A month ago, I snarkily mentioned that Mr. Conway (after a misfired press release) re-announced in a corrected press release that Mattersight was selling something called NPS®, or Predictive Net Promotoer Score® Analytics. The theory -- it seemed -- was that customers of Mattersight would pay twice for the same thing: once, for a Behavioral AnalyticsTM rundown of call interactions, then a second time, for a so-called NPS analysis -- one that ostensibly predicted how accurately that BA analysis matched an actual survey of the customers' experience -- but without doing the survey.Okay -- that was the concept -- I gather.
Not long after, CEO Conway announced that Mattersight had signed a "top five" property and casualty insurer in the US -- as a customer for NPS. I dutifully ignored it -- figuring that they were big boys, and could figure out soon enough that Mr. Conway was only selling a self-reinforcing feedback loop here.
But just last night, I noticed that the Mattersight press release announcing the signing actually only says that Mr. Conway "will build" an NPS analytical tool for the insurer customer. So -- it is, definitively -- at the moment, wait for it. . . yep, vaporware. I am shocked. . . shocked that Mr. Conway is selling vaporware to distract from a flat to down sales trendline -- in 2012 (and slightly rising expenses -- again!). Just shocked.
What is crazy is that the public shareholders stand for it -- for nearly 13 years running. That is jaw-slacking.
