We know that the data economy is going to be huge.  Data fuels innovation, and having that unique data point (or “alt data”) brings incremental value and competitive advantage. Demand for data is exploding. More and more companies are interested in jumping on that train and selling their data.  But how?

In an upcoming webinar, How to Commercialize Your Data, Forrester and Quandl will discuss the trends we see and best practices for successfully taking data to market. The webinar will draw from the recent Forrester report, Data Commercialization: A CIO’s Guide To Taking Data To Market, for the trends: who’s doing it and who’s not, and how the opportunity to derive value from data will transform the role of the CIO. All very interesting.  But questions remain – like how to get your data ready for market.  We’ll talk about that too!

Forrester’s hot-off-the-press Business Technographics Data and Analytics Survey tells us that companies commercializing their data invest in programs, processes and tools to prepare their data. They:

  • Establish data governance programs. When asked about plans for data driven initiatives, 70% of those commercializing have created a business-led data stewardship or governance program compared to 40% of those who have not commercialized their data.
  • Improve data privacy and security. Again, when asked about initiatives, 75% of commercializers report having established new data privacy and security processes and tools, compared to 52% who have not commercialized their data.
  • Implement data quality and governance technologies. There are some big differences in the use of data quality and governance technologies across commercializers and non-commercializers. For security and privacy technologies the differences are minimal: everyone invests. But the biggest deltas are in data prep tools, business glossaries, governance process automation and monitoring.
  • And, use as-a-service tools for data preparation and data quality. When asked about expected use of as-a-service technologies over the next year, 70% of commercializers expect to increase their use of as-a-service data preparation tools compared to only 43% of those not commercializing; and likewise, 67% expect to increase their use of data quality as a service compared to only 46% of those not commercializing.

Companies that are entering the data economy clearly recognize that to derive value from their data they need to get it ready. But many are not sure how. If you’re interested in hearing more please join our upcoming webinar, on Tuesday, September 19th at 12:15 ET.