The web data platform industry is one of rapid growth and innovation. With businesses around the world recognizing the importance of data in decision-making, the demand for web data platforms has skyrocketed. These platforms provide companies with the ability to collect, analyze, and visualize large amounts of data from various online sources. They offer features such as web scraping, data integration, and machine learning algorithms that allow organizations to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of information.
One of the factors driving the growth of this market is the rise of e-commerce and digital marketing. As more businesses move their operations online, they require robust web analytics tools to track customer behaviour, monitor competitor activity, and optimize their online presence.
In this interview with TechBullion, Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data will be giving us a walkthrough of this global company that operates in the public web data category, serving over 20,000 customers through the hard work of over 450 employees.
Please tell us more about yourself.
Or Lenchner, CEO Bright Data
I have a firm belief that a transparent, compliant-driven web environment serves both the public and the business sector alike. I am involved in regulatory events that are shaping the future of legislation to protects public web data in the public domain.
I was appointed to CEO of Bright Data in 2018 to advance Bright Data’s innovative data collection products, while also leading the industry in ethics, transparency and self-regulation.
I was involved in the development of the first products before becoming CEO. Today our web data collection platform serves more than 20,000 customers, with 450+ employees located around the world!
Could you elaborate on how companies can leverage Bright Data’s eCommerce tracker to improve their overall business strategies?
The eCommerce Tracker powers companies to be able to make real-time decisions based on market demands. It’s having eyes 24/7 on every competitor’s products watching the stock and prices fluctuate and then deploying an alarm to tell you when something makes a change that meets your threshold for action as it happens. Based on this knowledge a company can be profitable moving the price needle to meet the market.
Why is gaining insights from data more relevant for businesses in today’s market? Could you give us more insight into data uses, challenges, operations or alternative data in today’s market?
If your business isn’t able to tap into what your competition is doing you won’t be able to stay at the top. With the integration of AI in our tools, data scientists can uncover anything. Businesses only need access to publicly available data and then know which questions to ask to get the right answers.
Datasets aren’t always straightforward. The use of alternative data is gaining traction across industries, for example, tracking private jet flights may tell you where the money is. More straightforward, collecting data from social media can help a brand understand it’s customer frustrations.
The possibilities for data use are endless, although some organizations don’t have the resources to do the work themselves. Bright Data works with organizations of all sizes and scales to their needs in addition to offering common datasets that are ready to purchase.
Could you give us an overview of the compliance, regulation and ethics in AI, generative AI, LLMs, data collection, data monetization, third-party data, cookieless data, data brokers and data marketplaces?
At the moment the AI and data industry is mostly self-regulated with the exception of GDPR, CCPA and a handful of other rules that regulate PII in web data collection. Bright Data only collects public web data which makes our practices inherently safer and more ethical. We follow the strictist of regulations and have our own standards of ethics that go well beyond what any regulatory body has in place. We employ a strong system of checks and balances from our compliance team and proprietary technology that protects our platform, it’s users, partners and the internet sites we collect data from. Not all companies go to the length we do to protect the internet, but we hope to set the bar high for others to follow.
Public web data is required to develop and train AI modules. Future AI legislation needs to protect access to public web data so it remains in the public domain, meaning it continues to belong to all of us andis available to properly train and advance AI.
In a comparison of Structured vs. Unstructured data, what must businesses know and how can the opportunities be harnessed?
Getting data in an unstructured format means you need a dedicated team to be able to aggregate that data into a legible form. Bright Data delivers data sets in a structured form saving time and costs in manpower. Structured data sets can immediately be analyzed to answer business questions providing the data to make informed and timely decisions.
Could you give us a walkthrough of how Bright Data’s eCommerce Tracker helps businesses gain accurate insights and what types of platforms the eCommerce Tracker work with?
The ecommerce tracker was designed for marketplaces. It pulls information from 13 different categories and then uses AI to create insights in natural language. It is tailored for brands, sellers, retailers, and investors to reduce decision timelines and boost sales trajectories. It is the first and only e-commerce insights platform to integrate the generative artificial intelligence tool.
Can you explain how the eCommerce Tracker identifies problems and opportunities at various levels such as product, category, and brand and what specific data points are included in the eCommerce tracker to provide businesses with real-time tracking alerts?
There are 13 categories, such as retail prices, units sold, retail sales dollars, page position, item rank, sponsorship, out of stocks, promo tracking, new item launch, variant separation, comparable timeline reporting, competitive brands, and product attributes, that the eCommerce Tracker can pull data from for an infinite number of products across any marketplace. The datapoints are infinite as well, for example, for product attributes you may have 5 different data points that you are interested in, such as, seller, remote option, speed, color, and wireless option, those data points will change based on the product and business needs. A common problem this solves for is maintain the coveted buy-box through having the correct stock, ratings and pricing. Another common problem the variant separation category solves for is if an item becomes separated from its group, for example, a shirt comes in 4 colors, but the white version is no longer attached to the others, so it does not sell well. In this case an alert can be set up to fix the issue.
In what other ways does Bright Data empower brands through its technology solutions? Can you highlight any case studies?
Bright Data works across all businesses. Finance uses our tools for alternative data to be able to forecast how particular industries will perform and use that as an indictor how and when to invest in them. Travel industries use our tools to offer price and location comparison to shoppers in real time. Security firms use our tools to help identify threats on servers and systems. Giant household brands use our tools to monitor their resellers. These are just a few examples, we have 20,000 customers that cover a wide range of uses globally. If a company needs data to perform better, it exists somewhere publicly on the web. It’s our job to help them find it through tools and resources and guide them to find the insights they need to make intelligent decisions.
Tell us more about your “Data for good” pro-bono program that has been cited numerous times in mainstream media publications, (CNC, NYT, WaPo, etc.), what is it all about?
Bright Data operates a pro bono program called Bright Initiative where we offer free data sets, tools and resources to qualified research and do good opportunities. Public web data is an important resource indentifying things such as online hate that turn into real-world violence, documenting what’s happening in our world and uncovering patterns and anomalies that can increase our understanding of health issues or climate issues ane lead to solutions. We work with all types of partners in our do good program and have delivered some incredible results that have been documented in high profile media.
What do you have on your timeline at Bright Data, are there any available opportunities for investment and partnerships at Bright Data? Do you have more information for our readers today?
Bright data is constantly innovating. We have two exciting product releases coming in Q4 that we can’t wait to tell your readers about.
We also recently launched a specific program for journalists modeled after the Bright Initiative. This program is designed to continue to make public web data accessible, free of charge and delivered before deadlines.
Conclusion
In this interview with Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data, we’ve gained valuable insights into the dynamic world of web data platforms and their role in shaping modern business strategies. The growing demand for data-driven decision-making in businesses worldwide has propelled the web data platform industry into a realm of rapid growth and innovation. With the ability to collect, analyze, and visualize vast amounts of data from various online sources, these platforms offer invaluable tools such as web scraping, data integration, and machine learning algorithms. With insights in e-commerce and digital marketing, tracking and monitoring customer and competitor activity using web data platforms
There is always something happening within our organization! You can read about company news at https://brightdata.com/
