The importance of data based decision making (part 3)

(continued from previous post - last part)

Question 6 - How does eBay compare with other industries in terms of data and analytics adoption/usage?

The tech industry in general had the advantage of having data available from day 1, so it’s normal to position eBay at the forefront in terms of awareness of what data can do.

We started very recently publishing studies on the searches that are performed on eBay and it's fascinating how many things we learn about our customers. It’s not just a matter of technical capabilities of course, it’s also, and more importantly, a matter of people and culture. Embracing data in all aspects of decision making requires a lot of discipline, especially when it means losing some of the control people are used to have.

Think about marketing. It used to be a profession for creative people, with great ideas a there used to be no direct measure to quantify how good or a bad a marketing campaign was in the print and tv era (there were market researches of course, but that was based on statistical sampling which carried some uncertainty). Today however, marketing is a science, you need people with PhD in computer programming, data science, math to create behavioural models, master pay-per-click advertising mediums, programmatically search for the best impression to bid on… the whole jargon has changed and so have the people doing this job.

It is not a change to fight, it’s too late for that, it is a change to embrace.

Question 7 - What advice would you give to a company or decision maker that is willing to embark on the journey of making his or her company data centric?

Go all-in and don't be afraid.

On top of my eBay job I also have external engagements with accelerators and incubators (Truestart and Dreamstake) where I coach startup founders on how to embed data and analytics in decision making from the start. 

One of these startups, Shopstation, asked me to become co-founder and advisor on data matters. The founder has realised what are the advantages of having a data strategy from the beginning are, and we already changed a lot of what he originally had in mind but he was glad to make these changes as they were results of analyses which he could understand and believe in. It’s not my opinion against his, with data we look at things using a common language so there’s no friction in the discussion. Shopstation is a great platform to allow everyone to create an commerce website and drive traffic to it in a fully automated way. This is the edge, we base everything on modelling and machine learning, from understanding the product our customer is selling, to understanding the customer that might be interested in buying this product, to optimising marketing and advertising on the channels and media where these customers can be found.

Without data this could not be possible and Shopstation has decided to have a data person as co-founder, a clear message to how important this person would be in a company.

In the case of more mature companies and enterprises, the person in charge of data and analytics should be in the C-level suite, supporting departments and the CEO in having full understanding of the financial, business and customer implications of the decisions they make.

This is what I mean when I say go all-in: don’t leave data confined in the basement, in the IT department or scattered around the organisation. The data stewart has to be elevated and empowered to be relevant and contribute to every aspect of the business.

I hope you found this transcript useful, please let me know your comments!