DATA
LIQUIDITY,
THE SECRET TO UNLOCKING VALUE
FROM DATA ASSESTS
Indeed, the value of your
paper assets is unusable—to
buy groceries, get lunch or
put gas in your car—
until transformed into cash,
a liquid asset.
In the financial world, liquidity refers to immediate value. Any stock market investor can tell you that paper wealth is
not the same thing as liquid wealth and assets. In the stock market, the value of an asset can rise and fall many times
over, but until that asset is sold, no money has been made or lost. Indeed, the value of your paper assets is unusable—
to buy groceries, get lunch or put gas in your car—until transformed into cash, a liquid asset.
Gartner defines “dark data”. as data that
“organizations collect, process and store during regular
business activities, but generally fail to use for other
purposes (for example, analytics, business relationships
and direct monetizing). “
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This same concept applies to data, which has been framed as a
strategic asset, and even an “asset class” by the World Economic
Forum. Every company has data that they own – whether it is
data that they actively collect or data that piles up passively.
There are many reasons that extracting value from that data is
extremely difficult: There is little or no standardization, data is
collected by disparate groups, stored separately, and is often
unknown to many who need it. Data is often not collected, or
collected in within a context or in a form that can’t be used to
develop the right analysis and draw the right conclusions. Other
times, although it is collected, the data is simply not used or
used properly to drive immediate value for the company.
Gartner refer to this non-liquid data as “dark data1.” Although it
may have potential value, illiquid data, which includes “dark
data,” generally produces no real value for most companies.
© 2014 Ecuiti, Inc. | Data Liquidity, the Secret to Unlocking Value from Data Assets
www.ecuiti.com
[email protected]
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There is potential to collect massive amounts of useful information from billions of interactions between users and
devices today, but it requires transforming the illiquid asset into liquid data.
So what does it mean to have data liquidity? It means that the right data is collected in the right form, via the correct
instrumentation so the data can be used. The data must be in forms that can be processed, in locations and databases
where the data can be accessed. In addition, parties that can make best use of the data will be aware it is there.
Because of these difficulties the vast majority of data collected is effectively unusable to generate value, and is thus,
illiquid. The phenomenon known as “Big Data2 ,” one of the most hyped and inaccurately used terms, is plagued with
this problem.
...data liquidity? It means that
the right data is collected in the
right form, via the correct
instrumentation so the data
can be used.
. an all-encompassing term
Big Data has been used as
for any collection of data and data sets so large and
complex that it becomes difficult to process using
traditional approaches and applications.
2
© 2014 Ecuiti, Inc. | Data Liquidity, the Secret to Unlocking Value from Data Assets
What is required to make this
transformation to liquidity a reality? It will
require more than just data scientists—
skills alone cannot begin to close the
accelerating gap as more and more
connected devices exacerbate the
problem by creating dimensions along
which new information can be generated
at exponential growth rates. Additional
concerted efforts as well as new
approaches are required to tackle the
challenge. Advancing technologies are
required to make data more complete,
easier to use and access, and making it
available for those wishing to manipulate
it. New analytical methods more tightly
integrated with the interaction dynamics
that created the data are needed.
www.ecuiti.com
[email protected]
3
What is required to make this transformation to liquidity a reality? It will require more than just data
scientists—skills alone cannot begin to close the accelerating gap as more and more connected
devices exacerbate the problem by creating dimensions along which new information can be
generated at exponential growth rates. Additional concerted efforts as well as new approaches are
required to tackle the challenge. Advancing technologies are required to make data more complete,
easier to use and access, and making it available for those wishing to manipulate it. New analytical
methods more tightly integrated with the interaction dynamics that created the data are needed.
© 2014 Ecuiti, Inc. | Data Liquidity, the Secret to Unlocking Value from Data Assets
www.ecuiti.com
[email protected]
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