The Sustainable Network by Sarah Sorensen

Author:Sarah Sorensen
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: COMPUTERS / Internet / General
ISBN: 9780596807191
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Published: 2009-10-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24. Information Is King

women’s soccer champion

I am building a fire, and every day I train I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.

— Mia Hamm

In this digitized information age, every project, every product, and every service is an information-based business opportunity. Those with better information will be better prepared to compete. Those able to effectively leverage information will be able to create differentiated value. Those able to correlate and analyze the ever-increasing amount of digitized data will be able to improve their strategic decision making. Those able to manage the extremely rich dataset now available will reduce business volatility by improving their forecasting abilities and identifying predictive trends, and then acting quickly upon them.

Today, information can be both incredibly useful and overwhelming. Too much information (or as someone might text: TMI) can overload and fragment an unprepared operation. How do you weed out the noise? Where do you find the most pertinent information? How do you make sure information is serving to add, not be a detriment to, overall productivity? The term data mining comes to mind as the refined process of seeking patterns in mounds of information, but I like it more because of the image it brings to mind of men blackened by coal dust with helpful lamps attached to their safety helmets. Individuals and organizations that can mine the information and harness it to develop useful insights into opportunities and challenges will be better positioned to take advantage of all the Digital Information Age has to offer.

The network has brought a new level of transparency to almost every conceivable transaction because of the enormity of available digital data. For example, the ease with which customers can comparison shop means that organizations need to either compete on price or articulate and defend the value of their products and services. All within a few clicks of each other.

The same transparency exists in nonbusiness information—say, in government services, where any neighbor can now see and read your building permit without a trip to city hall. You can find out whether your neighbors contributed to a political party and how much they gave. Schools post tests, committees post their meeting minutes, and if you’re a fan of Facebook or other social networking sites, you know that everyone posts everything. If information is king, transparency is the queen.

In the new networked world, where literally billions have access to the information you make transparent, extensive data collection and data analysis can be used to create customer profiles, correlating like inclinations and pain points that can open up new avenues for targeted communications and greater segmentation. A familiar example can be found at Amazon.com. It uses the data it collects to create profiles that are used to upsell more items to the customer. For example, when you buy a book, Amazon’s automated profiles suggest additional books or movies purchased by other people who bought the same item you just chose. Buy a computer online, and you’ll have to click your way through every possible accessory made before submitting your final approval.

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