Consumer Intelligence at the Partners Conference

Teradata CTO Stephen Brobst and his MicroStrategy counterpart, Jeff Bedell, held a panel at the Teradata Partners conference 2011 last week, debating the implications of consumer intelligence – the equivalent of business intelligence at the hands of the customer.

Teradata CTO Stephen Brobst and his MicroStrategy counterpart, Jeff Bedell, held a panel at the Teradata Partners conference 2011 last week, debating the implications of consumer intelligence – the equivalent of business intelligence at the hands of the customer.

This is partly the result of an emerging breed of consumers that is up to using data to make better personal decisions, partly linked to the ever-faster spreading of mobile devices. Stephen cited a Gartner study saying that a third of BI will be used on mobile devices in 2013 – and said that he expected this number to be twice as high, two thirds.

There is little reason why the development of consumer intelligence should lag far behind. So it is time to ask, “what are the criteria upon which our customers will judge us, and which data should we provide them to support their decision?”

Stephen and Jeff gave two examples: first, a maternity ward could be actively avoided by mothers if its performance is not beyond doubt. This could actually lead to a closure, brought about by market forces. Second, airlines compete both over price and service. Information on the price is easily available but, in the future, so might be the frequency of delays on a certain route. In fact, Jeff said that he checked this before he came to San Diego, finding that the cheapest airline had a track record of one in four flights delayed.

Those criteria can be based on big data as much as on traditional data but in both cases the objective must be the same: turning them into new competitive advantages by sharing them with potential customers.