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Theme that emerged in this week’s email is … as data gets easier to manage & value, use cases will expand into new areas.
QUOTES
“Companies that are data-driven stand to benefit as they can also use data evaluations to make more informed decisions and reduce default risks while identifying market opportunities.” – Ray Fernandez
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Final Thoughts (The Datapreneurs)
#1 – Ray Fernandez published in Entrepreneur Magazine Is Data Lending the New European Startup Financing Trend?. August 2023.
My Take: Data is a valuable asset. Companies are starting to find avenues to borrow against that asset. The value of data is only increasing, but placing a specific value on it is difficult. As a lender, it is one thing to get your arms around the meta-data (what is in this data?) and another thing to understand the value of the data & the value of that collateral if you are in a position where you come into possession of the asset.
#2 – Peter Ibarra published As DMPs Face Extinction, It’s Time for Marketers to Adapt to the New Advertising Landscape. August 2023.
My Take: This is from the perspective of the advertising market. Marketing is more science now than ever before. The author suggests advertisers build a foundation in first party data and then bolster that with alternative data sources. I am a believer that the future of advertising is in hyper-personalization and believe younger generations care far less about privacy than previous generations. This of course is not to say young people want to be doxxed or robbed, but they fully understand their information is out there & will be used for commercial purposes. In exchange they get free stuff (like access to social media platforms) & relevant advertisements. And I think young people are really savvy when it comes to seeing through the BS (discussion of this topic in this week’s highlighted podcast).
#3 – Dick Weisinger of Formtek published Unlocking the Power of Alternative Data. August 2023.
My Take: Bottom line is unlocking value from alternative types of data is hard. Tools are getting better and this will broaden use cases and increase the number of people that can engage with new types of data. Even though it is difficult, you should start working with data now & get good, because among a group of competitors, those that figure it out first will have a huge advantage.
BONUS: Liz Elfman’s A brief history of Snowflake. August 2023. “By offering a cloud-native, scalable, and easy-to-use data warehousing solution, Snowflake has democratized access to data analytics for businesses of all sizes. Newer features, like real-time data sharing and the ability to process diverse data types, have pushed the boundaries of what's possible in the realm of data analytics.”
BONUS 2: Bernard Marr’s The Important Differences Between Chief Data Officer And Chief AI Officer. August 2023. “The CDO ensures that the organization's data is a well-oiled machine, structured and compliant, while the CAIO drives the vehicle, harnessing AI's power to traverse the competitive business landscape.“
What else I am reading:
Handbook of Alternative Data in Finance, Volume I. July 2023. Highlighting this title, but still on my “to read” list.
Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. January 2019. Summer reading … big book, slowly making my way through it.
Matt Ober’s It’s Just Data. August 2023.
The Economist’s AI is setting off a great scramble for data. August 2023.
Source: Making your Marketing Work Harder with Data-driven Insights. Artisan Advisors interviewed Michael Fisher, President and CEO of Allant Group & Cynthia Rohde, Artisan’s Managing Director of Strategic Marketing. July 2023.
My Take: This interview is with two veteran marketers. The discussion is around the hyper-competitive community banking space & how data can help you compete. Bottom line, consumers today expect more. Data is more important now than ever before as it helps you understanding all of your customers … both the tech savvy & the non-tech savvy.
The relationship is still key, but the way customers expect to be related to is changing. Manage relationships from the beginning. This echoes my thoughts listed above about younger consumer expecting more savvy engagement and having refined “BS detectors”. Common mistake … offering me a HELOC when I already have a HELOC. Meet customers where they are … anticipate and offer the customer the right thing at the right time and you can demonstrate you know them and can talk to them in a way they prefer.
Data is the “jet fuel” for this type of marketing.
Highlights (43-minute run time):
Minute 01:30 – interview starts, where data meets marketing
Minute 02:45 – Mike begins discussion of CU landscape; why data important to compete
Minute 04:00 – Cynthia shares her view on the space; consumers have higher expectations today
Minute 10:00 – importance of using data to understand your customer and how marketing works
Minute 11:30 – how to use data to improve marketing outcomes
Minute 15:00 – “build it and they will come” no longer works … use data to understand how to engage your customers
Minute 16:30 – it all about the relationship … but the way to relate to your customer is changing
Minute 20:30 – using data to break down silos and align how you engage with customer
Minute 26:00 – how to communicate with customers in a way they prefer (measurable messaging pathways)
Minute 28:30 – where are we with predictive analytics?
Minute 31:00 – time to engagement (really good BS detectors) ... focused on authenticity
Minute 33:45 – how data supports strategic planning
Minute 38:15 – “The jet fuel is the data”
Source: Ben Zweig published The Unsung Heroes Fueling the AI Revolution. August 2023.
“Data entry (and labeling) is by far the most common skill the freelancers have and job type they fulfill. Data entry freelancers are the unsung heroes of the AI revolution, as these jobs are fundamental to generating training data for large machine learning models that big tech relies on.”
Really enjoyed Bob Muglia’s book The Datapreneurs: The Promise of AI and the Creators Building Our Future.
Bob Muglia has an impressive history of working in the data space (huge understatement). I found his historical perspective really helpful when thinking big picture. He does a great job articulating why things are important and what technologies might “win” in the long run.
Overview:
Part One: The Relational Revolution (great historical perspective)
Part Two: The Modern Data Stack (much talked about … I now have much better grasp)
Part Three: New Data Technologies (so many new companies building cool things that will allow more people to benefit form all the newly available data)
Part Four: A Model-Driven World (I think data owners will be very well positioned)
If you are a “data person”… this is a book worth reading!