Empowered Society through Data

Hi! I am Rio Dayao — a BS Economics graduate from the Philippines currently working as a business analyst in a private cloud-based communications company. I have a passion for youth empowerment and futures thinking and a background on finance and business, environment, policy-making, and development work. On the side, I also enjoy learning languages and tinkering data. I would consider myself as an intuitive person of which part is making sure that my decisions would have basis. And this I think is also the reason why I became fond of data, as it provides me the details needed for my decision-making.

My enthusiasm for data is also the reason why I am in the field of analytics. I am grateful to have experienced taking data-related roles in different types of organization — particularly on a non-governmental organization, government, and corporate set-up. And in this article, I would like to share my learning on how data empowers each type of organization and our society as a whole. Let’s begin.

Data in Non-Governmental Organizations

I would like to start with non-governmental organizations. My experience working in an NGO allowed me to see how data is crucial in backing up your claims. Since you are persuading people to take your side, it is important that you are able to substantiate your arguments. Not only will empty rhetoric make your credibility questionable but it will also provide an unclear picture of what you want to happen concretely.

You back-up your claims by conducting a thorough research for arguments and by effectively engaging your opposition. We do this by citing empirical research and data whenever we make a point or refute an opposing argument.

One particular instance I remember related to this was when we pushed for the sin excise taxes to curb smoking prevalence. Economics would tell us that by increasing the price of a certain product (tobacco in this case), you would discourage consumers (smokers) from consuming it. But, we needed to provide figures that will support this claim. What we did was to look for health-related data such as healthcare costs, smokers by age groups, disease statistics, and the like since the advocacy is also health in nature. Naturally, we also worked closely with the Departments of Health and Finance, medical professionals, and health organizations in preparing these figures so that we have actual and credible data to present as we rally people to our cause.

Being data-driven, in my opinion, was one of the key ingredients why the Sin Tax campaign became successful. The health advocates ensured we did not merely rely on catchy soundbites or appeal to emotions, but more on being able to provide concrete impacts and recommendations.

Data in the Government

An old mentor of mine once told me that the role of the government is like a referee — it must acknowledge that different sectors have competing interests which need to be balanced. And related to this, I believe that data is like the game rules of the referee, the government, which guides him on doing his job. One sector may push for culture conservation while the other may push for its modernization and they are both your constituents. And in the ideal scenario, data enables the government to take an objective stand. By adhering to data, biases are minimized and truths are emphasized, enabling the government to fulfill its role.

And to do so, a commonly used method by the government is public consultation. Whenever a policy or a project is being pushed by a government agency, or a law is being crafted by the lawmakers, you may expect the government inviting representatives from all sectors affected (pros, antis, and neutrals) including concerned government agencies for inputs. From my experience attending consultations in the Senate, House of Representatives, and in numerous Department consultations, the government would always 1) ask for position papers and presentations 2) scrutinize the arguments (scientific, legal, socioeconomic, etc.) of presenters, and 3) ask for your data sources.

The government cannot afford to stake its credibility on half-baked presentations. In fact, I’ve witnessed presenters grilled, stopped, or asked to repeat presentation whenever figures presented were unreliable and questionable. I believe it is important to do so, to make sure the government is able to do its job of taking an objective stand. Anything less could be costly for its citizens, and we may have witnessed such horrible scenarios when the government does not listen to scientific research.

Data in the Corporate Set-up

While we commonly attribute in the private sector the use of data in maximizing business profits, I believe there is an even more important role for data in the corporate set-up. It is to help business leaders fulfill business objectives. Any business will not thrive if it does not focus first on providing value to the market. Without a good quality of product or service, to begin with, you will have a hard time reaching your business targets no matter how good your profit prediction is. The primary use therefore of data should be in making sure that you are able to provide the best value or service to the market as the gains will just consequently follow.

This is the reason why companies invest greatly on data analytics. It equips the companies with the ability to predict the results of its business decisions, minimizing huge costs from the could have been losses. In fact, a January 2020 report for Global Big Data Analytics Market expects the big data market to grow at a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3 percent for the period of 2019 to 2027 which furthers validates our claim.

But how do corporations use data specifically? By analyzing its past and future operations. As an example, your past operations are being evaluated through periodical reports, answering questions such as how did you perform, what went wrong, which segments are concerned, and the like. On the other hand, predictive analytics foresee your future operations by answering questions such as how profitable a certain business decision would be, who will be affected by a certain project, and many more. Answering such questions let the business leaders know the path towards achieving business objectives, which are all made possible because of the insights from your data.

Empowered Society through Data

To end, after taking data-related roles in different types of organization (in a non-governmental organization, the government, and the corporate set-up), I was able to appreciate more the importance of data and its many real-life applications. There may be differences on how specifically data is utilized under each type, but one thing is for sure — we all use data to create better decisions. And ultimately, as different types of organization become empowered through data, we are also able to empower the society as a whole.

P.S. The views and opinions shared in this article do not represent any of the author’s past and present work affiliations.

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