He who has the gold or BITCOIN, makes the rules
Today’s re-post with a twist is written by Ivy Ray, Senior Procurement Specialist at SafeSourcing Inc.
Most people are familiar with the phrase, “He who has the gold, or BITCOIN today makes the rules”, believed to be coined by the writers of the comic strip “The Wizard of Id” originally published in “The Dallas Morning News” in 1964 and later became syndicated. The phrase has been commonly used in reference to oil, one of our most lucrative resources. Currently the oil of the digital era is data. Data rules the world and technology is changing our economies, societies and daily lives.
Our personal data is constantly being collected by retailers and service providers that we utilize every day. Initially this practice was designed as an effort to discover the customers’ likes, dislikes, preferences, needs, and goals and then use that information to shift gears to better meet their needs in the future. Also this assists the supplier in retaining customers by creating incentives for repeat purchases. Our data is valuable and we give it freely in exchange for access, or for discount offers and select promotions.
In some cases, it simply gets taken from us by use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software such as Facial Recognition Systems and Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA). Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google Assistant are at the forefront, so it’s no surprise that the current giants that “deal in data”, are Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. They are the five most valuable listed firms in the world. Amazon has been systematically collecting data from its customers since its inception as a book reseller in the mid ‘90s and now runs a cloud service and it’s the most powerful cloud service in North America. The global intelligent virtual assistants market size is expected to reach USD 25.63 billion by 2025.
Information from marketing campaigns, customer service inquiries, and purchase histories are encoded and used to run predictive analytics, and projections. The data utilized must be based on complete and correct data. If the data is not complete and correct then projections will have limited value. We all create and utilize data daily. Creating quality data the first time saves time and money in the long run.
Although data is an essential tool, it is only as valuable as its quality. Remember the garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) concept, the quality of output is determined by the quality of the input. As Albert Einstein once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business efforts, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.
We look forward to your comments.
