| | NOVEMBER 20218CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONBy Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer, Engineering CapitalDATA IS THE NEW OIL ... AND THE NEW ASBESTOSJohn D. Rockefeller standardized kerosene oil as the default fuel for lighting and inadvertently hastened climate change. Oil was a powerful accelerant to the industrial age, and just like oil, data has accelerated information technology. Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok only work because of the vast troves of data they have collected. However, just like oil, data is dangerous, and can become toxic to the companies that collect them.Companies crave data because it is powerful. Enterprises can use data to build better customer relationships and improved financial performance. And it works! Organizations that master data, master their industries. For example:· In the 1990s, Harrah's Entertainment created WINet, an incentive program driven by customer data and behavioral insights. Revenues grew two to three times faster than the competition. Others invested in glitz and spectacle. Harrah's placed its bets on data and came out the winner.· In 2000, Blockbuster collected $800M in late fees, which was over 160 times Netflix's total revenues. However, Netflix embraced "big data" ­ tracking every click, every search and every view to create a powerful recommendation engine. Netflix makes it easy to find the perfect romcom for date-night at home. Or, if you prefer, you can watch "The Last Blockbuster" ­ coming to Netflix on March 15th.
< Page 7 | Page 9 >