Call to Action 1: Use Data for Good
SXSW 2019 Special
Brands today have access to most of our information, meaning that they can create hyper customised and personalised experiences for their consumers. But as we’ve seen with GDPR, this also raises questions about who owns our data, and ultimately, all information about ourselves (including our DNA!).
Questions around data-driven marketing were omnipresent in this year’s SXSW keynote roster. It’s evident that the success of brands today depends largely on their ability to leverage data, but ever more important is whether they manage to do so conscientiously. The lines are ultra slim between convenience and control. When is data being stored to make our lives easier, and when is data used to predict our every move?
If you only read this:
Brands are hyper intelligent when it comes to stocking data, but if they are to gain customer loyalty then this data needs to applied more responsibly. The danger comes when we look to data to the exclusion of everything else, but we can also use data to help understand what our future could look like, and how we might help out fellow humans. Today’s million dollar question is no longer ‘what information do you have about me?’ — but rather ‘what will you do with what you know?’.
Famed couples therapist Esther Perel also spoke about the danger of companies continuing to use data to the extent currently we’re seeing. She spoke about this specifically in relation to workplace dynamics and culture. In her view, the way that companies are “worshipping the Data God,” is something that in no way will last. People at work want to be treated like human beings, and the importance of empathy comes strongly into play here. Genuine empathy is impossible to reproduce by collecting and connecting data.
So many people are saying they want to be treated as human beings. Never in the fifties did people want flexibility and places where they can attend to their emotional wellbeing and meditation rooms, a sense of fulfillment in the workplace — all of that stuff. We want to be humanized desperately at the very same time that we are creating a society that is way too often dehumanizing. And data is a part of that. (Esther Perel)
Privacy is dead
Futurist Amy Webb presented her 12th annual Tech Trends Report at SXSW (there are 315 trends across 26 industries!) Questioning data regulation and governance is one of the biggest societal tendencies right now. In the emerging tech report, Webb and her team present three scenarios — which fall into optimistic, neutral, or catastrophic — to help us confront deep uncertainty, start to address these questions, and help prepare ourselves for the future. Webb predicted the likelihood for the more catastrophic scenario at 40%, where data is mined and productized, and companies refuse to deal with regulators and protection.
Privacy is dead. Welcome to SXSW. (Amy Webb)
A pervasive trend outlined by Amy Webb is ‘bio-metric scanning,’ which along with the rise of wearables, most definitely paints a dystopian future where privacy is obsolete. Bio-metric scanning is the mining and refining of our biological data in real time, making it possible for systems to learn about us, respond to us, and/or report on us.
Kia Motors is using bio-metric scanning to prep for a future where vehicles drive themselves. Their R.E.A.D system (real-time emotion adaptive driving) is capable of detecting our emotional state while driving, and adapting the cabin accordingly (calming down road rage by blowing cold air, or playing your favourite tune).
In 2018, Walmart put in a patent application for a biometric shopping cart, measuring body data such as shopper’s heart rates and temperatures to understand stress levels. If a shopper shows signs of struggle, an employee would then be sent over for assistance.
Most people think of the future in a linear way, and this makes the catastrophic impact of data appear looming on the horizon. Fortunately, as also explained by Webb during her session, reality is multifaceted (and unpredictable), with influences from all directions. The critical point is to make connections: paying attention to trends that may be adjacent to the field a business is in. For example, big box grocery stores need to look to what’s happening in genome editing and 4D printing, as these are affecting where the global food supply is coming from and, ultimately, where and how people get their food. If we’re looking at using data in this way – to make connections across sectors – then we could foresee how this might help industries cooperate and learn from each other’s processes. We see this for example with hotels making it easier to find a place to stay when passengers are stranded due to bad weather, or grocery chains using big data to prevent the spread of food contamination. Ultimately, this could establish scenarios where data-driven marketing is used to do better, whilst still increasing revenue.
