September 30, 2014 at 3:20 pm
I didn't really agree with this article because I felt it put too much emphasis on predictive or making decisions rather than mentioning data that represent results. What you have done versus what you're going to do.
For me, these are two separate things. Using data to show what you have done versus using data to help show what you are going to do could have two separate values. Therefore, when you're data is used to justify your entire existence as well your relationship to your customers such as a digital marketing agency, data is your gold. Whether or not the data is used to determine your next course of actions or to predict the next big boom is entirely a different beast all together.
But, that's just me.
September 30, 2014 at 3:37 pm
xsevensinzx (9/30/2014)
I didn't really agree with this article because I felt it put too much emphasis on predictive or making decisions rather than mentioning data that represent results.For me, making decisions based on data or making predictions on what the data is telling you right now versus showing what the data is done or the results are two separate things. Showing what we have done versus what we are going to do may entail two different values to a company.
In digital marketing, especially in an agency environment where reporting data on results is justification for your entire existence and relationship with your client. Therefore, it's not easy to say that data, regardless of the use in predictive analytics or decision making, is not like our oil when our business model needs it to thrive.
But, that's just me.
Extracting useful information from terrabytes of data could perhaps be compared to extracting gold from sand. It takes an exceptionally rich source of sand to begin with, plus people with know how, plus investment, plus hard work. Of course there have been many commercial failures and outright scams over the years resulting from the quest to get a return on investment on this type of thing; both data and sand.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 1, 2014 at 6:25 am
Eric M Russell (9/30/2014)
Extracting useful information from terrabytes of data could perhaps be compared to extracting gold from sand. It takes an exceptionally rich source of sand to begin with, plus people with know how, plus investment, plus hard work. Of course there have been many commercial failures and outright scams over the years resulting from the quest to get a return on investment on this type of thing; both data and sand.
Sure, I would agree with mostly with that because it would be the act of extracting data that relates to a conversion or lead to data that did not in my industry. But, having data that showed what did work and what didn't work is still based on results to justify what did work and did not work to the end user. The value I feel is increased when you can show both versus one or the other.
It's extremely more beneficial than say a retail store, which can likely only report on what is selling. They cannot easily extract data on how many times a particular product has been viewed, walked by or even picked up and put back down compared to an online store that pretty much tracks users on every page thanks to advance tagging systems from Google and more.
That said, I'm not trying to say that all data is the same and is worth a lot to however. It really depends on the use and everything it took to get to that use such as hardware, software, development and more. I've heard of companies that have drowned in technology trying to get bigger data or currently drowning to maintain it. Then the use is not really as beneficial as they initially thought it would be for predictive analysis and decision making. But, it just really depends on a number of other factors too, which make having the data so much more valuable for so many uses.
May 16, 2018 at 5:37 am
Its not just the data but how the data is used and the mathematical models they help to create. I suggest reading the book Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neal.
Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours (Richard Bach, Illusions)
May 16, 2018 at 8:28 am
I think of data not in terms of oil or soy beans (a commodity that is fixed and can be owned discretely) but rather in terms of water flowing down a river. The streams that feed the river can be owned and controlled by individuals, to one degree or another depending on the politics of the state. The river as a collective whole can then owned and leveraged by a public or private organization to do things like generate electric power or irrigate soy bean fields.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
May 16, 2018 at 9:29 am
Eric M Russell - Wednesday, May 16, 2018 8:28 AMI think of data not in terms of oil or soy beans (a commodity that is fixed and can be owned discretely) but rather in terms of water flowing down a river. The streams that feed the river can be owned and controlled by individuals, to one degree or another depending on the politics of the state. The river as a collective whole can then owned and leveraged by a public or private organization to do things like generate electric power or irrigate soy bean fields.
I like the analogy!
If you wait by the data river long enough you will see that pesky analyst you never liked floating past - not waving - but drowning.
You can't own it, you can only watch it as it flows past and wonder what all the ripples on the surface mean and guess where the valuable bits of data are swimming... like prize carp.
The problem with data is that the more questions you ask of it the more questions are raised.
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