Data

November 07, 2022

"Data is like garbage. You better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it."

-Mark Twain

Many say data is the oil of the 21st century. If this is true, we better know how to use it. This episode will explore data from the most important context; putting it to work by moving from Data > Information > Knowledge > Insight > Wisdom (ACTIVITY).

DATA BUSINESS(ES): Data is the foundation of trillions of dollars of business today. To create a business from data, however, one must take data and turn it to action.  Nevin Raj, the founder of Grata, a company that collects and monetizes data on private company provides a comprehensive summary of data businesses on his November 1, 2022 interview on Think Like an Owner here.

4 Types of Data Companies:

  1. Network Data Companies: Collect data from users that knowingly participate in the platform, gather the results, then sell the insights. Nielsen, the market intelligence company, collects data from retailers (Ex; point of sale data), analyzes & anonymizes the data, then sells it back to retailers so they can unlock trends about their customers.

  2. Licensed Data Companies: Purchase data from unknowing participants, analyze it, then sell the analysis. Bloomberg Second Measure, the consumer credit company, buys anonymized credit card data and sells the consumer trends to marketers. 

  3. Created Data: Operate a business in which users create data. The data created on platform is then analyzed and sold to marketers, who desire their product to reach a targeted audience on the platform. Meta Platforms (Facebook) mastered this with the ad-targeting algorithm which directs advertisements to users based on the content they engage with (data they create) on platform.

  4. Public Data Analysis: Apply analysis, which users pay for, on publicly available data sets.  S&P Capital IQ, the investment market intelligence platform, offers a product which organizes and offers actionable information on publicly traded companies by reviewing their SEC filings and publishing common ratios, trends, etc.

How can you put data available in your business to work for you?

DRIVING IMPACT FROM DATA & ANALYTICS: Cindi Howson from Thoughtspot, who's mission is to create a fact driven world, synthesizes an entire season of interviews with executive leaders of data businesses to 3 things. See these below:

  1. Good data starts with asking the right questions

  2. Data is a product analytics is a service: Reports are only as available as the actions they create. Make your analysis actionable.

  3. Culture & Mindset is key to USING data: Data literacy is important. Train yourself, and your team, to know how to interpret data at a similar level.

Interested in learning more? Listen to the Podcast on Data Chief

TIP: Simplify then magnify.

We live in a world of endless data. Understand the data you need well enough to simplify it, then magnify the specific problem it reveals and solve it.

Stay Productive. 

Joe House