Too much is never enough.

Data rocks. Yet our instinct says instinct rocks more. We’re at a cross-roads as our previous linear attempts to guide people into buying from us and liking us via CRM have led to some useful optimisation, but little innovation and little excitement. Why? Because people do not think in linear ways, while emotions, fantasies and peers guide our thinking.

So the presentation of data needs to reflect the connections between things rather than journey from A to B if we are to find insights we can use. This is obviously complicated. And hard to do. We are waiting for a data killer app that creates the connections between the effects of what we do and the causes of people’s thinking and behaviour. It needs to be visual, simple and appeal to our instincts. Otherwise, for many business people, ignorance is less hard work and consequently relatively bliss.