt.

► That blue shirt followed me everywhere.

► I got so fed up seeing the blue shirt I finally found a way to opt out.

Result:

► My perception of the retailer was damaged.

► I turned off the technology, so someone lost some revenue.

► All because the retailer had failed to consider the customer’s experience.

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It could have been worse

►What might a colleague have

thought if he looked over my

shoulder in the office and

ladies’ blouses seemed to be

on every screen?

►Obvious: I was looking to buy

my wife a blouse for her

birthday … or perhaps not!

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It’s not all bad news for the consumer, or for the retailer.

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The shirt

buyer fights

back:

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If you’ve got time to game the system

► First find what you want.

► Make sure you are registered with the retailer as a customer.

► Visit a competitor’s web site, then go to the retailer who stocks what you want. ● Click, pause, dither.

● Perhaps put the shirt in the basket.

● Pull out of the purchase.

► The reminder email will arrive.

► Visit again after a week or two.

► The special offer will arrive. ● BUY!

● Sale made! Blue end on end shirt, excellent

quality, thoroughly recommended!

Big Data

So what about the ethics of

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Some guiding principles for Big Data

► Just because the data suggest something ● Don’t follow blindly

● Try to obtain an independent validation

► Always remember the customer experience ● Reach out to the right people

● By all means remind them you are there … but sparingly

► … and handle the data responsibly ● Take your duty of care seriously

● Avoid excessive concentration of risk

● Avoid over-wide access to the data

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For more

sales and

marketing

insights: