Why Agoda’s data strategy is more about the “science” than the data itself

Agoda does not like to think of itself as data driven – it believes it should be more about applying data science.

The thinking from the Asia-based online travel agency is that while data presents huge opportunities to improve the customer experience and drive internal efficiency, it has to be used in the right way.

Agoda’s chief technology officer Idan Zalzberg described data as an amazing resource but said it can also be “a booby trap.”

Zalzberg, who was speaking at the WiT Singapore event this week, said, “Many companies going for data or building large data investments eventually ask themselves what they’re getting out of it. We all need to remember that data is not the end, it’s the means. It’s about how do we use data to make something better.”

He went on to discuss how much data the company has at its fingertips now compared to a decade ago.

“When we started our data platform was 300 gigabytes. You can put that on an iPhone today.”

Since…