Because data is one of an organization’s most critical assets, monetizing it should be a top priority for business leaders. Data monetization is the act of generating economic benefits from data, either internally or externally through selling data to third parties.  Benefits typically fall within three broad categories, increase revenue, lower costs, and manage risks. A previous blog post Real-Time Data Analytics During Uncertain Times lists some examples of each of these categories and delves into the business value of data.

Although many organizations use data analytics to achieve these types of benefits, many leaders are constantly seeking even greater opportunities to monetize their data. So, how can you do more?  Here are a few tips to realize additional monetization advantages:

#1. Assess the Data You Have

Your first step should be to identify what data you have that can generate value by looking at its relevance to use cases and its potential impact on a business.  You should also assess data quality and fix known issues as this is key to successful data monetization.

#2. Define Your Business Objectives

Once you understand your data assets, you can decide on your monetization goals, defining new ways you or your potential customers can use it to create more revenue, lower costs, and manage risks. This is often a balancing act, weighing quick wins versus long-term strategy, costs versus benefits, and risks versus potential impact. Ultimately, the prioritization process should be based on expected business value.

#3. Develop a Data Monetization Strategy

Internal data monetization involves understanding users and how they view or measure success. Your strategy will need to include data that will help users meet their goals. Selecting the right data often depends on which key performance indicators (KPIs) they use to measure performance.

External data monetization strategies involve many factors.  You will need to determine:

• The best market – Research buyers, their requirements, and their willingness to pay for data.
• The most appropriate monetization model – Choose among options such as data licensing, data subscriptions, one-time data sales, or others.
• The optimal packaging and pricing – Understand market dynamics such as supply and demand and consumption preferences.
• The right channel(s) – Determine third-party platforms and data marketplaces that can broaden customer reach.

#4. Ensure Privacy, Compliance, and Ethical Use

Whether you are pursuing internal or external data monetization, you will need to ensure that data sharing and usage: a) comply with data privacy regulations, b) protect sensitive information, and c) does not harm individuals or society. If you are selling data, you will need to be transparent about where and how you collect data.

#5. Invest in Data Infrastructure

Data monetization is enabled through ingesting, transforming, analyzing, and storing data using a trusted, flexible, and easy-to-use data platform. Having the ability to run the platform in the cloud will:

• Make it easier to facilitate connectivity among locations spread across the world. ​
• Provide the ability to grow or shrink CPU, memory, and storage resources to adapt to the changing demands of data monetization workloads​.
• Help you stay current with the latest technologies to support innovation.

Additionally, data monetization is most effective when a data platform provides real-time data analytics so that users are empowered to make important decisions in the moment.

#6. Promote Data Monetization Efforts

Internally, gaining leadership support, training, and education, communicating benefits and successes, and creating data champions, can all help to encourage data monetization adoption.  Externally, data is a product that will require appropriate sales and marketing strategies. And, just like most new initiatives, you will need to continuously evaluate and optimize the performance and impact of your data monetization efforts.

Get Started with Actian

For your data monetization initiative to succeed, you will need data that everyone has confidence in and can easily use. Learn how the Actian Data Platform delivers easy-to-use data you can trust.

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