How Data Built Your New Favorite Beverage

By Gil Sadeh, CEO, Signals Group

Traditionally, when we think of Big Data and product development, the discussion is about internal data: feedback on existing customers, products, sales gleaned from proprietary databases. But it’s when companies turn their attention outward to the masses of unstructured data that they can understand not just what already exists, but what ought to be.

If you’re familiar with the beverage industry, you know there’s nothing usual about the business cycle anymore. Just as rapidly as consumers switch between the latest trendy beverages, flavors, and properties, so too are the tools evolving to help companies capture those insights and act on them. The result is that for any company that wants its latest drink to have any chance of survival, the usual business approach probably will result in too little and much too late.

It is no surprise that the rate of innovation has reached break-neck speeds, competition is fierce and the risk of failure looms heavy. When 96 percent of all innovations fail to return their cost of capital (Deloitte), any opportunity to minimize risk is critical. Enter: Big Data.

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