Value of Consumer Information and Business Analytics

Wall Street Journal (subscription required) is running an article about an attempt by several online aggregators to level the playing field in the airfare market by revealing trend information to consumers. Several sites are providing the following data for flights between two points: lowest price, average price, predicted change and a confidence level (statistical confidence) about the prediction regarding a predicted change in the price.

Two things really stuck out in my mind about these great tools for air travelers: consumers often ignore or are ignorant of business sales cycles, and a B.S. degree in business analytics or computational mathmatics (applied statistics), followed up by a top-tier MBA is a powerful business tool.

The airfare tools can be found at FareCompare, Farecast (Now defunct), and Kayak.

Post Disclaimer

The information contained on this post is my opinion, and mine alone (with the occasional voice of friend). It does not represent the opinions of any clients or employers.

Published by

devinhedge

Devin Hedge is a change agent focused on enabling businesses to deal with complexity and changing market conditions. Devin Hedge brings almost two decades of experience working in the IT Industry in his role as an Executive Coach, Organizational Agility Consultant and Lean Product Development specialist. Devin lives in Apex, NC with his wife and two daughters. When not helping businesses change, Devin spends his volunteering to help those that are forced homeless back on their feet and back into a home. You can find Devin running, biking or hiking all over the South.