Category: Uncategorized

By Jon Cogan

I recall sitting at a breakfast group meeting at the Marshes in Ottawa ten years ago almost to the day. I can not for the life of me remember who was speaking, but the topic of the discussion has stayed with me all these years.

That morning all in attendance gasped and ooh'd and aww'd about the promise of data mining. We were told that in a year or two we would experience some wonderful things as consumers. You would stay at a Hilton, and during your stay, you would order and orange juice to our room in the morning. At your next stay at any Hilton, a call would come from the front desk in the morning to ask you if I would like your orange juice like your last stay. You would be able to walk into a bookstore like Chapters and as you paid at the cash, and they recalled your customer information, the cashier would list off some new releases of your favourite authors or music artists. This is simply not happening in the real world. It is barely happening in the virtual world. And there really is no excuse for that.