Data collection

Tracking items

Bar codes & RFIDs

inventory management

sales cycles

supply chain management

( excess inventory )

… tracking items

Tracking items

on-the-shelf

movement!

people!

Tracking eyes !

… tracking transactions

Grouping ( if you liked this …)

Promotions and advertising

target marketing

… it is all about RELEVANCE

Preferred customers

Your purchases and meta-data about purchasing are important

• Groceries

• Hotels

• Airlines

Hotels

“ a rush to accumulate data on as many guests as possible”

“hotels … are discovering that their databases are woefully inadequate”

Preference sensitivity – type of room, size of bed, allergies, food, drink

NYTimes, June 1 ‘04

airlines

Loyalty programs rate as one of most effective retention strategies

Frequency of travel, destinations, meal and seat preferences

Data allows customized promotions and targeted retention

( internal remarks on good / bad )

convenience

Useful to customers – expedites reservations, reduces frustration factor

Useful to business – increases customer satisfaction, comfort, confidence – critical to relationship building and branding

But at what cost?

How much data is collected?

Who owns the data?

How is it used?

Is it shared with partners?

What are the guidelines?

Privacy policies

Which on-line services do you use?

bank

travel

consumer goods

info sites – news

entertainment

Data gathering

What information did you provide?

name

address

phone

e-mail

personal data – mother’s maiden name!

initial preferences

With what security?

What do those sites do with the data?

authentication?

personalization?

share with partners?

advantages

Consider the example of a newspaper –

meta-data for on-line version

what are people reading?

how often?

customized versions (!) (common exp?)

disadvantages

Loss of social and cultural common experiences

Skewing of coverage

shift to the sensational – super bowl half time shows and related home videos

Orwellian monitoring of interests – forwards and backwards

Backwards?

Consider that the full transactional history of your transactions (sites visited, purchases made, e-mail viewed (when and where!) is available – thus can be selectively viewed

Extreme examples

Highway transgressions – stop signs, speeding, inspections

Pedestrian – jaywalking, smoking (!)

Cumulative effect

In a typical day

building entry and exit

highway / public transportation

public places ( as per England)

phone calls

credit and debit transactions

e-mail ex.

OK?

“it is necessary (for convenience, economy, security, etc.) and you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide”

“it is intrusive – such data was not previously collected … anonymity is lost, civil liberties are threatened, there is no proper framework for collection and use”