181: How Technology, Software and Data Analytics Played a Big Part In President Trump's Election Success

Is a combination of technology, data analytics, and the digital transformation responsible for changing the political landscape?

The United States has a new president in the form of Donald Trump. Over the years I have learned to avoid talking about either religion or politics in a large forum as it always ends badly.

But while many are still dealing with this turning point in American politics and his unorthodox run to office, what captured my attention from the outside looking in was how he leveraged technology along with political campaign software to fundraise efficiently, recruit volunteers, and inspire his userbase.

While Hillary Clinton’s lead in the August polls, Trump chose to start spending serious money on data analytics and a bigger digital campaign. His campaign also utilized tools not usually thought of to be software used by campaigns, from creating and hosting their website, to marketing to the right personas, and managing online content.

I don’t want to talk about state sponsored cyber attacks, stories around vote rigging, fake news or political opinions on either side of the fence. But I wanted to understand how both technology and software impacted the US election recently and how this will also affect the electoral process all over the world in this digital age.

I invited Michael Fauscette onto the show who is the chief research officer at peer-to-peer business review platform G2 Crowd. We discuss how a combination of technology, software and data analytics played a big role in Donald Trumps election success.