The Internet of Experience

Somewhere between Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy Logic, Internet Of Things, and even Internet Of Real Things lies a long practiced Internet of Experience (IoE). It's tough to estimate its commercial potential, but its value can never be underestimated.

I had a firsthand feel of it recently when I bought a few books from a roadside peddler. Like most consumers, I wasn’t sure what I wanted, so I casually scanned a few titles. But my eyes kept hovering around a particular genre. If this was Amazon, it would have been quick to recommend a hundred popular tiles from the genre, but then I was at a seller with far lesser resources (and perhaps valuation!)

And suddenly pops our seller, who was until then silently perched on his wooden carton, behind the heap of Dan Browns and Chetan Bhagats. With a speed that might put Amazon app’s response to shame, he recommended a few titles I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. He had perhaps gauged, I might be open to experimenting, and offered a few that would surprise me. And he had followed me enough from the parking lot to his shed to know I might consider a children’s book for my three year old, who accompanied me. Of course, I wasn’t buying Archies comics that he recommended, but he wasn’t too far off either, considering he never read any of the books he sold.

With little data, processing power limited to his 1.4 kg brain, and analytics driven by his past experiences, this roadside vendor could predict with reasonable accuracy what might interest me. That’s the Internet of Experience! And it manifests itself in every small chore and activity we participate in. It’s not the most accurate, but can do (and is indeed used) for businesses that lack scale and resources.

 We all see it too often at work, and at home. How often do you hear a Sales Manager estimate a market’s potential with back-of-the-envelope calculations? Or a Business Leader take a bet on a product or segment with no precedence? Hey, my three year old knows when he’s due for a gift (or a rap for that matter)! It all stems from past conditioning … and some astute observations. My 2 cents on what they all do:

• Follow the subject long enough … some data is good enough in the absence of perfect and big data
• Connect the dots … it’s the Internet after all!
• What’s true in the past, would be true in the future … evolution is a slow process; my research team calls this kind of analytics / algorithms - ‘persistence’
• Pass a judgment … it will never be accurate always; that’s why you have probability!
• Roll it back in … right or wrong, it’s still another experience added to your database for better results next time

It’s not all art; there is some method to this madness. I am sure you have benefited from, or used the IoE for someone’s benefit. Would love to hear your experiences; it could enrich mine too. Share them here.

As for me, can’t wait to hear what the waiter next recommends I eat, given my shameful record at home of asking ‘aaj khaane mein kya hain?’

PS: Thoughts and experiences shared in this post are the author’s own, and do not represent the views of his employer.