The Future Is Already Here, Businesses Are Just Not Aware

This morning my 5yr old boy asks me for a computer so he can go to the CBBC web site to play games. Now, imagine the CBBC web site profiling children over time - learning what games they play and the time/outcome of them playing it. Imagine the CBBC web site pushing the capabilities of a child playing a 'game', making something easier or harder for a child to help develop their learning skills.

With increasing pressures being applied by the UK Government to raise the bar on a child's development from a young age (the UK is not as strict as other countries within the EU), using fun methods that involve a child to interact on a site that self-learns seems too obvious to many. Couple that with electronic devices that are more and more becoming 'internet-capable' or enabled, and you have multiple channels open to young children today, whether at home or on the move.

It is nothing new to pick on how the gaming sector has shaped the lives of young people today. But perhaps instead of blaming the gaming sector, we should be embracing it (especially in young children).

The future of web site profiling, segmentation and personalisation is already here and the sooner businesses all over the world develop the appetite to perform Individual Visitor Insight on their own sites, the sooner they will be profiteering, performing and over-achieving beyond all targets ever imagined.

Now, if only we could do something similar with the Utilities sector...