As many know, I believe end-of-year predictions have zero value and I prefer to look at important trends that are already unfolding and will impact readers next year. The most important trend right now for people in the social media and gaming spaces, as well as almost anyone in the tech space, is the evolution of analytics. Thomas Davenport, author of the seminal work Competing on Analytics, recently wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review about Analytics 3.0. Just as Analytics 2.0 transformed the gaming space, allowing companies like Zynga, Playfish and Disney to leap over established competitors, Analytics 3.0 can reshape as dramatically the gaming ecosystem. Analytics 3.0 is a new resolve to apply powerful data gathering and analysis methods not just to a company’s operations but also to its offerings—to embed data smartness into the products, services and games that customers buy.
A brief history of analytics
To understand best the impact of Analytics 3.0, it is helpful to understand 1.0 and 2.0 and their impact. Analytics 1.0 ushered in an objective, deep understanding of important business phenomena and gave managers and leaders the fact-based comprehension to go beyond intuition when making decisions. Data about sales, customer interactions, production processes, etc., were recorded, aggregated and analyzed. For the first time, analytics were used to compete by creating greater efficiency: making better decisions on key issues to improve performance. Continue reading “Analytics 3.0”
The Business of Social Games and Casino 