The Pellucid Perspective - September 2015 - (Page 6)

golf industry technology Breaking News: Golf is getting passed in technology and information use by...farming By Jim Koppenhaver t he Tuesday, September 1 issue of The Wall Street Journal had an article on the front page of the Business & Tech. section titled "On the Farm: A Bountiful Harvest of Data." Probably only an analyst at heart would find that intriguing but someone at WSJ thought it was arresting enough to give it front and center position (and a photo no less) for a relatively sophisticated audience. The net of the article is that there's a wave of farmers and a few technology companies that are driving an increasing use of technology on the family farm and harvesting (sorry, couldn't help myself ) the information on the back end to make betterinformed business decisions. Sounds like a Pellucid ad, doesn't it? Reading through the article outlining the various fits and starts and conflicting camps of opinion regarding "to share or not to share" offers an eerie parallel to my 15 years experience in the golf industry but it appears that they're making more and faster headway than we are. On the one side are the more entrepreneurial farmers who believe that they can best collect and analyze their data on their own and who have aspirations of selling their data to the larger manufacturers of seed, pesticide and equipment makers for bottom-line profit. For sure, that's a hardy band of renegades and some small number of them might find a way to make that model work. On the other side are what I believe to be the more pragmatic business men and women (and currently larger number based on the article). They buy into the concept of an information cooperative with a "give-to-get" model for contributing data and consuming information with a professional 3rd party in the middle experienced in handling data and turning that data into digestible, reliable information and insights. Three intermediary companies are mentioned in 6 The Pellucid PersPecTive the article: Farmobile LLC, Granular Inc. and Grower Information Services Cooperative. The latter model is the one that most intrigued me because it's similar to many other mid-size industries and the model that Pellucid has been attempting to pursue in golf for over a decade with marginal success. The basic concept of developing a better information network for the benefit of both participants and spectators is pretty simple and follows principles established and refined in countless other industries: * Owners of the data contribute their information to a trusted, independent 3rd party with proven skills in data management, reporting and insights. The information is anonymized and aggregated using standard statistical processes (like outlier normalization, sample balancing and minimum sample size requirements for stability of results). * The 3rd party provider determines the basic measures and often creates Key Performance Indicators which are normally composites of multiple measures (things like Utilization which combines Played Rounds and Capacity Rounds). Standard report formats are established that provide basic information and insight in tables, graphs etc. for the recipients. * The data belongs to the owners and is used by the 3rd party provider under license which establishes the terms and permissible uses. The data owners can opt out of the relationship at any time. The measures developed, report formats and any delivery tools developed belong to the 3rd party. It really is that black-and-white as to who owns what and how it's allowed to be used in the business model * The economic model is similarly straightforward. The 3rd September 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - September 2015

TOC
EZLinks acquires GolfSwitch
Youth on Course provides win-win for golf and juniors
Breaking News: Golf is getting passed in technology and information use by...farming
Private clubs struggle to combat the “equity club death spiral”
Payment Processing: Are you confused?
August golf weather impact: Weather and stocks decline
Price is right, but demand still lags in Tampa
Is golf doomed to rely only on ‘aspirational’ golfers?

The Pellucid Perspective - September 2015