Overcoming barriers to unlock data value

This article is part of our Opinions section.

Our digital world is constantly producing and collecting data. Thanks to the proliferation of devices, sensors and the wide-reaching Internet of Things, there are very few activities that we haven’t figured out how to track.

This has given companies access to more data than ever before — and challenged them to find effective ways to meaningfully extract the value that will help improve outcomes and drive revenue. The increased visibility and use of data-hungry AI tools are making the ability to use data even more powerful.

It is easy to assume that the volume of data one possesses correlates with optimised results, however, the existence of data does not always guarantee an ability to unlock its value. There are many factors that determine if (and how much) value data can provide for an organisation including costs to obtain, relevance, legality of use and an entity’s capacity to process and leverage the outcomes of their analysis.

In this article, we’ll highlight three barriers that can hinder an organisation’s ability to effectively extract value from data: regulations, ownership and security concerns.  

Regulations in play

In parallel to the growing availability of data over the past decade, there has been a surge of activity in the global regulatory landscape. Many of these regulations are being implemented to protect the privacy and security of sensitive, personally identifiable consumer data.

The EU’s Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) led the charge when it came into effect in May 2018. Many of the core principles of the GDPR are reflected in numerous other global policies, bringing broader visibility to concepts such as Privacy by Design, data minimisation, data subject rights, data transfers and data confidentiality.

All of these factor into an entity’s ability to effectively extract value from datasets, both those they own and those held by third parties.

This month, the EU AI Act came into effect which will impact the way data can be leveraged for a range of AI use cases. While the policy is a significant milestone toward advancing the responsible, safe, and secure adoption of AI across global organisations, understanding its impact will take time.

The EU AI Act recognises the importance of data as a building block of AI by emphasising the need for data privacy in shaping future innovation and encouraging strategies that include security and privacy as foundational elements.

While we may be in the era of AI hype, some tools will play a significant role in business moving forward, all of which are fuelled by data.   

Data from everywhere

One of the other shifts in our globalised, digital world is that companies may no longer be the source of the data that is most useful to their business. Valuable data comes from everywhere: commercial data providers, open-source platforms, social channels, advertising platforms, public sector holdings and even competitors.

This broad, rich collection of data is particularly useful for model training and data-dependent other AI use cases when more data leads to enriched results. And while it is fantastic to have more data available, sourcing from other owners can frequently become a barrier to data usage. 

Leveraging datasets outside an organisation’s control or ownership is not a straightforward endeavour. It can be expensive to initiate and costly to maintain, especially given that many datasets are dynamic.

Additionally, it can be especially challenging as moving and pooling data to a central location is often a regulatory and security nightmare, especially for industries that deal with sensitive data inputs, such as healthcare or financial services.

Even when shared interests mean that collaboration would likely benefit all parties, rarely is any entity able or willing to bear the risk that comes with sacrificing ownership of their data. This often leaves businesses aware that there is a data source that could enhance their business, but unable to use it. 

A matter of security

The final data usage barrier is security. When it comes to data usage, it is critical to consider security from the perspective of both the data user and the data owner.

While it may not seem that there is much at risk for data users, it is important to recognise what using data can reveal about their interests. The parameters of data they target as well as the searches or analysis they perform can offer insight into business practices, intellectual property or competitive advantage whose exposure could negatively impact the data user.

Additionally, when leveraging data owned by a third party, data users are obligated to ensure that they continue to adhere to regulatory policies and do not unintentionally increase their risk.

For the data owner, security means ensuring that the data they are responsible for is protected, guarding against loss, tampering, or misuse. The inability to secure data while it’s being used is one of the things limiting data monetisation for many organisations today.

The risks associated with data mishandling from a regulatory and reputational perspective are too high for some to even consider the value of their data holdings.

Technology to the rescue

While our focus has been on barriers to data usage, the good news is that innovation is delivering a means to overcome these challenges. Breakthroughs in Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), a family of technologies that enhance, enable and preserve the privacy of data throughout its processing lifecycle, are being increasingly utilised to overcome barriers around security, privacy and data ownership.

With PETs, organisations can extract value from data without compromising the privacy and security of the data assets or their interests.

This ability to allow data to be both leveraged and protected is the reason groups including the United Nations, Royal Society, and UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have highlighted the exploration and adoption of PETs as a critical component of secure and private data usage for a broad range of use cases, including AI. 

Data is undoubtedly the driving force behind the digital age. The ability to overcome barriers to safely and effectively unlock value from data across boundaries — regulatory, ownership, and security — will help businesses stand apart from competitors. PETs will be the key enabler to making it happen.

Businesses must begin to understand, explore and utilise this increasingly visible family of technologies today.