The increasing importance of Algorithms: Article by The Guardian's Leo Hickman

The Guardian’s Leo Hickman published a new article this week about the increasingly pervasive use of algorithms in today’s data driven world.

You can find the full article transcript here: http://m.guardiannews.com/science/2013/jul/01/how-algorithms-rule-world-nsa.

The article included an interesting quote from Chris Steiner, author of Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World.

Steiner argues that we should not automatically see algorithms as a malign influence on our lives, but we should debate their ubiquity and their wide range of uses. “We’re already halfway towards a world where algorithms run nearly everything. As their power intensifies, wealth will concentrate towards them. They will ensure the 1%-99% divide gets larger. If you’re not part of the class attached to algorithms, then you will struggle.”

In today’s digital world, more businesses than ever before have access to data about their customers and operations.  Much more is to come as Silicon Valley has invested over $1B in Big Data since Q2 2011 (http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital/big-data-companies-venture-capital-fundinc).  The opportunities to turn this resource into revenue will continue to evolve.  Those business that are able to do this with algorithms will get the most leverage, and as demonstrated in Ecommerce with recommendations, will set a new standard that all others must follow or fail.