Data gets a bad rap.
Too often when we think of data, our eyes glaze over as we envision people with pocket protectors lecturing us on, say, the advantages of Bayesian inference in statistical analysis. Or worse: insurance actuaries helpfully calculating the odds of our death.
But even as data is frequently much more accessible than it had been, most marketers still think of it as a necessary evil or something that simply doesn’t help them unless they’re a Fortune 500 CPG firm with huge pools of information to work with. In reality, even small businesses can benefit from a better understanding of how to use the information they’re already gathering.
Here’s an example—a data scientist uncovered two interesting facts as he examined data relating to traffic in New York City:
- He found the absolute worst place to park in NYC
- He defined when rush hour starts and ends in NYC
Not exactly the kind of stuff that TMZ is going to report breathlessly–unless the worst place to park happens to be in front of “Brangelina’s” apartment–but it is certainly interesting if you run any sort of business that has trucks doing deliveries in Manhattan. (Sadly, the data says that rush hour in Manhattan lasts from about 8:30…
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