“Where knowledge is power, data is wealth. It’s not intrinsic in the data, it’s what you do with it.”
Data is, undoubtedly, the new currency used in commerce today. Companies use data to easily forge one-to-one relationships by offering tailored experiences and recommendations to end consumers. Many organizations are disrupting established industries and transforming the ways they function in order to unlock the true power of data.
However, owing to the fragmented nature of data, lack of technology and industry domain expertise, transformation fatigue, etc., translating data into dollars remains a self-fulfilling prophecy for many. Such companies tend to face dire consequences like thin profit margins, plateaued top line, unsatisfied customers, to name a few. Ergo, deriving value from data must be contemplated as an essential segment of an overall business strategy.
Data monetization presents great opportunities for smart business leaders and helps enterprises make informed decisions and turn information into profit. So, organizations eyeing their new milestones need to have a robust data monetization strategy.
Data Monetization Strategies to Compete Borderless Business Paradigms
Data monetization is one of the best methods to leverage the value of “dead data”. As the term value suggests, data monetization goes beyond transferring or selling data assets. In fact, it allows collection and packaging of data or the respective data insights for creating revenue-generating products or delivering value-added services. Data monetization practices involve strategies to improve customer experience, drive cross-selling, or improve performance, perform targeted marketing, improve supply chain and logistics, create new sources of revenue with outside partners, and more. The opportunities are endless without a shadow of a doubt. The good news is that one does not need Rumpelstiltskin to spin data into gold. Adopting these cyclical strategies can potentially help organizations monetize data effectively.
Identify. Determine. Capture
Data monetization strategy involves three main stages:
Identify Data
In order to determine maximum value, identifying what data is relevant is essential. This step requires professionals to take stock of all the information received, document the existing data landscape in terms of quantity and quality, and analyze systems and tools associated. Following documentation and examination of market trends and data use cases, directing the efforts towards receiving or providing value to your business (for example suppliers, customers, and partners) can produce significant value.
Determine Value
When the identification part is done, developing monetization initiatives for each dataset to derive insights into customer demographics, interests, preferences and online behaviors, etc. is the next step. The initiatives may include:
- Selling raw data
- Developing analytics capabilities
- Creating a new product or service
- Improving operational efficiencies
Organizations employ cloud-based, self-service integration platforms to generate enriched, highly transformed, customized real-time that allows making cost-reduction decisions by simplifying processes; it leads to increased automation and high operational efficiencies.
Capture Value
The final step of monetization involves creating a go-to-market plan for capturing each opportunity. In this final step, organizations need to answer 3 questions such as:
- Which customer segments are targeted?
- What sales channels are utilized?
- What kind of marketing is required?
Ideas should be vetted and properly validated in this phase. This allows businesses, especially without comprehensive data governance in place, to determine areas where development is required or where expertise is required. Organizations with the help of a fully developed go-to-market strategy can monetize their “dead data” effectively.
Whether a company is an early stage start-up dreaming of achieving unicorn status or a Fortune 100 enterprise attempting to chase the next $1 trillion valuations, it needs to implement a powerful data monetization strategy for tapping into the highest-value opportunities and successfully competing in today’s borderless economy.