Innovate or die: uncovering the right data to fuel business advantage

If you cast you mind back to a decade ago, the 10 highest valued companies were quite diverse but with a dominance of oil and gas. But, when you look to that same statistic in from the beginning of this year, you immediately understand just how valuable data is. Now, seven out of the 10 highest valued global brands are data companies. Data as the new oil? Clearly.  

But does this new commodity offer up riches for all? 

The answer is yes – provided businesses invest wisely. Because when you invest in data, its storage, its management and its analysis, you’re investing in innovation.

Innovation is always a balance between doing new things and avoiding new risks. So you shouldn’t just stop innovating if you’re risk averse. If a fear of risk is holding your business back from innovating, risks will still threaten your business in the form of new enemies. Ones that will try to get into your data, and to get your money – which is, essentially, data.

So how can you best use your data to push into new innovation?  

The fact is, if you can’t handle data, you will not leverage innovation. The majority of business model transformations in this world are based on data. But it’s not just about the raw data: it’s about capturing the value out of the data and shoring up your systems to manage it. Certainly, the storage solutions won’t bring the innovation by themselves, but without them you can’t innovate. They’re vital. 

The more efficiently you store your data, the more benefits your business will see. 

In the next three years, the value of data will increase, making it even more valuable than it is today. You will continue to see exponential growth in the amount of data you have at your fingertips. Its volume will double every two years.