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Till data do us part, technology innovation weds us, knowingly or not, to data-driven relationships that sit at the heart of engagement with virtually every company, governmental organisation and individual we interact with.
How Many Of Your Daily Life Experiences Are Data-Driven?
For those of you who don’t work directly in the Digital space; it’s worth keeping in mind that different dimensions of insight related to the content you surf, devices you use, products you purchase and the words you speak can literally form part of a data currency. A currency traded by thousands of advertising and marketing technology vendors globally. This is in their pursuit to help companies enrich their understanding of you in order to sell more products or services.
Think of all the digital channels you have access to; Web, Mobile Apps, Connected TV, Google Home, Alexa, Connected Cars and Connected Homes for example… they each capture different digital signals that represent different dimensions of your life and the way you live it. Now just imagine if a company is able to stitch together data insights from each of these channels used to connect and engage with their business… could this help them to have a better understanding of your current life stage, preferences, and purchase priorities?
Running The Risk
When data is used in an intelligent and meaningful way, it can enable us to have streamlined experiences with our favourite brands. However, on the flip-side, companies run the risk of frustrating us through a poor experience. Often this occurs through a lack of a comprehensive data strategy.
As they seek to embrace new technologies that enable more streamlined and personalised experiences; data usage will continue to remain at the forefront of how, when and if, you will be targeted or not. At minimum, it will be used to either exclude or include you from being targeted with a promotional message. The desire for most companies will be to personalise the end-2-end experience through intelligent use of data.
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) introduced in 2018, drives enforceable governance in relation to the use of our personal data. Consequently this shook up the digital industry and resulted in the weeding-out of many scrupulous players. I.e. Firms selling audience data without having captured explicit opt-in consent in the first place.
The Inadvertent Impact from GDPR
For all the good GDPR brings, it has inadvertently led to cumbersome web surfing experiences for us all. How many times a day you find yourself faced with a multitude of consent windows from different sites visited? Do you sometimes click the ‘Accept All’ button, instead of sifting through each option according to your actual preferences? In an ideal world, we’d be able to easily update our profile across the web. However, due to our siloed interactions with different services and businesses; they each have their own data eco systems established in a different way to store, audit, and process this information. Some will be in compliance with GDPR, whilst others may not.
For all the good GDPR brings, it has inadvertently led to cumbersome web surfing experiences for us all. How many times a day you find yourself faced with a multitude of consent windows from different sites visited?
Gopesh Raichura, smoothmind
Data-Driven Change
Consequently, many organisations undergo a Digital Transformation as they seek to become more relevant to their audiences. This typically sees a significant change on the dimensions of people, data and technology. To learn more on this topic, check-out our previous article ‘What is Digital Transformation‘.
