Infomania — Big Data Bites
The world population as of July, 2015 was estimated at 7.3 billion, and the UN estimates it will increase to 11.2 billion in the year 2100. The number of mobile devices and connections, that are only a recent advent compared to humans on the planet, has grown to 7.4 billion in 2014 and the estimate is for it to increase to 11.5 billion by 2019 (Cisco VNI, 2015). What is even more staggering is that 75% of all digital data today is created by consumers.
The world today is a very different place compared to a decade ago in terms of how information flows around. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that all information is available in some form or the other and access to this information is a combined output of one’s skill and need. This changes the equation for companies and leaders, in terms of who knows them, what they know and what can be inferred by “putting 2 & 2 together”.
There are no secrets, no information is secure. Recently many people in India and across the globe joined Mark Zuckerberg who changed his profile picture on Facebook to support ‘Digital India’. Within a few hours, another story that started trending on social media was how the change of profile picture was linked to Facebook’s own Internet.org strategy (now known as Free Basics). This whole story finally ended with a formal clarification from Facebook denying the connection, explaining a coding mistake and changing the code to eliminate any confusion.
This is a good example to illustrate the current challenge faced by global organisations, wherein information tends to flow freely beyond stable corporate boundaries and is accessible to anyone with an interest. Today’s consumers don’t just have access to Wikipedia but also WikiLeaks, so it is important that companies consider the entire stakeholder footprint while devising and executing any strategy.
The impact of feedback loop in the information age is beyond imagination. Online reviews, ratings on internet sites have gained more prominence than ever before in today’s info age. TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc. are default lookups for anyone planning holidays and product reviews online have become pivotal to sales figures on eBay, Amazon, etc.
A boutique hotel in Hudson River valley, built in 1830, was very popular for weddings and parties due to its location and architecture. The hotel management had one issue — that some of the guests who were part of the wedding party posted bad reviews online, primarily on Yelp. So the hotel management came up with this idea — the wedding party would have to pay a deposit, and if anyone from the group posted a bad review it would cost the wedding party $500.
This idea would have been fine in the era when the hotel was originally built, but in current times, it resulted in people flocking to the Union Street Guest House’s Yelp page and submitting numerous bad reviews. Most of them were fake, and perhaps by people who had never been to the hotel or even visited New York, but the damage was done. The management later responded with some clarification messages and also removed the section about the $500 fine from the hotel’s website.
This example re-emphasises the point that the world has truly become a global digital village and how there is a tectonic power shift towards technology-empowered stakeholders. Gone are the days when “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. It is therefore important that organisations rethink their current strategies to meet the demands of the modern times.
Some suggested considerations for an effective strategy for leaders and organisations in dealing with the challenges of the current info age,
1. Leaders will have to work harder to turn the talk into action and truly align the corporation, its employees and stakeholders around a shared vision
2. Social media presence for an organisation is no more an option as one has to be present in order to see what’s happening and to know how to respond
3. Focus must shift towards expanding the organisation’s feedback loop to be meaningful across the entire stakeholder footprint not just limiting to shareholders, as increasingly employees and consumers will act as the leading indicators of business performance
4. Reputation management will need to be prioritised and this may mean having relevant reputational dashboards to monitor, measure and improve