Reading this blog last week on Insight as a Service brought to mind how today’s robust CPM solutions combine world class reporting and analytics WITH external information. This reminded me of last weekend, I went with my wife and kids to start to look at new cars. Our family van is starting to show its age and it’s probably time to break down and think about a new car. Looking at new cars you see all the new bells and whistles – which by the way absolutely capture that imagination of an eight year to the point of her telling me to “buy the car” in front of the car salesman – note to self: leave the kids home when it comes time to negotiate price.
One of the features though that was interesting made me think about how much meaningful information a car now gives the driver to make better decisions. With navigation systems one can easily see how far they have to go to their destination, how long it will take based on traffic conditions and where to find gas, food or an ATM.
My first car had a gas gauge to tell me how much I had left in the tank. I had to know how far it would take me and if I needed gas where I could find a station. My next car had the added feature of calculating how many miles I could travel on the remaining gas in the tank. Today a car can bring that all together combined with a Nav system and tell you whether or not you can make it to your destination and if not where to stop.
This parallels the evolution of the BI/CPM market. When reporting tools first arrived they could only tell you how much “gas was in the tank” at that given point in time. Then analytics got added on and a CPM system could tell you “how far you could go” . Today’s CPM solutions need to not only tell you how far you can go but how to get there and the choices you will need to make along the way.
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