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What was GSI Commerce? GSI Commerce was the Ecommerce and payments platform acquired by eBay Enterprise a number of years ago. The great thing about GSI for its customers is that it had feature functions inherently built into the platform. So their retailer customers didn’t need to think about their add-ons, because GSI did a good job of handling it for them. Some examples of their add-ons were address validation, tax calculations, etc.

Today is National Telephone Day, serving as a day to celebrate the first telephone. While thinking of that first telephone, I look down at the mobile phone in my hand, an item I would be close to powerless without. I think of the growth and innovation around telephone technology and how today’s reliance on these objects compares to the time of their inception in 1876. I believe the evolution of the telephone has a similar story to something we are growing more dependent on every day: data quality.

That’s right, retail marketers. I’m calling you out. You all say you care about better customer data; you say you want to really understand your customer base; you may even give both pinky toes to get to the unicorn that is the single customer view. But here’s the thing: I don’t see people stepping up to actually invest in the things that make those wishes a reality.

This year’s Enterprise Data World conference was jam-packed with sessions covering big data, data governance, data management strategies, data ethics, and many other related topics that help organizations make the most out of their information. I was fortunate enough to be among the energetic conference goers. Here are five key takeaways from EDW that will help you embrace data in your company.

A bright, but brisk, Boston morning saw me at the Hyatt Regency for MediaPost’s Online Media Marketing and Advertising (OMMA) event where the day was chock-filled with all kinds of subject matter marketers would geek out about. Right off the bat, I could tell that there were five clear themes for today:

1. Brands should be like Cupid and win the love of their consumers
2. The Concept of Interruption to the consumer experience
3. A lesson in authenticity by b.good
4. Marketers are taking ownership of their data

And if you’re thinking that there’s no way I can relate this back to data and Experian Data Quality, well oh contraire, because everything always relates back to data and today’s marketers and advertisers are keenly aware of this fact of life.

Upon leaving ProductCamp Boston on Saturday afternoon, I was left with one thought. I’m not sure if it was the venue, being at the Microsoft NERD Center, or the energetic volunteers bustling to bring the event to life bright and early on a sunny but cold Saturday morning that did it. Or perhaps it was the speakers, the inspirational stories they told of what and how they were making things happen. And it may have been the conversations that I had with a record number of attendees and businesses, who shared their roles and experiences in the product marketing space. 

This week one of my colleagues and I were fortunate to attend Demandware’s 2016 XChange conference in Hollywood Florida for 4 days of collaboration, learning, and of course networking.

Being in the Retail space, we attend many conferences during the year but this one is consistently my favorite. We choose our partners based on people we want to be aligned with in the market and Demandware is doing some truly amazing things with customers who adore them. This spirit of success and innovation is something very apparent through interactions and presentations at this show.

When it comes to developing and implementing a data management strategy, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. You have a monumental task in front of you. 

During my time with Experian, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many organizations about their data management practices. In every conversation, I’ve seen the same challenges in various shapes and sizes. But the businesses that have been most successful are the ones that simplify their data management process into terms everyone in the organization can understand. After all, data should be accessible to both IT and business users, right? So speaking a common language will help everyone understand the strategy.

Government agencies traditionally receive a lot of requests from their constituents. However, with shrinking budgets and archaic systems, it can be difficult to manage these requests in an efficient manner. This is the dilemma the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training had to overcome with its Unemployment Insurance Program (UIP).

The popular program is intended to help individuals financially when they are without a steady income. In just one year, the program received unemployment claims from more than 75,000 Rhode Island residents through its 60 call centers.