Madrid, Spain. Rafael Tamames (Founding Partner of Findasense)
More than $153 billion move in and around Big Data each year. Why is this trend becoming more and more successful?
That’s correct, and it is expected to generate some $260 billion by 2022. I don’t see it as a tendency, but rather as a reality, on the one hand, the success of the data lies in that through big data we can improve the entire value chain, including people’s experiences, if we use them effectively. On the other hand, because they become a commodity, a star product, necessary to access a much more agile, dynamic and effective decision-making process, that is to say, with smaller margin of error. Not only for trade and industry, but also for sectors like public administration and science.
In China, more than half of businesses use Big Data in order to make business decisions. What is this trend like in Europe?
There are two big factors that set us apart from China in regards to the implementation of data science. The first is political and legal in nature and the second is technological. The first is based on legal and ethical issues. There is a strong debate in the EU about the use of Big Data in decision-making, it has to do with our history and the institutional framework, which puts democracy and people’s freedom first. For this reason, I don’t think that we can compare ourselves with China or even with the United States in this regard. For this reason, its incorporation is slower. Debates over “citizen control’, regarding the use of data to control the pandemic, tracking applications, are a good example. You cannot compare an authoritarian regime with liberal European democracies. On the other hand, while the digital economy represents about 19% of Spain’s GDP in 2019, China already reached about 30%, according to a survey prepared by the Spanish Digital Economy Association (Asociación Española de Economía Digital – Adigital) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This is the other factor that needs to be weighed. We follow the same course of action, but to a lesser extent with digitalization of the incorporation of technologies that permit the exploitation or use of Big Data.
What is unique about how Findasense manages Big Data?
At Findasense we have developed Cognital, a technological platform with a base in Artificial Intelligence, for identifying patterns in consumer behavior, employees, suppliers, associates, etc. in high-consumption industrial sectors that serve to continuously improve the social and cognitive capital of the brands. The tool allows us to connect, transform, analyze and visualize an organization’s data via a single platform, generating a friendly and personalized environment. It’s goal is to centralize and optimize the analysis of the data, obtaining optimized insights for decision making, in a single business intelligence solution, tailored to the needs of each of our customers. This platform is capable of retrieving and connecting data from diverse sources. It connects all available data sources: RRSS, applications (Google, Microsoft, etc), CRM (Salesforce, SAP, etc), databases and local Data Warehouses or clouds (structured and not structured), files, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices that send data through an API.
In Data Experience, What are the most common errors committed by advertisers?
To think that data is a value in itself. And it is, as I said above an indispensable raw material but that only acquires value in its correct analysis and interpretation. This is not just a proper reading, they are data governance systems, the methodologies applied for consumer knowledge, and the continuous integration cycles that link them. Recently we won the DEC Selection prize, which is awarded by the Association for the Development of the Consumer Experience (DEC), by its own methodology that just allows to implement and operate a robust model of Customer Experience in any organization. This is an effective way to channel data into relevant experience, among other things.
When it comes to tendencies and conduct, nothing is black and white: there are many colors. How can we highlight those points in common in order to create successful tendencies or mass actions?
We are experts in customer experience and we have our own methodologies for consumer research, like One Research, that combines mixed study methodologies, from the classic ones, such as non-participation observation and in-depth interviews, with advanced social listening and data analysis tools. It may seem like a contradiction, but only if we have in-depth understanding of the consumer can we achieve successful mass actions.
What is the limit between approaching a client or invading their privacy?
This limit is set by people themselves, every day in a more decisive manner and with greater autonomy, options and decision-making capability. Let’s consider a platform like TikTok, that only works with organic content, with strong communication codes and user involvement, for now without a space for advertising. As users continue to evolve, migrate, and generate new spaces, marketing will continue to look for new territories to reach consumers, intervene, filter. It is no accident that today we are talking about brand activism or companies that take sides for social reasons, which is the same as saying cause marketing. It’s a consumer complaint and an industry proposition: you are a brand, you have power, use it to help people. The consumer will choose. If you become resolute, propositional and relevant you will not be invasive. If you simply shoot scheduled advertising without any meaning, you will be rejected or canceled.
What has the most influence on a purchase: experience or content? Why?
Today content is also an experience, I believe that we cannot separate one from the other. In reality, it would focus on the experience that this content is capable of generating. With the acceleration of digitalization it gains even more strength, with immersive experiences or the virtualization of many experiences that were previously face-to-face, let’s consider work, food, shopping, education… On the other hand, if the access to certain content, product or service implies a bad experience it does not matter how good it is, it will not be on the consumer’s radar.
What would you say to a large company that has tons of data that they don’t leverage?
That they gather that data, the sooner they start the better, but with solid legal, governance and methodological foundations so that they can really extract the value that lies in the data and make a difference for their business.