Perhaps the single most important algorithmic distinction between “born digital” enterprises and legacy companies is not their people, data sets, or computational resources, but a clear real-time commitment to delivering accurate, actionable customer recommendations. Recommendation engines (or recommenders) force organizations to fundamentally rethink how to get greater value from their data while creating greater value for their customers. In other words, they’re a terrific medium and mechanism for transitioning traditional managements to platform perspectives.
Great Digital Companies Build Great Recommendation Engines
The single most important distinction between “born digital” enterprises and legacy companies is not their people, data sets, or computational resources, but a clear real-time commitment to deliver accurate, actionable customer recommendations. Digital companies use recommendation engines to establish a virtuous cycle — the more people use them, the more valuable they become; the more valuable they become, the more people use them. Recommenders continuously learn and improve from user experience. Legacy companies make the mistake of treating recommendation engines as e-commerce sales and marketing gimmicks — another feature to add to the site — than as crucial investments in virtuous cycle platforms. Recommendation engines aren’t just about recommendations; they’re platforms enabling all manner of digital informational interaction. Appropriately designed, these interactions create value both for your customer and you.