Alan Turing once said:
“A sonnet written by a machine is better appreciated by another machine.”
Why am I talking about machine and EQ? At Principa we are very interested in the relationship between machine and people and especially the translation of data.
But what qualifies me to talk about the EQ behind the IQ, is that I – like all of you – am a customer. A customer at the mercy of brands that either do or do not use data wisely, or display EQ.
Despite all advances in technology, some brands aren’t much help. The more technology and data we use, the further we seem to be pulling our people from our customers. I think a quote by E. O. Wilson is apt here.
“We are drowning in information, but starving for wisdom.”
So, what is my point? I see an opportunity here. An opportunity to bridge the gap between machine and the people who interact with them every day.
It’s called behavioural science: the next step in data science.
We know that data-driven decisions are good ones, the remove bias. But any time people are involved, results will never be 100% accurate, for e.g. when it comes to a number of statistical paradoxes we’ve written about before, like the Gambler’s paradox.
But actually, human behaviour is pretty predictable. If we gather enough information and find significant correlations, we can begin to predict how people will interact.
How?
- Understand your current data universe
- Think about human behaviour at key touchpoints
- Capture as much information as possible
- Look for patterns and correlations
- Experiment (deploy, test, refine)
But remember: in the age of machine, don’t underestimate the power and value of humans.
