Insight. Applied.
Security expert Bruce Schneier believes that a game-theoretic assessment of whether to release the Trump dossier supports release—regardless of your political affiliation or whether you believe the contents.
That’s the thing with formal analysis—it clarifies the situation and, sometimes, results in a trivial decision-making process.
Learning Tree published my article on five machine learning books that are worth reading. They stretch from non-technical to university textbook.
The books are
The Economist’s Schumpeter column recently cautioned that
Research shows that firms ignore passionate consumers at their peril
These “superconsumers” represent 10% of all customers, but are responsible for 30-70% of sales, an even greater share of profits and almost all consumer insights. In addition, they influence their social circle with their unbridled enthusiasm.
The article offers advice to companies wishing to engage with their superconsumers. First, identify them through data analytics—they are easy to find. Second, reward them—e.g. through loyalty programs.
I’ve written previously about companies that focus on their best customers, as opposed to trying to appease unhappy ones. Superconsumer research seems to support such a strategy.
Confused by the rapid evolution of politics in the past year? Well, things might get even wilder if robots get to vote in 2030.
I’d comment, but, in 2030, when this post is dug out of the archives, I don’t want to be pilloried for any anti-machine bigotry. Such views could even be fatal by then.
Last week Italians voted “No” to constitutional reform. The Economist reports that
The 20-point margin of defeat—–60% to 40%—–was almost double what pollsters had foreseen.
Yet again, polling has failed. However, come the French and German elections next year who doubts that we’ll continue to celebrate or denounce each poll result with partisan fervor?
There’s a hunger for this kind of information and consumers will take something over nothing—even if that something isn’t telling them very much.
I recently wrote about how the Idiosyncratic Rater Effect renders a lot of human resource data next to useless—yet organizations continue to collect and act on it.
If we want things to change it seems we can’t just point out that the emperor has no clothes—we have to dress him.