If asked to place a monetary amount on the time you spend reading this post, what would you say? Could you give a dollar amount to your birthday, purchasing habits, or even your social security number? These pieces of data possess value that may be difficult to define relative to our known economies, but their worth is deeply personal—intrinsic to who we are.
Every bit of personal information, even seemingly inconsequential details, can be barcoded and sold to the highest bidder at an auction. In some cases, the bidder is a marketing firm that will identify how to employ the data to sell you red sneakers the next time you are browsing Reddit. In other cases, they may be black hat hackers interested in socially engineering your password to sneak a few hundred out of your PayPal account. It’s almost conspiratorial sounding, but in today’s modern digital world, every ounce of an individual’s data is monetizable to the right corporate or malicious entity.
The true value of data
When we worked with Vanson Bourne to gather analytics and statistics on enterprise data management, we didn’t expect the results would be universally applicable. The report states organizations lose over $2 million USD per year as they struggle with data management challenges. It also highlights IT decision makers waste, on average, two hours daily looking for relevant data to perform their jobs. If inefficient data management impacts individual performance, imagine that result at scale, across an organization.
There are dozens of articles claiming data is the “new oil,” though data is arguably far more valuable than oil, gold, or any other intrinsic finite item. Data is the lifeblood of many companies. In fact, Vanson Bourne discovered investing in a proper data management strategy can reap a $2.18 return on investment for every dollar spent—an astounding metric, given all it takes to make this ROI a reality is a proper data management strategy. Conversely, 27 percent of respondents said their data management practices put them at risk to security threats—a reality that is undeniably alarming and which presents inestimable possible damage. With the number of data breaches occurring in the last few years totaling well beyond 2 billion records affected, we must consider a better way to handle one of our most valuable personal resources.
Reach that ROI
Ensuring data is classified, protected and automated can seem like a daunting task, but we have built a platform for success, implementing strategies organizations can readily follow to reach that 118 percent ROI. If data now drives the overall health of an organization, then investing in it will provide long-term benefits to the company. Understanding the three pillars of data management takes a precious resource and effectively multiplies its value and protects the investment.
When organizations understand what the true value of their data and develop a strategy to manage and protect it, the possibilities are endless. I invite you to access the Vanson Bourne Value of Data report to help prepare your organization to realize the value of its data.
