The introduction of new technology solutions in the marketing forum has led to the generation of vast quantities of data. A business scenario can now be quantified, measured and problems solved using the mammoth volumes of data now at our disposal. As a result, behavioral modeling, viewability and attribution have become the new watchwords.

However, the full potential of data is yet to be unlocked. Data should ideally, be used to predict the future, however, if we had to take a second look into the technological landscape, we would find that there are hardly any forecasting technologies worth talking about.

The next advancements in marketing and advertising will be in this area – the focus will be on telling the marketers and publishers what will happen in the future. Predicting this ‘future’ will be an exercise in understanding how the ‘past’ data came to pass, when it happened, how it happened, and why it happened. An enhanced understanding will help us paint a reliable picture of the future.

What happened in the Past?

Modern technology for data capture and data storage has reached a high level of perfection. It can provide a super accurate picture of what happened in the past, and we can be sure of what we measured actually happened.

The expansion of data storage facilities is the main reason behind this vastly enhanced understanding of whatever it is that we choose to measure. If you create and save a data point now, you can be assured that it can exist forever. The technology in this area has evolved as result of the focus on the expansion of data being captured and measured. The ever-growing ocean of data is indeed quite appealing to the analysts among us.

What is happening in the Present?

The last wave of technology innovation in marketing and advertising technology happened in this category. The focus is on collecting and disseminating information about the present.

To understand the present, we collect a lot of data in real-time so that we can act on it. The focus is on speed, as we do not have the luxury associated with the analysis of historical data. The process, then, is slightly less sharp, as we do not have enough time to look at all the data together.

Again, as the volume of the data collected continues to grow at an alarming pace, we are focusing more on what we can actually act upon, an ever-decreasing share of what we actually have.

Technologies like creative optimization, yield management and supply-side platforms – which help us understand what is happening and take action on it – are continuing to evolve, with a focus on the expansion and processing of an ever-increasing data set to answer questions as soon as they arise.

What’s going to happen in the future?

The least number of future-centric solutions exist in the area of marketing and advertising technology. Forecasting features in the existing technology suites are neglected – no one wants to talk about it, but no one can live without it.

The future is not so certain like the past – it is fuzzy, out of focus and difficult to track. Predicting the future could be a difficult ball game – but it holds out sufficient opportunities for innovation and investment.

Untapped potential, therefore, is available in abundance in this area. Leveraging the data being collected for building better modeling tools will help bring the future into clearer focus. While no one can predict when the market will start moving in this direction, ‘the future’ will surely become more important in the next few years.