Category Archives: Reality checks

June 9, 2015 · 10:16 am

Welcome To The Machine

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been? It’s alright we know where you’ve been.

You might think from Roger Waters‘ lyrics he was thinking about privacy. His take was on the recording industry but the song came to mind as I was thinking about robots. I’m hoping today to get you to ask yourself about them as well. Specifically, are you better than one, or at least the one that can replace you in the business world.

Before you laugh that off, consider a few things. We have cars that are driven by robots and they will absolutely do a better job than a human driver most of the time. Sure, there will be times when a road is temporarily closed and the mapping software will be lost. The car will need some immediate human input but that’s probably the exception. Most trips will be safer and less stressful.  Bots don’t get tired or distracted.  Can you say the same?

Bots can write and do so in a way that is pretty indistinguishable from humans writing the same stuff. Around 10% of Wikipedia articles were written BY ONE BOT. How many people do you know that are that prolific? You’ve read sports stories both on the web and in newspapers that were written by bots interpreting statistics to produce a game narrative.  Financial reporting is being done by bots too.  They do an excellent job of sticking to the facts, uninfluenced by some PR flack’s spin.  I’ll admit that I get weekly reports on Google Analytics that are written by a robot.  They’re not great but they do a good job of calling my attention to things that require further investigation.  I imagine they’ll continue to improve.  Much media selling is now done by robots and programmatic ad buying is forecast to have robust growth as more publishers, advertisers and agencies embrace programmatic technologies. As a result, Magna Global projected that the volume of transactions will grow to $17B by 2017 in the US, of which $10.5B will be RTB-based.  Those are lots of sales, sales support, and media buying jobs going away.

Am I bringing this up to depress you? Not at all.  We need to think about how we can do many things – still – that can’t be replace by a machine.  Nested phone menus for customer service are a form of automated response – do you know anyone who prefers that over talking to a human for service?  Bots are only as good as the algorithm that drives them.  While we’re heading to a world of artificial intelligence and algorithms that will self-improve, I suspect that we’re a long way off.  That said, we need to emphasize the human parts of every interaction.  A bot could present the facts of this post but I don’t think it can provide tone and nuance (or ramble quite as much).

So that’s the question for each of us, isn’t it?  Can we be replaced by a bot or are we adding things that are uniquely human to our business – and non-business – lives? What’s your answer?

Leave a comment

Filed under Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , ,

May 27, 2015 · 10:37 am

Working For Free

Given my topic this morning, this could be the shortest post ever. With respect to doing work for prospective clients or others without being compensated, it’s a one word proposition:

Don’t.

Let me explain, after my 7 years in consulting, why I feel this way. Yes, I do some pro bono work but that’s different. Helping out a charity or other worthy cause is different from helping a for-profit. Similarly, I try to be a resource for my friends, and have looked at many friends’ business plans, websites, social media plans, and analytics over the years with zero expectation of reciprocity (I know they will be there in a heartbeat if I need something).

What I’m talking about today is spec work. Obviously I realize you need to discuss the prospective client’s business issues with them ahead of time in order to figure out the scope of work. You might even want to begin to do a bit of a deep dive so you can pinpoint how best to move their business forward. That’s an exercise for ME, so I can establish a mutually beneficial working relationship and we (the client and I) make best use of the time they’re buying. Over time the focus of the work always changes as the business changes and grows, but you need to have a starting point.

That said, there is a difference between identifying the issues and opportunities and providing a roadmap to a solution. When clients demand lots and lots of spec work, I politely but firmly say “no.”  Much of why people hire me is for the expertise that comes from experience.  The strategic and tactical documents I give clients are roadmaps.  They probably believe they can find people with less experience and knowledge to follow that map.  They forget that the business road usually takes unanticipated turns after which it’s easy to become lost.  Who gets the blame?  The map maker (me!) so I’d like to be in the car with them to get them pointed back in the right direction.

A client paying for your advice is their skin in the game.  It also makes them pay attention.  I don’t like to spend my time providing guidance and observations that, ultimately, get ignored.  Inevitably the recipient makes the mistake(s) that I warned were going to be the outcome of their direction or decision. It is a waste of both of our time.

Your job is to remind them of the value (NOT the cost) of what you bring them and then to deliver.  The old saw about free advice usually being worth what you pay for it rings true to most clients.  To me as well.  You?

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, Helpful Hints, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 14, 2015 · 10:06 am

Data Collection Matters

There was a piece on MediaPost about how the broadband providers and their trade associations have gone to court to prevent the FCC from imposing some of the new rules on how those providers may behave. The specific ones upon which I’m focused today are the ones concerning privacy and data collection. The article explains the issue nicely:

They specifically complain that the FCC’s decision to treat broadband as a utility also empowers the agency to impose privacy rules that could curb its behavioral advertising efforts, which involve targeting ads to users based on the Web sites they visit.

“Today, broadband providers can lawfully use information about customers’ Internet access services and usage to develop customized marketing programs that benefit both the provider and its customers,” AT&T and the others say in their court papers.

On the surface, maybe they have a point.  After all, many of us prefer to see targeted ads and as someone who has made a living off of marketing programs I’m all for them.  There is, however, a broader issue and it’s one of which any business who collects data (that would probably be YOU, dear reader) needs to remain cognizant.

The amount of data your wireless and/or broadband provider has about you is staggering.  They know where you’ve been and when.  They know what you research and with whom you communicate.  This fabulous piece demonstrates what all of this data retention means.  Ad targeting is one very simple use, but what happens when some insurance company decides to work with a broadband provider to find speeders and raise their rates?

Honestly, I’d still be OK with all of it with a very big IF.  Ask yourself this: do you know what’s being collected and do you know how it’s being used?  I can can “yes” to the first question and a very big “no” to the second.  I’m not a tin-foil hat guy – I don’t think there are seriously nefarious things going on at the ISP’s involving data misuse (the government is another matter).  I do think, however, that data collection needs to be explained to consumers in simple language and with sample data.  I think we all need transparency and the ability to opt in, not the demand that we opt out.  Having some protections in place isn’t a bad thing.  After all, the brief history of the commercial internet is rife with bad actors (see ad injectors, malware distributors, browser hijackers, etc.) who will do just about anything to line their pockets.

How do you see it?

Leave a comment

Filed under digital media, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , , , ,