Tom talked about competing on analytics. We have been collecting data for a long time, as Dave Weinberger pointed out. Now is the time to use it. Now the number one spending category on Gartner CIO spending surveys is business intelligence. Tom said we need future looking analytics, not simply reporting on the past. We want to known what will happen next and how can we optimize it. He offered Eric Peterson - see www.webanalyticsdemystified - is one smart person in this space.

Tom has found that some organizations are competing on their analytics. Amazon, Google, eBay, Netflix, Careerbuilder and Yahoo are some well known web ones. More traditional ones are Harrah’s, Marriott, Royal Bank of Canada, and Capital One. Harrah’s looked at customer analytics. If you get a great offer on a room that means that they learned you were a big loser at the tables. The stock went from $12 a share to $95 a share through their use of analytics. Beware here unless you want invest and not gamble. Marriott has been doing this all along, just getting better. You get a better price on the room if you have spent more on food and drink in the past. Gallo uses wine chemistry data to predict Robert Parker scores within a point. Now and not a Gallo drinker and I do not think that Robert parker points have much meaning, see Talking About Wine (& Complexity) – The New Yorker and Wine Tasting Exposed: How Our Expectations Rule our Senses. The Boston Red Sox are looking at new ways to measure the contribution of their players. Look at their results.

To be good at competing on analytics, you need good data, cover the enterprise, leadership to move on the analytics, have good targets to focus your analytic activity, and have professionals who can understand the data. What is next? One company does a voice analysis to see if you are really angry enough that they need to give you a real person. I think I may call them when I have to ask to speak to a real person multiple times, escalating the question until I finally get transferred. I will looking to try this strategy more. Tom said he would be blogging a bit about this conference at his Tom Davenport blog.