This week in data – March 23

Facebook and Cambridge Analytica

The outcry over Cambridge Analytica this week is strong, and a good example of what can happen when data is shared without consent or governance. We reckon it’s a bit of a wake-up call, and this CMO article highlights the reasons why.

If you’re capturing any data, for any reason, this is a must-read.

THE TAKEAWAY:

“Whether you’re Facebook, a university, or a government – it’s critical that you can govern the flows of data in and out of your organisation, that you can track where and how shared-data is used both now and in the future.”

Digital justice

Florida has been all over the news for the past month, for unfortunate reasons, but now the Florida government is considering a law that would standardise, digitise and share information from the state’s several criminal justice departments. A good sign of things to come, perhaps.

THE TAKEAWAY: 

“Until now, in Florida and in most states, some of this information has remained trapped in arcane, disconnected databases, and sometimes even in filing cabinets.”

Netflix and data-driven design

One of the big secrets in Hollywood is trapped inside Netflix. They can see exactly what people watch and when they watch it. The result? Netflix can design its user interface to show people content it knows people will love. And its algorithms are all doing this on the fly, using thousands of genre combinations to show people content they’re likely to enjoy.

This article takes a look at just how powerful Netflix is when it comes to data-driven recommendations that increase customer satisfaction.

THE TAKEAWAY:

“Netflix estimates that its algorithms save $1 billion a year in value from customer retention – an eye-opening figure for one of the biggest household names in entertainment.”

Turn wasted data into an advantage

Companies throw away soooooo much data. And with good reason. But what if you could actually use it? That’s what KW examines in this article: turns out all the “waste” from the Internet of Things might just have a use after all. You just need to know how to capture it, and what to use it for.

THE TAKEAWAY: 

“In summary, if IoT is the new internet and data is the new oil, don’t let your IoT data exhaust go to waste. It just might contain the insights to fuel the competitive advantage that helps you win the future race in your market.”

A better, safer way to analyse data

This week we here at Data Republic and SAS have teamed up. Now, any organisation using Data Republic can also use SAS analytics tools within shared data projects. It’s a great way to not only share information responsibly, but gather more insights from it.

THE TAKEAWAY:

“In addition to anonymised data sharing and analysis, Data Republic’s Senate Platform ensures customer privacy by using de-identification technology, full data encryption and ‘private by design’ governance controls.”

That’s our wrap for this week. Thanks for reading – we hope you found it entertaining and informational. We’d love to hear your thoughts on these articles and anything else data related! Email us anytime at enquiries@datarepublic.com!

Until next week,

Team Data Republic

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