CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 42

surprise, however, I found many things in common
Both organizations are iconic consumer brands with
well-known stars. They have loyal and often zealous
followers, have limited "traditional" competition in their
respective markets, and have understandably invested
heavily in the consumer-facing side of the business.
In both instances, however, success had led to
some technical complacency, with under-investment
in the engine that fuels all businesses today-data-
becoming a handicap in the face of changing market
dynamics. At The Weather Channel, I ultimately
was responsible for one of the world's largest crossplatform digital properties, big "weather" data
environments, and fully distributed cable networks.
But that only happened as rapid advances in the
breadth and quality of weather data, imagery, and
availability hastened the need for changes in digital
weather products - a digital impetus that baseball
had lacked.
As businesses in many industries around the world
are learning, the promise of their digital transformation
efforts lies in collecting and analyzing data on
customers' behavior in order to provide them with
products and services tailored to their individual
needs. Digital transformation also has a profound

The challenge,
however, is not to
get carried away
with digitization of
everything and to
maintain traditions and
"analog" ways of doing
things that still provide
value to 21st-century
customers.
At the Red Sox, that
means preserving
what's best in baseball
and historic Fenway
Park while leveraging
what's best in
technology.

between the Red Sox and my former company.

impact on internal operations, and it allows for quick
experimentation and evaluation of new business
processes. The challenge, however, is not to get
carried away with digitization of everything and to
maintain traditions and "analog" ways of doing things
that still provide value to 21st-century customers. At
the Red Sox, that means preserving what's best in
baseball and historic Fenway Park while leveraging

Athletics successfully substituted player assessments

what's best in technology.

based on traditional baseball metrics (for example,
batting average, runs batted in, or a pitcher's wins and

A 360-Degree View of the Customer

losses, not to mention subjective "gut feelings"), with

While the movie "Moneyball," based on Michael

allowed the A's to build a winning team on a relatively

"newer" metrics that improve predictive analytics. This

Lewis's 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an

low budget, and the story has become a famous

Unfair Game, brought the use of data analytics (or in

foundational tale of the "big data" movement. But

baseball parlance, "sabermetrics") to the informed

as yet there has been no Moneyball-like customer-

baseball fan, the analysis primarily focused on

analysis story, to demonstrate the successful

evaluating talent. The book recounts how the Oakland

application of analytics to better serve baseball fans.

CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8