We’re more than mere consumers, and business should remember that

Companies collect an ever-growing amount of information on customers, but forgetting the individuals behind big data is detrimental, not least to business, writes author and speaker John C. Havens.

Today’s customers, empowered by mobile technologies and social media, demand to be treated like individuals, he says, and respond more positively to companies that value their opinions.

John C. Havens is also the founder of The Happathon Project, an initiative to create digital tools to drive global contentment, that aims to find specific ways to use your happiness data, and it wants programmers to help.