The Missing Link of Wine + Data? It Isn’t What You Think.

When I talk with people about wine + data, there’s a little bit of a hierarchy of interest.

At the bottom end of the hierarchy is data. Let’s face it! Maybe it has to do with limited familiarity overall with the subject, or maybe it’s because the number of people in wine who want to “geek out” over data is still relatively small.

In the middle of the hierarchy of interest is wine. Lots of shared common ground here, obviously.

At the top of the hierarchy of interest, though? The people themselves. But there’s an irony to it: It’s people who make the decisions about wine + data, yet the focus of the conversation tends most often to not be on them.

Here are three ways we can do a better job of putting people at the top of the wine + data hierarchy.

Recognize that people generate the data.
That comes from digital interactions, everything from ecommerce purchases to text and image-rich posts on social media.

Recognize the people who build the technology.
That means the nuts and bolts, and developing the infrastructure channels through which the data flows. This eventually leads to actionable takeaways.

Understand that people make decisions about technology in a very analog way.

Let me hover here for a moment, on this key word of analog and how it plays out for wine + data.

It’s an analog decision to learn about data’s potential, even though that maybe isn’t your background or even part of your original job description.

People — you — make the analog decision to open this email or read this post, even though you have 15,279 other things to do today.

Raw data files are not analog, but it’s an analog decision to share them in an effort to explore what’s possible using technology and analysis.

Face-to-face meetings are very analog, but we find that they’re the most effective way to shift the conversation (and the adoption rate) of wine + data.

How about you? Ready for an analog conversation to fill in the missing link? Please let me know. I’d love to hear.

Thank you, as always, for reading —

Cathy