By 2021, according to Statista, the total amount of data created, captured, copied and consumed globally has increased more than 5000% and is expected to continue with such growth through 2025. Such growth means that today’s organisations have a lot of data, so the focus becomes how to best use it.
The power of data is mostly in the hands of skilled data analysts who can understand how to organise, process and interpret data correctly for the organisation. But things are changing with the advance of technologies capable of making data shareable and interpretable for non-data analysts.
This is 'Data democratisation'.
“Data democratisation means that everybody has access to data and there are no gatekeepers that create a bottleneck at the gateway to the data. The goal is to have anybody use data at any time to make decisions with no barriers to access or understanding,” says Bernard Marr, bestselling author of “Big Data in Practice.”
Data democratisation allows data to pass safely from the hands of a few analysts into the hands of the masses within a company. The access to data is spread throughout the organisation (across cross-functional roles and departments), and its goal is to create 360º views of customers given better experiences and better business results. But as data moves from the hands of some to the majority, artificial intelligence is expected to play a key role here.
Business leaders need to understand massive amounts of information and connect data between organisational silos. Sales need to be connected to service, service to marketing, and back-end to front-end so that customers can enjoy a truly seamless experience. The ability to instantly access and understand data will lead to faster decisions, more agile teams, and more competitive advantages.
Data democratisation is the future of managing big data and realising its value. Businesses with the right tools and understanding are more successful today because they provide all employees with the knowledge necessary to make smarter decisions and provide better customer experiences. The future of data democratisation is now!