Are you familiar with ‘The Golden Rule’? Not the rule taught to children, but the rule discovered by adults: those who have the gold make the rules.

But in a digital age, there is something far more powerful – and useful – than gold. It has the ability to create empires, and more importantly, influence millions. Every person has the ability to produce it, and corporations and governments go to great lengths to acquire it. What is this mysterious asset?

Data.

And in today’s society, those who have the data make the rules.

But how can that be? Data itself has no intrinsic or even predefined value as a means of storage or exchange. Why is it so important? Let’s examine.

Data in its simplest interpretation are facts and pieces of information collected for reference and analysis. Broadly speaking, data can help make decisions, solve problems, evaluate performance, improve processes, and understand customers and markets. But not all data are created equal. Structured data is easy to digest – it usually resides in relational databases and is searchable via manual queries and algorithms. Unstructured data is significantly more abundant – it has internal structure, but is not structured via any pre-defined model or schema. It’s estimated that ~80% of all enterprise data is unstructured data, which presents a multitude of problems for capturing value.

In order to extract value from data, you must identify the type of data you possess and why it exists. There can be a natural tendency to try to use data without having a clear picture of how the data flows through its value chain. Even the most sophisticated data science models and processes in any industry are useless with bad data. Data analytics techniques can help determine how data is created and how it flows through its value chain, and like any traditional chain, a value chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Analytics are great, but there is often no outcome beyond creating the dataset itself.

Collecting data certainly doesn’t automatically translate to discovery. The first step is to identify a problem and to conceptualize how additional information and clarity might help solve that problem. Data, like any other asset, is rendered worthless unless you’re able to use it to gain economic benefit.

So perhaps the true value of data is actually derived from the ability to implement data science. Data science is a method for extracting insights from structured and unstructured data using approaches ranging from statistical analysis to machine learning. During the industrial revolution, new manufacturing processes enabled enterprises to convert raw materials into valuable, tangible products more efficiently and at scale. The same thing is happening today! Data science processes are employed to enable enterprises to transform seemingly uninteresting data into value – in the form of increased revenue, reduced costs, improved customer experience, or the development of new products.

The right to data value is not strictly reserved for enterprises. In fact, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) was recently implemented to allow consumers to have more control of their own user data. IoT (Internet of Things) is everywhere – and anything that can be connected, will be connected. The personal devices for everyday use are WiFi enabled and ready to record, store, and exchange your individual data. As an individual, effective data utilization can facilitate awareness of daily behavior patterns and allows for adjustments to be made as necessary. Data can help make informed decisions about work, sleep, exercise, diet, and mood. Let data help drive your decision-making process – after all, it’s YOUR data!

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of data in today’s society. We live in a data-driven environment that creates the modern marketplace for commerce. The role of data is to empower individuals, business leaders, and government officials to make educated decisions based on trends and facts. The tools we use and actions we take generate a digital version of our world – captured, waiting to be used to drive change through logical insight. Data have become a real resource across all verticals of society and should be considered the optimal gateway to generating a competitive advantage.

So whether you’re an individual or enterprise, data creates insights, and insights create value.

And thus, the new golden rule: those who have the data make the rules.

…but still remember to treat others as you would like to be treated!