This seems like marketing speak gone wild. First, 'data' and 'algorithms' really don't have much meaning here because if you already are producing 'data' then y

This seems like marketing speak gone wild. First, 'data' and 'algorithms' really don't have much meaning here because if you already are producing 'data' then you have software which implements 'algorithms' to pull the data in the first. Adding functionality to whatever software you're using is more a matter of finding out what you need to know from your 'data' so why leave it in the hands of someone who doesn't know what you really need? It just seems like people assume that writing or utilizing software are easily outsourced/commodified when in practice you will always have an analyst or a programmer somewhere in your business. Just pay the for person and get over it, already.