Data is the New Oil

In 2006, British mathematician Clive Humby coined the phrase “Data is the new oil”.

For some reasons, people twisted it into something like … “Data in the 21st Century is like Oil in the 18th Century: an immensely, untapped valuable asset. Like oil, for those who see Data’s fundamental value and learn to extract and use it there will be huge rewards.” (Wired.com). In other words, it’s suggested that our data is like a gushing oil well and that we ought to be claiming an ownership stake in the profits flowing from that data.

Nothing wrong with that, but what Mr. Humby really meant was … Data, like oil, must be refined and transformed to make it into useful products and services. Only then does it become valuable. In other words, data must be processed and analysed for it to have value.

Having data is not the key, every company has lots of data. However, the key is whether you have transformed your data, to information, to knowledge, to actionable insights and ultimately, great products / services.

Now, your move …