The algorithmic economy
Data is all around us. We are giving out data every single day, whether that is in the google search, on Facebook or to the organisations that we deal with on a regular basis. All of this data is enabling a new world of customer value and targeting. The opportunities? New revenue streams and efficiencies.
We are seeing this even more so with top performing companies increasing their revenue through top line analytics. For me, whilst I understand the importance of data, I have never viewed it as an asset to my business, but this opinion isn’t correct. Using Three6 as an example there are three different ways that MIT taught us about data monetisation to generate revenue. The balance of these three ways of monetisation will differ in each organisation depending on your industry, structure and set up. However, it provides us with an interesting time to ask ourselves if our balance is correct.
To help explain this concept, I’ll use Three6 as an example.
Improve the process – Three6 60% of our data monetisation
We are continuously looking to improve what we do for our clients. We capture as much data as we can because this is incredibly important to our growth. We want to make sure that we are putting in place the right data capturing mechanisms, from tags on blog posts and analytics on our social media, to our CRM system to analyse our customer engagement, to standard processes and times to complete tasks. Having common systems and storage provides the opportunity to continually review what we are doing and where we can improve so that we are delivering a service that meets our changing customer needs and enables us to do it faster.
Wrapping data around products – Three6 40% of our data monetisation
Many of us are selling traditional products and services. With the addition of data you can transform your offering into a bundle. For example, an energy provider can provide the user with metrics around usage, costs and load at peak times as a service to enable the customer to make better decisions. This is where the digital platform starts to mature, linking products and services to provide an end to end solution.
Three6 is in a partnership to develop a digital platform of which at the heart, is a learning management system that brings you the information you need to improve the skills you need to do your job. As we build and develop this, the data we collect and use is going to be essential. We’ll be able to start identifying where key pain areas are across businesses to enable benchmarking, we’ll be able provide you with an understanding of your progress and highlight articles, modules and people with common interests to get you the answers you need faster. These additional offerings turn great content into a valuable asset.
Sell information – Three6 0% of our data monetisation
With the amount of information that is being collected there is the opportunity to sell that data. I am currently reading a book called ”Everybody lies” by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. This book focuses on the data that is available from Google searches, Facebook and the like, and how this information can be used to tell us more about ourselves than we may already know. For example, when Netflix or Amazon recommending movies or books for us based on our previous selections. This data provides a wealth of opportunities for more targeted marketing, however just because you have data doesn’t mean it is valuable. Would someone actually be willing to pay for it? Does it tell us anything new or represent anything?
At Three6 we don’t sell or use data in this way, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a viable option for your company to pursue.
If more of our returns are coming from these capabilities, we need to be able to enhance them in our organisations by focusing on:
· Data that people can find use and trust
· Data platforms that serve up data reliably and fast
· Data science that detects what humans can’t
· Deep customer understanding that identifies important needs
· Governance that oversees both compliance and ethics
These link to higher monetisation outcomes, companies that look like this for their data projects are delivering sooner with greater ROI. So how are you using your data?