Digital Data Sets

It is widely accepted now that the vast amounts of data that companies generate represents a tremendous repository of potential value. This value is monetary, and also social; it contains terrific potential to impact the public good. But do organisations - and do we as a society - know how to unlock this value? Do we know how to find the insights hidden in our digital attics and use them to improve society and peoples' lives?

In what follows, I outline four steps that could help organisations maximise their data assets for public good. If there is an overarching theme, it is about the value of re-using data. Recent years have seen a growing open data movement, in which previously siloed government datasets have been made accessible to outside groups.

Despite occasional trepidation on the part of data holders, research has consistently shown that such initiatives can be value-enhancing for both data holders and society.


The same is true for private sector data assets. Better and more transparent reuse of data is arguably the single most important measure we can take to unleash this dual potential. To help maximise data for the public good, we need to develop methodologies to measure the value of data.

To fulfil the potential of data, stakeholders need to arrive at a better understanding of just what we mean by value. Despite widespread consensus that data is valuable, there is no equally accepted method for calculating that value.

(From "Unlock the Hidden Value of Your Data")