Rise Of Predictive Analytics Good For Marketers In The Bay Area
According to a recent news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation's largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment occurred in the San Francisco-Redwood City metropolitan division. Yet, despite another expected full year of local job growth, several industries are relying more heavily on predictive analytics to keep up with its competitors.
Designed to forecast which goods and services consumers are most likely to use, predictive analytics has been in use for some time. However, Doug Bewsher, CEO of San Francisco-based Leadspace, says this technology is so widely used today, the business world is entering into what he describes is a new era of prediction.
Still, as analytics continue to evolve, becoming more sophisticated than ever, Bewsher believes some marketers might be concerned that Google-like machines might eventually take over. On the contrary, he believes emerging marketing technologies are helping marketers operate more efficiently, by engaging consumers with their own personal tastes and preferences. As added proof, he quotes another high-profile tech leader who also shared the same opinion. In an interview with McKinsey and Company late last year, venture capitalist and Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman spoke about the notion of job displacement, stating "if you look at most of the automation, it comes down to man-machine combinations…in the future, adaptability is key, and people are more adaptable."
It hard to disagree with Bewsher on his concept of the era of prediction. As CMO of Skype, he helped grow the telecommunications company to 750 million users and a third of all international communications. Later, he stepped into a similar position with San Francisco's largest tech employer, Salesforce, named the world's most innovative company by Forbes for four consecutive years. Today, he leads the rapidly growing San Francisco tech company known as only end-to-end predictive analytics platform created for individual-level targeting for B2B marketing. In doing so, he's helping San Francisco become a global player in the marketing ecosystem, on par or even surpassing the influence of Madison Avenue.
Randy Yagi is a freelance writer covering all things San Francisco. In 2012, he was awarded a Media Fellowship from Stanford University. His work can be found on Examiner.com Examiner.com.
