The Power of a Data Value Chain For Your Business
A quick look around the 21stcentury marketplace reveals a simple truth: the value of data has changed. Industries that once stood alone and operated in silos, have become interconnected by sheer necessity – collecting, analyzing, sharing and even selling data. Thus, calculating the value of data has become a rather complex task. Companies supporting critical infrastructures have transitioned from tracking basic data, to gathering data from all facets of operations and information technologies, analyzing that data, and turning it into actionable intelligence. The value of data today truly exceeds its numerical quantity.
Geospatial data is used by nearly every human throughout the world, either directly or indirectly. Navigation functions on a cell phone? Geospatial data. Restaurant or entertainment recommendations in a specific area? Geospatial data. City bus route coordination? Geospatial data. Most often, we see the end result of geospatial data usage, but what we don’t see is just how many people touch that data to even get it to the point of deployable information.
The implicit value of geospatial data belongs to the 21stcentury workforce: from the boots on the ground mapping geographic terrain and gathering data in urban and rural settings, to engineers and project managers turning that data into knowledge by developing creative solutions to difficult infrastructure dilemmas; and even to the middle and upper management personas where decision makers are tasked with solving the problems of today with an eye on the obstacles of tomorrow.
The industries affected by geospatial data use that information in innovative ways – from the collection points on the ground to the backend analytics in the corporate office – to drive decision-making, project management, derive creative solutions, and thus increase productivity and a streamlining of workflows. These industries are directly responsible for building and maintaining the critical infrastructure upon which cities – and countries – are built and maintained. With each iteration of geospatial data along the chain, the value of that data increases.
The various touch points of a series of data (for example, each of the aforementioned applications and use cases) creates a chain of inextricably linked decisions that culminate into a set of outcomes. This “value chain” alters the way people and groups of people interact in our daily lives, as a whole, both internally and externally.
The Data Value Chain is a framework through which people can view the flow of geospatial data from the instant it is collected throughout its entire lifecycle. Each vertical industry has its own flow (and needs) of data, but eventually, that data intersects with analytics that can turn individual points of information into all different kinds of actionable intelligence. The Data Value Chain depends on a blended technology ecosystem that acts as disruptive force throughout the global marketplace to root out traditional, static practices and supplant them with innovative, purpose-built solutions based on data analytics.
The focus should not be on the newest tools. Rather, it is more important to know what users need to accomplish their tasks. To do this, we first must understand how people work. Who are they, and what is their role in a project or enterprise? What information do they need? Where and how do they use it? And what is the end result?
The answers to these questions often illustrate how people use multiple types of data that come from different sources at different times. End users often need to combine and analyze the data to extract the needed bits.
