What you’ll learn to do: define and distinguish between “data” and “information”

A Winning Hand for Caesars

If you enjoy gambling and want to be pampered, the Las Vegas Strip is the place for you. In November 2010, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The Harrah’s name will still be one of the newly named company’s primary brands, in addition to Caesars and Horseshoe. The four-mile stretch is home to some of the world’s most lavish hotels and casinos, each competing for its share of the thirty-seven million visitors who pack the city each year.^[1] The strip offers a smorgasbord of attractions. At the luxurious Mirage, you can witness the eruption of a seventy-foot volcano every quarter hour. The five-star Bellagio resort boasts a $300 million art collection (including Picassos and Van Goghs). There are star-studded shows, upscale retailers, and posh restaurants with award-winning chefs. You can relax at pools and spas or try your luck in the casinos.

Las Vegas, Nevada

So how does a gaming and entertainment company compete in this environment? If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, you know that a lot of them erect mammoth, neon-bathed, brick-and-mortar casino-resorts. A few, however, do what Caesars did in the late 1990s: they invest heavily in technology and compete through the effective use of information. What kind of information? Marketers at Caesars collect information about the casino’s customers and then use it to entice the same people to return.^[2]

Throughout this module, we’ll refer back to the information needs of Caesars’s top executives, managers, and other employees. We’ll examine the ways in which companies use technology to collect data and generate information that can be used at every level of the organization.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

The learning activities for this section include:

• Reading: Data vs. Information
• Self Check: Data vs. Information

Take time to review and reflect on this activity in order to improve your performance on the assessment for this section.