by Angela Guess
Lee Gomes recently interviewed Peter Fader, co-director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. Fader worries that businesses are expecting too much of Big Data. Fader believes that the prevailing mentality when it comes to Big Data is “more is better.” He states, “If you can give me more data about a customer—if you can capture more aspects of their behavior, their connections with others, their interests, and so on—then I can pin down exactly what this person is all about. I can anticipate what they will buy, and when, and for how much, and through what channel.”
The problem with that way of thinking? Fader says, “It reminds me a lot of what was going on 15 years ago with CRM (customer relationship management). Back then, the idea was ‘Wow, we can start collecting all these different transactions and data, and then, boy, think of all the predictions we will be able to make.’ But ask anyone today what comes to mind when you say ‘CRM,’ and you’ll hear ‘frustration,’ ‘disaster,’ ‘expensive,’ and ‘out of control.’ It turned out to be a great big IT wild-goose chase. And I’m afraid we’re heading down the same road with Big Data.”
