Food Pyramid or Data Pyramid?
The role of data and analytics varies from supporting cast to center of attention — across market segments and business models. Outsell views data, regardless of its form, through an application-centered paradigm that invariably maps to business decisions.
Outsell’s Data Business Value Pyramid builds on a base of raw data assets that both stands alone as a monetizable offering and serves as the raw material for more sophisticated solutions further up the value chain. In prior posts, we’ve spoken about the major use cases for monetizing data.
There are numerous ways to think about playing in the monetization ecosystem. Are you at the bottom of the pyramid where your data can be “Intel Inside” and licensed into myriad applications use cases? Think location data, company data, or headlines as a form of data. Increasingly, that is not enough, and many companies are choosing where they want to play in the value chain of data-driven solutions.
The framework below provides a mechanism to choose where you want to play in the ecosystem, and in order to understand where to play, it’s essential to understand target markets for your day. We’ll write more about that framework because it goes hand in hand with this one. One is about choosing your markets for data, and the other is about choosing what level of solutions you’ll provide. Some companies only license their data. Some go up the value chain and deliver solutions built off their data. Some do both for particular markets while choosing to license data to markets they do not want to play in.
This is where target market analysis comes in. We’ll write about Outsell’s framework for target market analysis in a coming post. In the meantime, if you are Driving Growth in the Data Economy and are a CEO, COO, MD, or president in the global data and information industry, plan to join us for Outsell’s Signature Event, October 4–5 at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Our theme is just that — Driving Growth in the Data Economy, and you’ll have unparalleled networking and case studies in an environment designed for CEOs.
If you are a chief content officer, chief data officer, or looking at content licensing or enterprise data management in or outside the data and information industry, plan to focus on buying and selling data at Outsell’s DataMoney, our second event, scheduled 31 January — 1 February at the Conrad Hilton in New York. These are must attend events for industry execs, and we can’t wait to see you there.
Meanwhile, recognize that large firms in the industry have now staffed up with data science teams who are working to drive next generation solutions for customers. Key customer pain points we hear about include: the ability to integrate internal and other third-party data into applications; licensing frameworks that allow for the free flow of information in text mining and other analytics solutions; and the ability to access data through APIs and systems architectures that evolve to support data integration. Case in point, one recent breakdown in the highly visible Watson/MD Anderson “break up” was the inability for the newly deployed Electronic Health Records system to feed data into Watson to keep it up to date. The seemingly obvious is sometimes the issue that thwarts optimal deployment in an era where “feeding the beast” with regular data streams can be a challenge. Talent becomes another gating factor given the demands on the profession and the dearth of data science talent available in the marketplace.
Outsell continues to monitor and analyze developments in this space, which, for the majority of large information companies, is no longer state of the art but required. New companies continue to emerge, which forms the basis for M&A opportunity, just another way companies are entering the space. To learn more, register for our events. If you need to discuss use cases for your data or how to monetize it, give us a call. Our team is on standby, and we’ve focused on the business of data and information for over 20 years. Ahead of the data curve, I might say, but that’s why executives subscribe to our community — to see what’s around the corner and to know the future now.
Anthea C. Stratigos is Co-founder & CEO of Outsell, Inc., the leading research and advisory firm focused exclusively on data, media, information, and technology. Get professional and personal lessons from a career spent mentoring successful leaders. Tell your story or ask a question — confidentially. Ask Anthea!
