Riding the data-sharing economy innovation wave: sink or swim?
It might seem obvious to us now that putting unused physical assets to work and generating revenue by ‘renting’ them out is a good idea. However, this concept wasn’t self-evident in a world before the likes of Uber and AirBnB.
‘Sharing economy’ business models like these have completely revolutionised the way we think about physical assets, and this has led me to wonder: What other types of unused assets have we yet to put to work?
A data-sharing economy
Businesses today are flooded with data. From product specs or details on partners and suppliers, to shipping and logistics records or customer information, organisations are awash with new data as well as the data stored across disks, servers, and laptops – sometimes spanning decades of business activity.
Despite gathering this data in huge quantities, organisations often leave it sitting idle – neglecting so much value locked up in this information. This presents a real opportunity for businesses to start building a sharing economy for digital assets.
If enabled by the right system, a business could easily share its data – particularly unused or underused data – with partners, suppliers, manufacturers, and any other relevant third parties with an interest in its supply chains and business processes.
The type of rich insights this data sharing would provide could, ultimately, help optimise everyone’s performance and lead to win-win improvements across the supply chain.
Opportunities are available in every imaginable business sector, from healthcare and retail, to financial services and manufacturing. Just consider the innovations which could be possible by sharing data across the supply chain for consumer packaged goods.
Access to shared data could offer businesses insight into how long a product stays in store before it’s sold, or even where damages are most likely to occur in the supply chain. With insights at this level, businesses would be able to improve the whole process from manufacturing to sale.
Building on trust
As with any sharing economy business model, a data-sharing system requires two key components. Of course, it needs a platform for sharing large volumes of information, but there is one more essential ingredient for success: trust.
For stakeholders to share inside information across a platform, they must be confident that their secrets, proprietary data, and competitive advantages won’t be compromised.
