A Coming R&D Drain -- On Mattersight's Revenue?

Funny. It just occurred to me (on a train) that -- throughout Europe, and eventually in Asia -- Mattersight's core offering is going to require significant new R&D burn, before it will be of real value to local clients. Why?

Well, almost all of the Behavioral Analytics^TM suite of tools is driven by non-verbal cues, and to a lesser extent, by interpreting idioms. Each of these vary -- and vary widely -- across the differing languages spoken in Europe.

A long silence -- on a phone call, in French -- may have a very different contextualized meaning, than a silence of the same duration in a German or Italian call. Thus, I suspect that much of the seven-plus years' worth of invested expenses -- in Behavioral Analytics in the US will need to be "done over" -- on a country by country, basis in Europe. And certainly so, in Japan, and the rest of Asia (think cultural differences; and tonal languages, to boot!).

At bottom, the business model may not be scalable, beyond the US and the United Kingdom.

What do you think? Let me know, in the comment box. I'll make your ideas a new post, whether you agree or disagree. I'm inclined to create (for any such posts) a "contra" view graphic, too. Go ahead -- jump in!