What is business ethics? And, when is a company being ethical (enough)? Once a simple question, that was fairly easily answered, by taking a look at the products or services the company was offering and how they did it. Today, it’s so much more complicated, as data now is part of the business mix—and with it, an enormous responsibility to act ethical beyond the obvious.

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As a marketer, there is nothing more aggravating than launching a campaign that you have been working on only to get bounce backs rolling into your inbox, or even more embarrassing, a pile of direct mail returned straight to your desk.  Sadly these events are more common place than we want to admit, but they don’t have to be.

Every year marketers across the world waste millions of dollars because of poor data. Poor data can not only impact your company’s bottom line, but it can also devastate your brand’s image.

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You live in an era where you need to prioritize building offerings around individual customers.

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Do you know what one of your customers bought from you last month? Can you predict what they’re going to buy from you this month? Are you able to call them by their first name?

If not, then you could be missing out on additional revenue, since "93% of companies see an uplift in conversion rates from personalization." Your customers expect a personalized and relevant experience when they interact with you. Whether you’re able to deliver that depends on how well you know them. And, how well you know your customers relies on your data management.

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The National Retail Foundation’s annual Big Show conference in New York is always a great opportunity to assess the state of the industry, see what new trends and technologies are coming around the bend and, most importantly, hear what’s on the mind of retailers as they continue to adapt to a rapidly changing consumer environment. The consumers imagination and expectation is that all systems and processes are connected, but a reality check shows that business are catching up with meeting those expectations.

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Fourth quarter holiday shopping results have always dictated retail financial success. While the marketing channels, tactics and consumer preferences have changed over the years, the fact that many retailers reap as much as half their annual revenue between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays has remained constant.

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2017 is soon coming to an end, which means that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will arrive very shortly. This leaves companies with just a few months to get their final GDPR preparations in place to avoid economic sanctions and public scandal. But how far are organizations really in their preparations? Will they be ready? And what about the non-European companies? How much will they all invest in the new personal data regulation and what are their biggest challenges? Will consumers even use their new rights?

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Although it’s been almost 28 years, since Bill Gates said, “Banking is necessary. Banks are not” (1990), they are more relevant than ever. The banking industry has in a lot of ways already felt the shaking in its foundation during some years, as innovative digital financial services providers – the so-called FinTechs - have entered the market and now to a certain degree compete with traditional brick and mortar banks. (Learn more about it in the blog post: Traditional banking vs new financial disrupters: Who’ll win the data battle?)

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Historically, customer data has been often difficult to acquire, clean and, most of all, interpret. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) there has been a sharp increase in both the availability of customer data as well as how much information manufacturers are able to collect from their product’s everyday use. This year alone, Gartner estimates that 8.4 billion connected "things" are already in use.

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My dear bank,

You and I have had a relationship for so many years now. It has always been a relationship based on give-and-take: You allowed me credit, I paid interest, you stored my money. Our relation did not excite me, nor did your brand make me particularly proud as a customer. But after all, I felt in good hands and – more importantly – I did not spend many thoughts on us. With you I felt safe and that’s why I did not look for another partner.

But now, all of that has changed. And it all happened because I got married 4 years ago.

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