Case study: Big Data Gets Personal: Behavioral Targeting

1. Describe the kinds of data being analyzed by the companies in this case.

Data about e-book purchases and reading habits are being collected and potentially sold to book publishers. The data include whether a book is completed, if pages are skimmed or skipped, and which genres are most often finished.

Airlines are collecting all kinds of passenger data that can be consolidated to build comprehensive customer profiles. Cabin crews can then use the data to identify certain characteristics about on-board passengers and personalize the flying experience.

Car companies integrate databases and use complex algorithms to more closely match car lot inventory to buyer demand. Vehicle turnover rates improve and the price a consumer pays minus the manufacturer subsidy rise, increasing Ford Motor Company’s profits. Using vehicle Internet connections, the company intends to collect fuel economy data, mechanical failures, and other safety and performance metrics to improve product engineering. Ford estimates that by 2016 up to a third of all its consumer communications will occur inside vehicles.

2. How is this fine-grained data analysis improving operations and decision making in the companies described in this case? What business strategies are being supported?

E-book data: The idea is that writers can use it to better tailor their work to their readership and book editors can use it to choose which manuscripts to publish. Business strategy supported—focus on market niche, product differentiation.

Airlines: the data collected can enhance the passenger experience, improve customer service and fashion relevant marketing pitches. Business strategy supported—product differentiation, customer intimacy.

Car companies: which cars to build, which features to include or enhance, which cars sell better than others in different parts of the country. Business strategy supported—customer and supplier intimacies, product differentiation, focus on market niche.

3. Are there any disadvantages to mining customer data? Explain your answer.

Organizations can mine excessively information on clients to the point of annoying clients and turn them into the organization. Clients have complained that organizations are gathering excessively information and coordinating it from an excessive number of sources. Organizations guard their utilization of statistic information and information not secured under their protection approaches.

Indeed, even clients who acknowledge the certainty of profiling are miffed when they get inadmissible offers in view of defective individual data. Most clients need a line attracted between information accumulation to encourage valuable offers and information gathering that is excessively intrusive. A few airlines have diminished their utilization of information gathered; they keep on collecting it in any case. None of the aircraft enable clients to quit their information programs.

4. How do you feel about airlines mining your in-flight data? Is this any different from companies mining your credit card purchases or Web surfing?

I feel insure whenever airlines mining in my in-flight data. I feel like no freedom or nor privacy but they have to do this due to security reasons