Is data still the new oil?
“Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.” — Peter Sondergaard, 2011
Data in the 21st Century is like Oil in the 18th Century: an immensely, untapped valuable asset. Like oil, for those who see Data’s fundamental value and learn to extract and use it, there will be huge rewards. We’re in a digital economy where data is more valuable than ever.
Well, this statement has changed since then, data can no longer be metaphorically compared to oil. Data is essentially infinitely durable and reusable, whereas oil is a finite resource. Data is compared to oil, which implies that data has no value after use and decreases in a utility like in the case of oil. Data also shows more applications once processed. It would be a mistake to treat data like oil: using it once then believing its value has been exhausted and disposing of it.
The real point is Data needs to be redefined
One needs to understand that data is valuable only if it is in a usable form. In real-world data collected by businesses for analytics may suffer from flaws like inconsistency, missing information or the data is not in a form that is ready for predictive analytics.
Quality data is fuel for analytics and artificial intelligence
Peter Sondergaard was correct, to some extent as as modern artificial intelligence requires large amounts of quality data to mimic human actions.
Giving all the credit to AI and tools like Python and PowerBI for all the outcomes but the truth is none of it would have made sense if there was no quality data. Machine learning or deep learning algorithm is pretty useless if it doesn’t have a quality dataset to learn from, the training of the model won’t even make sense.
Everything requires infrastructure and less of a surprise that data needs one too, but it is also true that everything comes with a price tag. Data infrastructure that is unnecessarily expensive becomes a liability rather than an asset. Yet availability is a major factor as it is very important to be able to retrieve data in a reasonable time.
All in all, data is quite different from oil as the basic definition of data is virtually infinite. Each day 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced globally. Unlike oil we will never run out of data, as we will just keep creating more of it and well this brings out a very strong point that data is created, even a small new account on Facebook or Instagram is creating new data or even a simple google search is creating a set of data.
This means that data is that asset that doesn’t have to go away and can remain useful even after a very long time. Companies might keep recording data to optimize their model learning, a basic example Amazon recommendation.
Now data is of many kinds one of which is sensitive data that should remain protected and private. You see data can be a very powerful tool in today’s world especially if used cleverly just like one of the biggest data scandals Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018. Where loads of data were collected without any consent and were used for political agendas. Upon getting caught Facebook’s market cap fell by over $100 billion in just a few days.
Data might be similar to oil because it acts as fuel for analytics and artificial intelligence, like oil it also requires infrastructure. Data is more complex than oil as a resource because it is created and not destroyed and can keep adding more value as more of it becomes available. Data collection has to be dealt with issues like privacy and ethics.
Yes, data is valuable like oil, but it is also true that we need to understand the potential of the data as a resource for advancing the technology that we see today.
