In 2014, sports analytics was a $125 million market. By 2021, its value is expected to balloon to $4.7 billion. But this market wasn’t always so lucrative or widely accepted. Back in 2002, the Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane earned a trip to the Major League Baseball playoffs despite having a payroll of just over $40 million — $80 million less than major market teams like the New York Yankees. The key to the A’s success? Not just their scouts’ intuition, but sabermetric principles and rigorous – though at the time, overlooked – statistical analysis. “Moneyball” changed the way front offices across the sports world conducted business. From baseball to hockey and football to basketball, general managers are increasingly relying on analytics to make smarter decisions when scouting, drafting and trading players. They are now using data to build the very best possible teams. But a team’s success depends on more than compiling a roster of skilled players, it requires putting the best combination of talent into the game – and that means keeping players healthy. In an industry fixated on numbers, biometric measurements and workload metrics can offer just as much insight as the box score. At least that’s what companies like Kitman Labs and founder Stephen Smith believe. Building on his experience as a strength & conditioning coach for Leinster Rugby and a thesis on injury risk, Stephen created Kitman Labs’ Profiler tool in 2012 to highlight, manage and reduce the risk of injury in professional athletes. He believes analytics can be used to not only draft the best players, but maximize that investment by keeping them healthy. At Experian, we’re fascinated by the idea of using data to manage risks and maximize investments – in sports, but more importantly, in business. As a company, we are intimately familiar with the many ways Big Data is being used to solve strategic marketing and risk-management problems through an advanced data analysis process, research and development. Thereby, helping us utilize data as a force for good. In fact, every day, we are compiling, analyzing and transforming massive amounts of information into actionable insights. Whether those insights can help consumers secure an affordable loan, understand their credit score, or protect their identity; or for a business to manage risk, help prevent fraudulent transactions, and to ensure they are marketing their products and services to the right consumers at the right time and across the right channels. So we took a moment to sit down with Stephen and Kitman Labs to hear more about their work, compare the worlds of sports and business, share insights and examine what the future might have in store for both industries. Here are the highlights and takeaways from our conversation: What’s your mission at Kitman Labs? Our mission, quite simply, is to create competitive advantages through technology and analytics. We sell to professional and college sports organizations. Our clients are some of the most elite in sports. Our goal is to use our sports science backgrounds to help them win. As you may know, the movement to use analytics in sports has been enormous over the past 15 years, especially with data related things like Moneyball and statistical analysis. Our work is in this tradition, but a lot more components go into it. Risk management is a key focus for us at Experian, would this be an example of such a component? Yes. Risk management is exactly what we do in the world of sports. Our platform is designed to identify injury risks and help players stay on the field. Because anyone who follows sports will tell you injuries are an enormous problem. Every single year, teams lose player performances and huge amounts of money because of injuries. If there was a company out there that could help solve this issue, in a quantifiable way – that would be huge. We believe that’s what we’re building here. So how does it work? There are a number of different components. We have a screening tool that we use to run diagnostic tests on athletes as frequently as possible. That goes into our database system, called Profiler. We’ve taken our years of sports science and engineering experience to develop a system that pulls together all data points tracked by a team to objectively inform us of all stressors placed on athletes and how they are responding to these stressors. Using this information we can identify when certain players are at a higher risk of injury. As far as we’re concerned, this is the next frontier in sports analytics – this is the vanguard of sports technology helping teams to win. Is there one sport in particular that you’ve seen this take off in? As far as the United States goes, we are talking to teams in every sport, and have worked with such a wide variety of data and analyze it all uniquely. Our system can analyze enormous datasets in real time and process this information to find the slightest important variation outside the realm of normality, that coaches just do not have time to find themselves. But this isn’t a problem confined to sports. We’re solving a human problem. We’re in the business of human optimization and we are committed to delving into the minute details to help revolutionize the way this industry looks at these issues. At Experian we’re seeing first-hand the many ways data and insights can solve real life challenges for businesses and people alike. How are you seeing the data that you’re collecting transform your industry, with relation to sports science and sports medicine? Essentially, we’re turning that data into actionable insights that can be used every day. We’re giving the practitioners that work with these teams, the ability to make better, more informed, data-driven decisions to help improve the welfare of their teams, and ultimately, their performance. So what we’re doing in sports right now is no different than the majority of Big Data companies like Experian * * * We, of course, wholeheartedly agreed with Stephen’s final point. The cutting-edge work being done at Kitman Labs is exactly in line with what we’re doing at Experian. Today, we are turning data into actionable insights to help consumers, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, automotive companies, retailers and governmental organizations make more informed and effective decisions. For example, our DataLabs team provides a safe and secure environment to partner with our clients to enable breakthrough data experimentation and innovation. In our labs, we're able to combine Experian's data assets with those of our clients to present a larger picture and to experiment with new and innovative ways of analyzing that data to deliver greater competitive advantages. Just like Kitman Labs is using analytics to help sports teams make better decisions to manage risks around training, improve player and team performance and extend careers, Experian is using Big Data for good to help individual consumers and businesses make informed decisions, grow the economy and improve society.

Our world today runs on data. It's changing the way we browse the Internet, run our businesses, treat medical patients and invest in technology. It's the key to solving society's biggest problems: famine, disease, poverty and ineffective education. And it is powering the global economy. But the data-driven economy is at a crossroads. With the eruption of information, we also open ourselves up to new risks and privacy concerns. As companies adopt more interconnected products and systems, the "Internet of Things" could usher in the next wave of challenges that range from data breaches to other potential privacy concerns if information is used improperly. As a society, we must decide whether to champion the explosion of connected information or allow its detractors to significantly constrain the innovation and growth ahead. Since 2007, data-related products and services have generated about 30% of real personal consumption growth, second only to healthcare goods and services, according to a 2014 report from the Progressive Policy Institute. The mobile app industry alone accounted for more than 750,000 jobs in 2013-jobs that didn't exist a decade ago. Meanwhile, the explosion of the Internet of Things promises to mine our households' daily or minute-by-minute behaviors to save money and improve lifestyles. Soon it is very likely that our personal genomic information will be used to clinically treat our current ailments and prevent the next ones. And of course, the financial industry is using big data to help consumers secure more affordable loans, improve their credit scores, protect their identities, ward off fraudulent transactions and ensure that they are marketing products and services to the right customers at the right time and across the right channels. Companies need to be able to sift through large amounts of data, find patterns and distill the key takeaways in order to make better decisions, improve our society and in turn, drive our economy forward. But with all the headline news surrounding fraud and data privacy, consumer confidence may be shaken. Over the last year and half, cyberattacks on corporations have become more common. Many consumers have fallen victim to the loss of personal identifiable information in many forms. These events have had a tremendous impact on the way consumers and companies think about data and the future of data. These are very real concerns, and they should be at the center of every discussion we have about the future of the data-driven economy. However, as challenging as these times may be, we cannot let these events dissuade us from realizing the full potential of data to help us do really good things for society as whole. Fortunately, today's corporate leaders have an opportunity to proactively head off consumers' uncertainty and fears about big data and keep the data economy open and healthy. But doing so will require businesses to operate differently than they have in the past. Companies need to operate on bedrock information values-values that dictate and ensure mandatory training for all employees, strict compliance rules and regulations, dedicated compliance officers and data governance experts and ongoing improvements to keep security and ethics at a company's core. These philosophies should be so central to a company that they find their way into key business processes, and touch every single employee and every aspect of operations. It's up to the business sector to earn the trust of consumers and lawmakers and create the legislative and regulatory conditions that allow the data-driven economy to thrive. And it's up to the people and companies that work with big data every day to advance how data can be used for good. In the late fifth century, the emerging medical profession reached a point where it needed unifying principles to guide the actions of physicians across many countries and many time periods. Now data-driven industries also need a way to ensure they advance data for societal good even at expense of profit optimization. We can do this by establishing common goals that give data professionals core values to adhere to, irrespective of their location and their individual companies' own culture and standards. The data economy has both incredible opportunity for growth and a real danger of stagnation. Only by committing to the responsible use of data can we transform our economy and the ways we operate within it. Originally Published: American Banker

Today’s data-driven world creates exciting new opportunities, but also new challenges. Many of us see the promise of being able to make more intelligent decisions by fully understanding our customers and the needs of the marketplace. There are data scientists that can do incredible analysis to give us new insights into areas we didn’t think were possible. We have more data than ever before and it is only increasing in volume. According to a recent Experian Data Quality study of CIOs, more than half believe the volume of data their organizations need to manage will increase in the next 12-18 months. Data volumes are expected to increase by an average of 33 percent. All this is changing the way that we operate and how we do business. However, most of us are not fully exploiting the data assets we have available to us today. A large problem with data management strategies today is that most organizations are not managing the data process centrally. Sixty-eight percent of the CIOs we surveyed think it is difficult to find stakeholders who take anything other than a siloed view of data management. In addition, 70 percent of CIOs believe it is difficult to make decisions because no one in their organization is taking full ownership of the data. For many organizations, the responsibility of data is falling to individual departments or the CIO. In the last 12 months, more than half of the CIOs we talked to have become increasingly responsible for data management, and an equal amount have felt increased pressure to provide data to the business faster. While the data management roles certainly need to become more centralized, the challenge is that the CIO is already stretched thin. Data management cannot be just another responsibility added on to their workload if at all possible. To combat this issue, a solution some companies are starting to explore is the hiring of a chief data officer (CDO). The CDO is becoming more common in highly regulated industries and is serving as the individual in charge of the data and information strategy, governance, control, policy development and effective exploitation. The CDO role is as much about advocacy as anything else. Part of the problem with many data governance or data strategies today is that they change the status quo for employees. Process changes are forced into place without the employee understanding why this is better for them. Consequently, employees find workarounds to get back to the way they were doing things. It’s important to note that the CDO is not a data ‘cop.’ They are an evangelist for data in the business, pointing out its benefits and how it provides insight. They are a guardian for data quality, making sure information is trusted. In addition, the CDO is responsible for managing large data management programs involving multiple stakeholders around the business, creating consistency. This role will only get more common in the years ahead. Gartner predicts that 50 percent of all companies in regulated industries will have a CDO by 2017. I think that is certainly true, and could even accelerate if data continues to evolve at its current pace. Data needs an owner and someone to take responsibility for its management and usage. A CDO is a great role to consider when evaluating the people needed to maintain an aggressive data strategy. To learn more about this top, be sure to read our new report The Chief Data Officer: Bridging the gap between data and decision-making.  

This guest post from Erin Lowry. Erin is the founder of Broke Millennial, where her sarcastic sense of humor entertains and educates her peers about finances. Erin lives and works in New York City, so she’s developed quite the knack for finding deals and free events. If we looked at current generations in a family structure, Baby Boomers are mom and dad, the Greatest Generation are grandma and grandpa, Generation X are the older siblings and Millennials are those overindulged younger siblings that always got later curfews and more relaxed rules. For that reason, there is a natural, friendly, sibling-type rivalry between Generation X and Millennials. And this week, millennials came out the victors because Generation X failed to school its younger sibling when it came to average debt load. Millennials are Growing Into the Credit Industry Generation X shouldn’t be completely ridiculed for carrying an average $185 more in debt than it’s obnoxious younger sibling (this is debt is excluding mortgages). Millennials may be drowning in student loan debt, but they’ve also had less time to get into credit card trouble, take out personal loans for life milestones that needed funding or get auto loans. In fact, the CARD Act stopped many of the younger millennials from even obtaining a credit card in college to do serious financial damage in the first place. Doesn’t the younger sibling always have it easier? Consequently, the CARD Act does make it a bit harder for a college graduate with no credit history to get a credit card (thank goodness for those secured cards). But there is one place millennials are significantly outshining Generation X and that’s credit card balances. Millennials carry an average $3,403 balance while Generation X deals with $6,752 – the highest of all four generations. Another possible reason millennials haven’t done quite as much damage to their debt burden is simply a lack of resources. Generation Xers likely has significantly higher credit limits. Not only do they probably have a higher paying job, but Generation X has been in the credit game longer and would naturally have earned higher credit limits. After all, even with millennials having an average 50% lower credit card balance, they still are 43% utilized (use of total available credit limit) while Generation X is only 41% utilized. Tsk, tsk to both generations on that one. Shoot for 30% utilization or less. The high utilization could help explain millennials’ 625 average credit score – or a mixture of irresponsible repayments or lack of history and diversity of credit could be anchoring the number. Why a High Credit Score is Important It’s time for millennials to grow up, take charge and be building their credit scores in order to make the rest of their lives more affordable. The higher the credit score, the more access you have to top-notch financial products. For instance, a 625 credit score would receive a significantly higher interest rate on an auto-loan than a 750 credit score. And millennials are currently seeking auto loans with 14% of all recently opened accounts on credit reports being for the purchase of a car. This compares to just 1% of Generation X at the same age in 1998. Next up will be a mortgage, and where just half a percent difference on a loan could mean spending tens-of-thousands more across 30 years. It’s key to get that credit score into the high 700s (or even 800+) to have access to the prime rates. Millennials Aren’t Just Less Trusting – They Prefer to be Alternative Yes, millennials watched the economy collapse as the older part of the generation was entering college or the workforce. Yes, plenty of millennials saw their parents lose retirement funds or college savings or their homes to the Great Recession. Yes, it has inherently made millennials less trusting of big banking and investing – but that’s not really the reason millennials are seeking alternative financial options. Hipsters certainly aren’t an exclusively a millennial trend, but the mentality of wanting something outside of the mainstream does appeal to the generation. Perhaps growing up in an age of social media overexposure coupled with being taught they’re special from a young age created a craving to be unique – even in financial decisions. Plus, the digital natives are comfortable with the idea of online bank, sourcing loans by clicking a few buttons online and uploading oodles of personal information without speaking with a human being. These factors have created a perfect storm for millennials to turn their backs on the world of big banking and instead use startups, apps, Internet-only banks and whatever new, eclectic, mobile-friendly option exists. Banks like Ally, Simple and Moven quickly get millennial attention while student loan refinance and personal loan options like SoFi, Earnest and Upstart are specifically designed to appeal to the 20 to young 30-something demographic. Millennials are the aging into the housing market, dealing with student loan debt, planning weddings*, having babies and looking for the best way to borrow money, refinance existing debt or getting a personal loan. Lenders would do well to remember these customers want digital access, easy-to-use apps, friendly customer service and instant access. *Ideally you do this without incurring any debt, but let’s be realistic about what happens…

Experian Marketing Services unveiled a new, more predictive and addressable Experian Marketing Suite for nearly 1,000 marketers at its 2015 Client Summit in Las Vegas, today. The advancements released today include new addressable advertising and predictive intelligence tools both powered by Experian’s consumer database, the largest consumer database worldwide, with modeled insights covering 700 million individuals in 270 households. Both enhancements will help brands identify and interact with their customers no matter where they are in the world or in the cloud. “At Experian, everything begins and ends with the customer — and we know the customer better than anyone else,” said Matt Seeley, president, Experian Marketing Services. “As a global data powerhouse and a leader in developing innovative, market-moving technology with a fierce commitment to service, Experian is committed to helping our clients take the guesswork out of their customer interactions. This next phase for Experian Marketing Suite is about making it possible for brands to match their customers’ pace of innovation so they can be relevant today and stay relevant in the future.” For the debut, brands like Publishers Clearing House spoke on the need for clear customer communication. “Publishers Clearing House is a company committed to the customer experience, but keeping up with the customer is becoming more difficult and complex,” said Jason John, chief marketing officer, Publishers Clearing House Digital. “We needed a partner that shares our commitment to the customer and can help us understand who they are, and how to reach them as they switch devices, networks, and channels. We found that in Experian. As we look at this changing, always-connected customer, we can understand their preferences, predict what they want next and how to make that meaningful, every time.” Two new enhancements to Experian Marketing Suite Real-time, predictive intelligence and automated analytics The new predictive functionality released today in Experian Marketing Suite integrates real-time identity and intelligence data to create predictive insights that help brands optimize campaign performance. Within Experian Marketing Suite, marketers can compare email subject lines, send times and channels from all their historical email campaigns, across customer segments, and use that data to predict the performance of future cross-channel campaigns. It then layers those predictive insights with rich customer, demographic, audience and behavioral data to understand how content performs in the context of a brand’s audience segments. Specifically, brands can use this functionality to: Generate and identify predictive insights that inspire their customers to take action Pinpoint messages and content that are the most relevant and will drive the most engagement across a brand’s audiences Understand what is relevant for their customers when they are researching or exploring and when they are transacting or looking for a discount Predict the performance of campaigns and commerce Leverage real-time intelligence to power campaign strategies across channels and deliver intelligent interactions, on any device For example, a retailer could use the predictive tool to determine which subject lines and product offers perform the best among their top customer segments during back-to-school season based on years of historical campaign data. Cross-channel audience activation Advertisers, marketers and agencies now can turn to Experian Marketing Suite to help activate their data-driven marketing strategies. Marketers can execute true one-to-one advertising campaigns across multiple channels, including online and mobile display, video, TV and direct mail. The new addressable advertising functionality first finds an advertiser’s best audience based on first-party Customer Relationship Management data, Experian data or a combination of the two. Then, through a network of direct media publisher partners and onboarding capabilities, Experian® helps advertisers find and target this exact audience across multiple channels. Unlike other addressable advertising providers, Experian Marketing Suite: Supports single campaigns to provide advertisers with the flexibility to test and learn. Provides advertisers with insights on who saw an ad, how often they saw it, and how it drove their in-store and online activities. Does not rely solely on third-party cookies. Instead, the suite leverages one of the industry’s largest networks of publishers and media/adtech partners, giving brands the flexibility to use it in conjunction with their existing Software-as-a-Service provider. “Experian has the most accurate consumer data and identity capabilities in the industry, which means that our media partner match rates are consistently higher than the competition,” said Seeley. “For the advertiser, this means we can launch campaigns with both accuracy and scale. We know your customers today, and we know the people you want to be your customers tomorrow — and we can find those customers across the channels and devices where they are consuming content so you can engage them in a meaningful way from the first interaction.” Another milestone for Experian Marketing Suite These enhancements mark another milestone in Experian Marketing Services’ long-term strategy to provide marketers with customer-first technology and services through Experian Marketing Suite, which debuted at the 2014 Client Summit. Just this week, Experian was recognized as a strong performer in the 2015 Forrester Wave for Real Time Interactions Management which evaluated vendors on the ability to enable brands to deliver contextually relevant experiences across the Customer Life Cycle through customer data management, real-time analytics and insights, and automated cross-channel interactions. Experian Marketing Suite is flexible, giving clients complete control over the components necessary to power their programs. As a client’s campaign requirements and complexity evolve, the client can easily take advantage of the functionalities across the suite’s three core capabilities: Identity Manager, Intelligence Manager and Interactions Manager. Find out more about the extensive data and technology enhancements for the Experian Marketing Suite, here.

Millennials, also known as Generation Y (ages 19-34) are now the largest segment of the U.S. population, and according to a recent Experian analysis, also take the title for being the least credit savvy when compared to previous generations. The study revealed that millennials’ average credit score is 625, and their average debt excluding mortgages is $26,485. While their current financial picture may not seem so bright, they are at a prime age to establish great habits that will impact their credit future. With so many financial education resources available to help them, I believe that this generation is more empowered and informed than any previous generation and is positioned to be more successful if they make just a few good financial decisions now. While it’s important to know what you should do, it’s equally important to know what you shouldn’t do. Here’s a list of five “credit don’ts” to help guide millennials on the right path to credit success: Don’t be afraid of credit. Many millennials saw their parents hit financial rock bottom during the Great Recession and it created a fear of credit for this generation. It’s important to know the difference between credit and debt. Credit is a financial tool, debt is a financial problem caused by misusing credit. Using credit wisely is an important part of becoming financially successful. Don’t be car poor. Millennials are purchasing cars at a much earlier point in life, which is giving them the opportunity to build credit a little differently than previous generations. Fourteen percent of today’s millennials carry an auto loan, compared with only 1 percent of their Gen X counterparts at the same age in 1998. My advice: don’t get more car than you need. Flash is fun, but usually expensive. Keeping it basic, and less expensive, will help you lay a stronger overall financial foundation. Go for the luxury, fully-loaded car when you are more financially secure. Don’t let student loan debt get you down. The high cost of college tuition has caused students to take on more debt than other generations. Student loans make up 24 percent of all new accounts for millennials, compared to 20 percent for their Generation X counterparts at a comparable age. Some critics question whether tuition debt is worth it. The answer is yes. Research has shown – and continues to show — that an education will pay off over the course of your career. Do keep in mind that there are options for where to get an education and costs vary widely. The average student loan debt is comparable to debt for an auto loan, between $25,000 and $30,000, but which one has better return on investment? Invest in yourself. If you think you will have trouble repaying your student loan debt, or already are, talk to your lender. Student loans often offer a variety of repayment options to help you manage the debt. Lenders may be able to  work with you to create a payment plan that helps you keep making your payments on time, which is key to building a strong credit history. Don’t let “YOLO” and “FOMO” interfere with your budget. The average estimated income for millennials is $34,430 and their average debt excluding mortgages is $26,485. Be sure to have a written budget to help keep track of spending and what you can afford to spend on. A weekend music festival or a three month Euro-trip with friends requires saving and planning. A budget can help you reach those destinations and help you live a lifestyle you can afford. Delayed gratification takes willpower but the wait is usually worth it. Don’t ignore your credit report. Only 34 percent of U.S. adults have ordered a copy of their credit report in the past 12 months, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s 2015 Financial Literacy Survey. Reviewing your credit report will help you make sure it is in good shape when you are ready to apply for new credit. It also affects your credit scores, which are used to help lenders determine whether they should extend credit to you or not and the interest rate you may pay. By law, you’re entitled to get a copy of your credit reports from each of the three national credit reporting companies once every 12 months at no cost through AnnualCreditReport.com. Click here to view the full study and check out more credit educational resources on our Ask Experian blog.

In the video and presentation, Craig Boundy, former CEO of Experian North America, discusses how big data is being used as a force for good. Good for consumers, good for business and good for society.He shares his perspective how Experian’s work in data and analytics has real-life applications. As part of this, he highlights how our business is predicated on the idea that Experian employees come to work every day to help society make better sense of the world by sifting through the information and coming up with solutions for real people, partners, governments and clients. Whether that helps consumers secure an affordable loan, understand their credit score, or protect their identity; or for a business to manage risk, help prevent fraudulent transactions, and to ensure they are marketing their products and services to the right consumers at the right time and across the right channels. As you will see, the force that is known as Big Data can be used for good and there’s still more we can do with it to drive growth and improve our economy. Big Data: The Force That’s Good for Consumers and Society from Experian_US  

The following column was originally published in Adotas. Addressing the issue of identity management has become a top priority for marketers. The fact is that their customers are represented by dozens of identities – both known and unknown – in today’s digital world. According to new research published in our recently published 2015 Digital Marketer Report, linking identity data is now the #1 challenge for marketers around the world, up from fourth place just a year ago. Further, 89% of marketers report having challenges creating a single customer view. Why? Top reasons cited by marketers include poor data quality (43%), siloed departments (39%), and inability to link different technologies (37%). Brand marketers have an identity crisis Without a sophisticated approach to identity management, the concept of customer-centricity and data-driven marketing slips, like sand, through the fingers of marketers. Yes, they may have details around a specific customer on a given device or in a particular channel, but the holistic promise provided by identity data is lost; and with it the real potential of targeting, reaching and engaging digital audiences. To appreciate the nature of the challenge, it is helpful to understand its scale. According to our latest research, 84% of U.S. adults are digital. Seventy three percent own a computer, 58% a smart phone and 33% a tablet – percentages that will only increase with time. These devices will be joined by wearables (such as the Apple Watch), addressable television and the emerging world of the Internet of Things. Couple the explosion of devices with the number of email addresses, social media accounts, apps, website logins, cookies and other trackers and you have the ingredients for a full-blown identity crisis. Connecting the identity dots All of the data associated with these identities paint a rich, complex and complete picture of the user behind them. Connecting and managing these identity dots, however, is no small task. For everyone there are known identities (accounts you log into) and unknown ones (anonymous IDs based on web histories) and marketers need to appreciate and be able to navigate the differences. When linked and analyzed responsibly, identity information allows marketers to understand who we are, what matters to us and how to craft the most effective digital experience for all. This is what makes identity management such a critical issue. Good identity data provides marketers with three core capabilities: Identify – the ability to identify people across media channels, devices, access methods and applications using techniques including cookies, deterministic and probabilistic IDs and first party data. Link – the ability to link disparate data and profiles into a unified consumer view. Engage – the ability to use a deeper understanding of customers to better deliver better messages, optimize campaigns and measure performance. Identity Management is the foundation of Data-Driven Marketing For marketers to get the greatest benefit from their data, they need an identity management strategy that considers and addresses the following three things: Data Stewardship – preserving the value of the information, protecting the privacy of individuals and making it available for appropriate uses. Identity Resolution – having the ability to make connections between disparate known datasets and being able to infer connections between known and unknown identities. Technology-Current – maintaining the ability to effectively and compliantly collect, manage and act on digital identity-derived information across existing and emerging channels, platforms and devices. So what does this identity management approach look like in a real world campaign? A customer visits a brand website, uses its mobile app and “like” it on Facebook. The result is three discreet identifiers, two deterministic (the app and Facebook) but likely stored in separate systems and one statistical (the site visit). Appropriate data stewardship means all three data sets are stored and protected – and, perhaps most importantly – are accessible. Although a distinct identifier represents each of the three identities, linkage capabilities allow them to be resolved in a way that unites the data behind each of the three. Rather than treating each identifier as a separate individual, they can now be used to reflect different facets on a single person. With a now unified view, the marketer can begin to plan to reach their customers in more creative and effective ways. They can do a better job of executing cross-channel campaigns – and frequency capping on all devices and platforms. This provides a dramatically different experience for all involved. Why? Because not only does the marketer have a unified view of the customer, but the customer has a unified experience of the brand. Without an identity-driven approach to audience engagement and marketing, the customer will not be able to have a unified brand experience because the marketer can’t establish that unified view. Further, it allows marketers to make the most of their organization’s information assets, meet their customers where and when it makes the most sense and execute the most cost-efficient and effective campaign possible.  

If you were to survey American consumers whether or not they would like to be their own boss and successfully run their own business, I would imagine that a good majority would probably say yes. There is something empowering about the thought of setting your own hours and controlling your own destiny, but many people don’t actually take the steps to make that dream a reality. However, during the height of the recession and shortly thereafter, many consumers were forced to take the plunge and start their own business as a way to generate a source of income. As a result, entrepreneurism skyrocketed. While some struggled, others succeeded. But how have entrepreneurs fared in the post-recessionary period? As a way to better understand the start-up environment post-recession, Experian conducted an analysis on small business start-up trends from 2010-2014. Interestingly, the number of startups has decreased nearly 45 percent since 2010 – most likely due to a slowdown following the influx of businesses started during the recession. That said, the trend has become somewhat stable over the past few years. While the drop in the number of start-ups may appear discouraging, it isn’t necessarily a cause for concern. As we see employment rates trek higher, and the Gross Domestic Product climb, we’ve been able to experience an improved economy. This also means that fewer consumers feel the need to startup new businesses out of necessity. Furthermore, we’ve also seen that the start-ups that opened in 2010 have grown in size by nearly 29 percent, or added 1.2 employees in the four years that the analysis tracked. Additionally the data showed that of the businesses started in 2010, approximately 57 percent of them are still in business. The analysis also found that entrepreneurs tend to favor the restaurant industry when starting a new venture, as 10.6 percent of start-ups were in the food and drink business. Restaurants were followed by personal services, miscellaneous retail, business services and general contractors. Interestingly, the restaurant and personal services industries were also the two with the highest rates of failure at 9.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively. Gaining insight into the data and trends of small business start-ups can be extremely beneficial to new entrepreneurs and lenders, alike. On one hand, entrepreneurs can use the data to understand what types of businesses are the most popular, and which are most prone to failure. On the other, lenders can use the data to determine which start-ups present the least amount of risk and when it is most beneficial to market to prospective borrowers. Small businesses are the life blood of the economy, and their continued success is paramount to a well-functioning financial system. With the power of data and insights at their side, lenders can make better decisions when looking to fund new ventures and entrepreneurs become more empowered to take that leap and turn their dreams a reality. Overall, a winning recipe that any restaurant owner can get behind.