We invited Robert Welborn Head of Data Science, SBG, Facebook to share his thoughts on “The Evolving Data Economy” at our recent Data ROI event. You can watch his full session here or read on for a few highlights.

Digital Technology

Whether you’re running a small business or a massive, multinational conglomerate, chances are you had to invest in new digital technology to survive the past year. Or, at the very least, expand existing platforms/solutions. While many of these investments are here to stay, some will inevitably cease to be viable in a post-pandemic environment. 

Knowing the difference will be key to ensuring long-term post-pandemic success as is understanding the ripple effects these new technologies have had. Using the analogy of the plastic barriers that popped up in everything from cabs to convenient stores, Robert explains, “There is no going back. And so can you take down all those plexiglass barriers? You absolutely can. You totally can. Did you drill holes in every single one of your walls? Yeah, you did.

And there's an awful lot that are going to stay up, which means that if they stay up they have to get maintained and the next generation is going to have them designed into them and it's going to be a different process that's associated with it. There's an evolutionary thing that just happened as a result of that. 

The QR code for a menu. Are you going to print menus ever again? Some restaurants that have spent a tremendous amount on menu design, they probably are going to go back to it, but it's going to be a quaint thing that they do, like finger towels at a fancy restaurant. It's not going to be a thing that everybody does. The QR code is here to stay.”

Hybrid Workforce

One of the original and continued driver behind digital technology is the increased number of remote workers. Though many companies are in the process of reintroducing workers back into the offices, others are holding off due to the Delta variant or have permanently moved to a 100% remote workforce. Regardless, many workers are demanding to work from home more often, something that is unlikely to change even as the pandemic fades away. 

“We eat as a result of the business model. And so if the business model doesn't work, you starve to death. So my advice is don't freak out so much about all the other stuff, freak out about the business model. But that being said, don’t underestimate the importance of in-person relationships. Even just by shaking hands, we get a rush of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, etc. Hanging out with folks and pursuing collective goals are central to building camaraderie, meaning and happiness at work.

So when it comes to how often we should be in the office, I think less is more when it comes to mandates. My favorite dress code of any company ever is General Motors. It was established by Mary Barra. It is dress appropriately. It is a two word dress code. There is nothing else to it. When GM went back to work there, she came up with her policy as far as how we're going to work and it's work appropriately. And that was it. 

Back to work policies needs to be shorter, not longer, and needs to be less thought out and more experimental and more based off of the person and less based off of a policy for these things to work.”

Post-Pandemic Data Challenges

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit back in March 2020, it turned everything upside down. From the near-elimination of non-essential travel to large-scale work-from-home orders to the surge in online shopping, consumer behavior radically changed. 

The bad news is that these sudden changes made a lot of enterprise data unusable. The good news, as Robert puts it, “I think we have enough data for some stuff. I think we have an awful lot of data on cruises and on the number of people who really, really, really need to vacation that way. I think we have an awful lot of data on travel on the people who need to travel, because that was maybe the best thing about what happened in COVID is that planes were still flying. There were still people on board. That's the bottom line. That's the least that will travel. Which is something airlines have been speculating about for years and now they know. You've got a lot of companies that they stopped advertising because they just couldn't. What happens when you stop advertising versus when you're advertising? Now you know.

We have an awful lot of horrifying experiments that we've conducted and we have new data. The question is just how much can I use 10 years worth of data and understanding companies with COVID in the middle of it? I don't know, man. I just don't know. But I will say the online companies, Google looking back 10 years on advertisers, it's probably right.”

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