The fans of neither Tom Cruise nor Steven Spielberg would forget the duo’s 2002 sci-fi blockbuster – Minority Report. An iconic scene in the movie screens a few events occurring in 2054. A GAP store advertisement scans Tom Cruise’s retinas and immediately starts talking to him: “Welcome back to the Gap Mr. Yakamoto, how are those assorted tank tops working for you?” Even though Spielberg hit the bulls-eye with his

prediction of the future of customer engagement, his timing was off by more than three decades since big data & analytics already help organizations connect with their customers on a personal level.

Over the past decade, marketing has undergone a paradigm shift. Gone are the days when marketing professionals worked off assumptions or gut feelings. Today, marketers turn to the most reliable source of information: Customer data. By now, we all know that Data helps to gain better clarity about the target audience and equips organizations with the ability to build stronger connections with potential customers. Most importantly, when the entire consumer market demands unique experiences with every transaction, marketers can offer consumers personalized suggestions relevant to them. This leads to higher conversion rates, greater customer loyalty, more new customers, increased customer satisfaction and more.

However, the challenges are equal to it. Having a large number of data sources at your disposal makes pulling the relevant data together an arduous challenge. Nonetheless, investing in an in-house data team would be an excellent place to start. Let me wind up with these amazing words from Edwards Deming, the father of modern-day quality management, "In God we trust; all others must bring data."