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Organisations should use data as a monetisation tool

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 15 Mar 2017
Dr Rado Kotorov, chief innovation officer of Information Builders.
Dr Rado Kotorov, chief innovation officer of Information Builders.

Most companies are not using data for value creation or value maximisation, and this results in a lot of decision errors, delayed decisions or erosion of trust within the organisation.

This is according to Dr Rado Kotorov, chief innovation officer and VP of global product marketing at Information Builders, speaking at the ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit 2017 this morning in Bryanston about the importance of data governance. Dr Kotorov believes data governance is a business process and a business strategy, and organisations have to approach it from a business perspective and not only from a technology perspective, but the opposite is happening today.

"Most organisations have all the data and all the technology, but they never use it to bring in a new revenue model. Instead, they sell their data to start-ups and those start-ups in turn sell that data back later, in the form of an application, or as more valuable insight-driven data," he pointed out. "Data governance is not a project, it's a culture, and because it's a culture, both the analytics and the governance are technology supported and it's not the other way round. But I still see many organisations managing their data as a project and not as part of the organisation's culture."

In order for organisations not to make this mistake, Kotorov, highlighted three principles of data governance which have to be applied:

"Firstly, organisations have to think of data as a business asset and also manage it as an asset. Secondly, they must use data to be more innovative in a business; this will help the organisation provide clients with a variety of choices. Thirdly, data must be used as a as a monetisation tool, when you start collecting data think about how the business can use it to be monetised," he advised.

Monetisation, he added, is also about providing new ways of doing things, and ultimately generating new ways of doing business.

Kotorov highlighted the importance of adopting an asset management system which provides a structured, best-practice approach to managing the lifecycle of assets within an organisation. However, he warned this cannot be done accurately without a digital management system.

Making reference to Harvard University business review research, he pointed out that digital assets across the entire economy doubled over the past five years.

"The most digital companies see outsized growth in productivity and profit margins. The asset management system reduces risks associated with ownership of assets - anything from unnecessary maintenance costs and inefficiency to accident prevention. It also improves quality assurance for customers and regulators - where assets play a key role in the provision and quality of products and services," he concluded.

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