Each week, we compile the best stories in data. You get everything in your inbox, without having to search for it.
Everything is about to change
About time. After months and months of waiting, the new General Data Protection Regulation is in full swing come 25 May. But businesses shouldn’t fear: in fact, one company says now’s the best time to start offering real value from data-driven products. The new laws will separate real players from the fakes, it says.
THE TAKEAWAY:
“The big banks might not score highly in customer service surveys, but people trust them because they have been around for so long. Newcomers need to earn that trust in more meaningful ways. And that’s where GDPR is going to make a big difference.”
Federal Budget to establish new data commissioner
Finally! The feds are serious about it, too: the AFR reckons there’s $65 million coming to oversee how data is used within government. Inefficient bureaucracy is a huge blocker to getting productive stuff done with data, so this is a welcome surprise.
THE TAKEAWAY:
“As part of the reforms, a National Data Advisory Council will consult with community groups and provide advice on ethical data use and technical best practice.”
Lots of data, but no one’s making money
That’s what McKinsey says, anyway: companies have lots of information but they don’t know what to do with it. So Computer Weekly probes into why that is – and comes up with a pretty important conclusion based on a case study with Adobe: data is currency. If you aren’t spending it, you’re just getting further behind.
THE TAKEAWAY:
“To tackle…data governance issues…Adobe decided to concentrate on understanding personas, looking across the customer journey at how different people in Adobe interact with the customer.”
Banks fancy a little open banking
Actually, scrap “a little”. Try “a lot”. That’s what Finextra reports: 87% of banks surveyed in a global poll say they want to start developing open APIs. That’s huge – and a massive improvement over last year. The paradigm shift has arrived.
THE TAKEAWAY:
“The dramatic change in attitudes toward both open banking and real-time payments in just one year is telling,” said Craig Ramsey, head of real-time payments, ACI Worldwide.
Data is a tool, but alone it won’t save you
It’s clear at this point that having access to huge amounts of information is great, but alone it won’t do much. That’s what this new poll found anyway: 70% of big data projects in the UK aren’t reaching their potential. The answer: governance, structure and rules.
THE TAKEAWAY:
“Thanks to the fact Big Data is a fairly new concept, the distributed processing technologies leveraged to analyse it are still rapidly evolving, and with them, the way organisations operate and compete with one another.”
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