We usually think that public personas are the only anonymous beings, but that’s not true. Anonymity is a condition within reach of very few people, at least in our society. From the time we’re born, we leave a personal trace, a thread by which it is possible to discover all the steps we have taken in our lives. We are listed in a civil registry; the school we went to maintains our academic records; our bank knows all of our financial movements; our insurance company knows what incidents have occurred in our home; the telephone company keeps a complete record of the phone calls we’ve made, when and to whom… If anyone wants to go unnoticed, they should have been born at another time.
All the information we leave behind us provides a complete x-ray of ourselves to those who know how to interpret it appropriately. That image goes beyond the simple luck of unrelated numbers, because it includes our personal tastes, hobbies, social and economic position, even a portrait of our family life.
The possibility of combining all that information offers multiple possibilities to the organization that has it. That is what the American Administration has contended. Among the strong security measures they implemented after the September 11, 2001 attacks, is the creating of an enormous database in which all the available information of its own citizens is combined. To what end? That of determining which individuals might be involved in activities that compromise the national security, so that the authorities can take preventative action, avoiding terrorist acts before they take place.
We are fierce guardians or our privacy, and with good reason. Because of this, the American initiative has raised many voices of protest for what could constitute a violation of some fundamental human rights, such as intimacy and honor. Without a doubt, the irresponsible and illegitimate use of our information is not justified. However, apart from its legality, it proves how valuable it can be to have a database in which all available information on a country’s citizens is registered.
If we can find out the circumstances of a specific individual, as well as their habitual behavior, and have that in a repository such as the aforementioned one, it will be possible to anticipate their future actions and predict what they will do at a specific moment. We will also be able to find out which people adapt to a specific behavioral pattern, and therefore know whether they fit into the social group we are interested in focusing special attention on. The possibility of reaching such a precise level is too attractive to not be considered. It is what the American authorities have done, albeit not with much luck.
Now, let’s suppose we’re not talking about the American Administration, but rather about a company, and that citizens of the American superpower are not that, but rather a company’s customers. In this case, think about the fact that you have the ability to organize a database of the aforementioned size and complexity. Can you imagine what possibilities a registry of such caliber would offer you? You could identify your customers down to the smallest detail; even discover if whether or not they are satisfied with the company, and if they are not, you could find out whether or not they are thinking of leaving the company.
You don’t have to be the American Administration or fight terrorism to have an in-depth level of customer knowledge, although only State machinery has the sufficient ability to possess information on all aspects of an individual’s life. The important thing for a company is to have the appropriate information, cross-reference it, analyze it, and interpret the results. Part of said information can be obtained from public databases and on specialized information panels, although an organization’s most important source is usually the company itself. With all of this, it can define itself and find the company’s most important element: the customer.
Companies receive enormous amounts of information through all shorts of channels in their daily activities. For example, a supermarket can see that it is functioning incorrectly through customer service. In this same way, it can figure out what time periods see the highest customer flow by looking at the cash registers, and it can determine what products are most likely to be put on sale because of available stock in the warehouse.
The information management problem comes not so much from the lack of information, but rather from other questions, such as: how to use that information, how to treat it as a whole, and how to make the most of it. What data should I pay the most attention to? How can I combine it in a single system in order to cross-reference it and establish links and relationships between it? How can I interpret something that complex, separating the accessory from the essential in order to reach the information that is truly strategic for my business?
However, it is possible to answer these questions, thanks to “customer intelligence”, a series of techniques that allow for strategic decision-making through an analysis of available information. Underlying these techniques is the most advanced technology (business intelligence, datamining, geographical information systems...) that, while highly complex, can be presented in the form of a scorecard or a customer intelligence portal, an interface from which to access the necessary information in a clear and concise manner, always based on reliable data.
It is difficult for a company to create a complete citizen database at a national level, as if it were a State. It wouldn’t even be an operative consideration. But it can concentrate on a database of its current and potential customers, in order to gear its strategies and actions toward them. The technology and methodology to do this is available. You have only to be aware that it is necessary.