Don’t dismantle data silos, build bridges
European banks brace for shake-up in customer data access. Everyone wants a data platform, not a database. What is the impact of blockchains on privacy?
All included in this week’s digest on the world of data. 👇🏼
Don’t dismantle data silos, build bridges. Alan J. Porter, senior customer experience evangelist for the OpenText Customer Experience Suite, explains the importance of organisations having a “holistic view” of their “customer’s data”. But this shouldn’t be from pooling siloed data into a central location. → Instead, leave the datasets where they are and build connections between them:
Instead of tearing down the castle (or system) walls, we should be looking at how we can build bridges between them. That way those who have built their expertise can share it while still having authority over their own keep (data set). Bridges allow the required data to be collected once and then flow freely between systems where the individual system owners can use it in the way that best suits their need.
Each customer interfacing system can still stand alone and address the needs of a particular line of business, or be an enterprise single source of truth. Yet by passing data between them, or existing enterprise business systems, they can be the foundation of a fully connected continuous customer experience.
European banks brace for shake-up in customer data access. Writing for the FT, Martin Arnold, Caroline Binham and Jim Brunsden explain the implications of the EU’s second payment services directive (PSD2) which came into force yesterday.
The new legislation aims to “enhance consumer protection, promote innovation and improve the security of payment services” and means that European banks “must start allowing third parties — such as retailers, technology groups and rival lenders — to access the accounts of any customers who authorise it”.
As put by former Barclays chief executive, Antony Jenkins:
The winners in this are going to be the people who can take that data from multiple financial institutions, combine it with other data sources and add value back to the customer.
Data management trends in 2018. Paramita Ghosh discusses her predictions for this year. Alongside the expected — GDPR, data storage, privacy and marketing trends — Ghosh points out that enterprises are “realising” that “data is their most prized asset” and so are exploring ways that they can safely monetise it:
As companies continue to gather huge troves of device data, network data, or customer behaviour data — they are now thinking of turning this data into a profitable revenue earner through advanced Big Data technologies associated with data acquisition, storage, analysis, and deployment. The advanced customer analytics possible due to Big Data will hopefully enhance revenue generation for businesses in future.
Everyone wants a data platform, not a database. Jeffrey Burt explains the need for a “more scalable, programmable, and adaptable platforms with real-time applications that can chew on ever-increasing amounts and types of data”.
To do so, Ravi Mayuram, SVP of engineering and CTO at Couchbase, explains the importance of “moving away from a rigid schema to a flexible schema” which can adapt to changing and different markets — as that’s “what really liberates data”.
Carphone Warehouse fined £400,00 over data breach. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued one of their largest fines — so far. The company failed to secure “the personal data of over three million customers and 1,000 employees”. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham commented:
A company as large, well-resourced, and established as Carphone Warehouse, should have been actively assessing its data security systems, and ensuring systems were robust and not vulnerable to such attacks. Carphone Warehouse should be at the top of its game when it comes to cyber-security, and it is concerning that the systemic failures we found related to rudimentary, commonplace measures.
→ GDPR consent design: how granular must adtech opt-ins be?
China wants an “orderly exit” from bitcoin mining. Zheping Huang reported for Quartz on a leaked document which outlines how China is clamping down on Bitcoin miners, such as by limiting their electricity supply. China currently accounts for “more than two-thirds” of Bitcoin mining and is home to the largest mining pools.
Whatsmore, South Korea plans to ban cryptocurrency trading as authorities investigate alleged tax evasion.
— Aaron Stanley discusses the lure of Quebec for cryptocurrency miners, as it has the “largest hydroelectric power producers in the world”. (The Bitcoin Bucket!)
Miscellaneous
What is the impact of blockchains on privacy? 💯
Kodak stock price up 89% after announcing ICO. 🙄
AlphaGo Zero explained in one picture. 🤖
Experian’s “meet your data self” campaign. 🤳
Apple health data used in a murder trial. 🔍
Turning design mockups into code with deep learning. 🚀
Beginner’s guide series on cryptoassets. 💸
Demonstrating the Meltdown bug. 👻
A vast, 430-year-old world map, full of places and creatures. 🗺️
Visualising the uncertainty in data. (image above) 🙌
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