Separating Better Data from Big Data: Where Analytics Is Headed - Knowledge@Wharton

Ten years ago, the most forward-thinking companies were just starting to dive into the potential of data and analytics. Since then, brands have moved from using analytics to answer what customers are doing to exploring the how and why, and also to figure out what they will do in the future. The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has seen every step of that evolution. Knowledge@Wharton recently sat down with Wharton marketing professors Eric Bradlow, Peter Fader and Raghuram Iyengar to discuss how the field has developed over time, and what they expect to be the key trends over the next decade. Bradlow and Fader are the founding directors of WCAI, and Bradlow and Iyengar are the current co-directors. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Knowledge@Wharton: When WCAI launched ten years ago, what was the environment like in the field of analytics? What were some of the initiative's key goals? Peter Fader: Even though the initiative started 10 years ago, the idea started about a decade before that.