CIOs and Predictive Technologies

We have witnessed the use of predictive technologies in areas such as the study of weather patterns, traffic movement, stock markets and also to keep a tab on terrorist activity. But as far as marketing is concerned, there seems to be a dilating craving for it, which CIOs need to address, reports Clint Boulton of CIO Journal.

Orbitz, a travel software company, is the pioneer in the use of such techniques as they turn to predictive analytics software to woo Mac users with offers that ‘they can’t refuse.’ With the aid of such technologies, Orbitz discovered that users of Apple’s Mac shelled out 30 percent more per night on hotels than PC users. This enabled them to present the Mac users with more expensive and precise travel options that cater according to the needs of the distinguished class.

But this is not the first time Orbitz has benefitted on account of such trends. Previously, it capitalized on Hadoop and MapReduce to proliferate a 2.6 percent increase in visits to the booking path apart from the two million daily site visitors which resulted in an additional 50,000 transactions.

But inspite of the visible success, only a handful of companies like Glit Groupe and Target are inclined on using such technologies in order to boost sales and increase their marketing reach as the majority of the CIOs are still lured toward trends such as ‘Big Data.’

So, the big question is what exactly can be hindering the companies from the adoption of such technologies?

One of the possible explanations is the ‘ick factor’ associated with predictive technologies that can earn a bad rapport with consumers. A quintessential example of this can be elucidated below:

In an article published in New York Times story portrayed the plight of a man who paid a visit to a Target store to inquire about a coupon mailer that his daughter received on advertising of maternity clothing and nursery furniture. The father, fortunately or unfortunately, found out later that his daughter was pregnant. Target, on the other hand, reached this assumption, based on the girl’s purchasing patterns.

Gartner analyst Merv Adrian, who is a firm advocator of predictive software, pitches, “Everybody is freaked out to the degree to which these technologies intervene in our lives in one way or another,” Adrian said. “But everybody wants to target better. As more and more commerce moves online, these are new prospecting mechanisms for a new age. The more efficient we get, the more targeted we get, the better we do. If you’re not in this game today, you better get in it now because your competitor will be soon.”

So, who’s ready to play the guessing game?