Postado originalmente no Linkedin por Clive Humby OBE
You can’t seem to pick up a business journal now without AI, Machine Learning and Big Data being shouted about as the new revolution. It’s over 12 years since I coined the phrase “Data is the new oil”; at the time I was trying to make the case the data would be the fuel of the next revolution but like oil it had to be refined and processed to make new products and gain real insights. I still believe this analogy holds true.
This was easy to say at the time, the team around Edwina and I at dunnhumby were radically changing Tesco, Kroger and other global retailers but they all shared a key characteristic; the data was rich, customers visited often and the products they choose to buy really told a story about them, their family and their attitudes to food, promotions and brands.
Since then, everyone has been getting in on the act and talking about how AI and Big data can revolutionise businesses; but I think a word of caution is needed. The words associated all tend to hyperbole. We have “hyper-personalisation”, what ever that may be? We have “personalised pricing”… which may actually be illegal! We have unique store ranging… which is a supply chain managers nightmare. Sure, all these ideas are in theory possible with clever algorithms, targeting and AI but let’s be honest few companies have the right data to make it work.
