What do real estate and dating have in common?

I attended the Data Leadership Summit  in Vancouver. It brought together a diverse audience to see speakers from different industries with different perspectives and experiences.

In my opinion, there were two presentations which were particularly compelling. One was from real estate brokerage Redfin, the other from the online dating service Plentyoffish. I found it interesting that both shared many common themes. For instance, the level of exaggeration when one describing the unique personal qualities of a potential mate was eerily similar to the gushing awesomeness of a property’s features for potential buyers. In both cases there were a lot of “Fixer Uppers”. In the case of Real Estate, the ‘buying’ criteria which was previously set in stone, got adjusted with the realities of personal budgets.

Both presentations emphasized several key points:

• companies in different industries can use the same approach to data mining and analytics,

• defining the question to ask of the collected data is the most important consideration

• build the right team to make use of data

• getting data from various sources is must, but the art and science is find the correct mix that will provide the needed insights

• gathering machine data is as important as is direct human input

• try to deliver value every time

The conclusion:

Data analytics should be important part of your business intelligence. It provides your company with critical information giving it an edge to compete in crowded markets. Finding the right mix of people who can ask the right questions as well as looking at similar data in other non-competition industries where they may be willing to freely share their expertise. And most importantly, start small with realistic goals by developing a proof of concept before investing big, learn quickly and then grab the market share.