Can the choice of phone bias "big data"?

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Much has been said about how Big Data can improve how businesses conduct their operations. The premise is that it improves efficiency and helps managers make better decisions. While I agree with this general assessment, big data can be a double-edged sword. It helps on one hand; but also raises issues on privacy, discrimination and bias on the other. In this post, I give an example of how the choice of the device collecting the data (your phone) can bias big data.

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What Can Google Trends Tell Managers About Predicting Sales?

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By some estimates, Google processes over 40,000 searches every second! Can managers use this torrent of search data, often free and fine-grained, to predict the sales of their products? The premise is that a search for certain terms signals an intent to buy specific products.

My research says the answer is yes! Based on working with multiple retailers, managers can expect anywhere from a 3-8% reduction in prediction errors when search information is included in forecasting models.

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