What’s happening: the economy and analytics

Since every news site and blog I look at seems to be focused on the economy, I felt it only appropriate that I change it up a bit from my usual analytics rants and write a post that looks at the recent financial concerns.

First, if you’re not an NPR listener or just want a better understanding of what’s currently happening in the economy, I would recommend listening to the following programs from This American Life:

• Giant Pool of Money
• Another Frightening Show About the Economy

“Giant Pool of Money” gives an excellent overview of the subprime mortgage crisis - how it happened and how it affects everyone in the mortgage credit chain - from home buyer to Wall Street. “Another Frightening Show About the Economy” is a follow up to that program that aired this past weekend.  It gives the best explanation I’ve heard (and the easiest to understand) of our current economic mess - what has economists so scared and how the $700 billion bailout is expected to help. Both are highly recommended.

Second, I’ve seen a few articles talking about how the decrease in consumer spending is going to have a ripple effect throughout the analytics industry. Just yesterday, Omniture stock took a hit after it was downgraded due to changes in the economy. Monday also saw a huge sell-off on retail stocks due to concerns with the market - an indication that online retail may be in for tough times. While both of these are certainly trends that we at Istobe are concerned about, I can’t help but be optimistic about the future of predictive analytics going forward. Just as the dot com bust helped companies rethink their online presence - resulting in better experience and overall value for the consumer, I think our current economic woes will only help businesses refocus on how to better and more accurately target customers. Predictive analytics is the key to that, and I firmly believe that companies like Istobe will be at the forefront of reshaping the consumer experience again in the near future.

And lastly, lest you think that all recent news is bad news, I am happy to report that the Red Sox moved on to the ALCS last night.  Go Sox!

Tags: economy, Predictive Analytics

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 8:47 am and is filed under Economic Downturn, Predictive Analytics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.