Today I had a free hour so I thought I'd do a bit of research into data analysis - the topic that has caught my interest over the past few weeks! I stumbled into a company called Tumra and went to their website to find out more. Tumra is a data analysis company that focus on e-commerce and are currently investing a lot into real-time data analysis. Their website was very minimalistic and effective, yet there was one section that I was sad to say was missing - a link to apply for a job with Tumra.

Now, Tumra are a fairly new start up company, so it is expected that they don't have a great need to recruit. However, as a soon to be graduate, I am very keen to get some insight into working life within a data analysis. Luckily for me - and a nice touch to Tumra's website - there was a "chat now" option in the bottom right of the screen. I sent a short message introducing myself and enquiring about possible graduate positions, thinking that at 17:00 everyone would have left the office. Pretty much straight away, I get a reply from the CTO of the company - Michael. Michael spoke to me over the chat now feature for about 20 minutes and it was very interesting to hear his thoughts on the industry. He kindly told me to keep in touch and that in the next year Tumra will be recruiting - exciting!

One piece of advice he gave me, was to blog my thoughts! I have never really blogged before, most of my ideas stay in my head (a lot of them fall out unfortunately). Thus, bringing me to what you are reading now - my first blog.

So what is the purpose of this blog? I believe I am an ideas man, always thinking of new ways to improve things, solve problems or create new solutions. That means that when I find something I'm passionate about, I spend more time thinking of ideas than researching! Good or bad, depending on how you look at it! This blog therefore, is an opportunity for me to put my thoughts down on paper, well on a screen anyway.

What are my thoughts then? Well lately I've been wrestling with the idea of real-time data analysis in a bar or club scenario. My logic is that, similar to e-commerce in that data analysts want to "catch" the online shoppers' attention just before they leave the website; in a bar/club a data analyst wants to catch a person just before they leave the bar/club.

Let's look at this way, if a man has ordered a pint of beer every 20 minutes for the past hour. Why not recognise this pattern and send him a message telling him about a promotion on a slightly more exotic beer with a slightly higher profit margin. Alternatively, and potentially more appealing, imagine a woman has ordered 3 different cocktails over the past hour. Why not send her a message detailing a new and bizarre new cocktail she hasn't heard of before, with again a slightly higher profit margin.

So what is the difference between sending a message to someone and just placing a poster on the wall, if the message is exactly the same. Personally, I think it's the personal touch that you get when you receive a customised message. Am I more likely to be impacted by a personalised message that says "Hey Raja, hope you're enjoying your Stella! Why not try NewBeerX next time? We have a 2 for 1 deal on just for today!" or a generic poster that reads "2 for 1 NewBeerX"...? Then again, this is based on my thought process and logic only, and not the vast research I've done. Even so, my logic seems reasonable.

How about this, instead of queuing up, for what seems like forever, to order and get a drink why not just text the bar tender. Obviously this wouldn't work with a text like "Hey Mr Bartender, how about a round of beers for me and my friends?" - well maybe one day. But instead, when I get the message telling me about the 2 for 1 offer on NewBeerX I can reply with a "yes" or a "no" and the queuing is saved. Logistically speaking it may be hard to order drinks from your phone and not from the bar, but there could easily be an end section of the bar that can be cordoned off for drink collections.

Granted many people enjoy the queue and see it as a chance to meet new people, but this isn't a means to an end. I'm not looking for ways to completely replace personal interactions with technology interactions - else we'd all be sitting at home in a virtual club! However, what I am trying to do is look for way to improve the efficiency of the bar/club experience.

In fact, let's go back quickly to that idea of ordering a drink over text. Why can't we have a restaurant in which we can order by text before they leave their house, and by the time they get to the restaurant the food is waiting on the table for you. Now arguably this does take out the personal relationships so don't dwell too much on this idea. Instead, focus on some alternative ideas: introducing this to a fast-food chain like McDonalds, that would be even faster fast-food! Now yes we have the order to collect option with Pizza Hut, and the pick-up in store option at many retail places. So maybe there isn't an idea that I have exactly regarding this, but there is something there and an idea will come from it...!

Watch this space,

Thanks for reading

Raja