Fair warning to you straight away. This could become a bit of a rant. Also, I'll try to avoid singling out any particular vendors and their marketing campaigns and likewise any economies that are currently extracting fossil fuels.
This isn't personal, it's just a point of view on how the data industry has failed to create a clear enough message around the benefits of data and thus failed all of us.
When did data become oil?
I can't remember exactly when I first heard the term "data is the new oil" but my memory vaguely places it amongst other marketing zingers like "data is a goldmine" (which was ironic to me at the time as I was responsible for an instance of the CRM system called Goldmine, but that's another story).
We're talking between 2004 and 2010 here.. So around the time that cloud computing was kicking off and the big SaaS CRM revolution that came with it. Big Data was to emerge towards the back end of that time period. So now we know when, let's discuss why. Why would we compare data to oil?
Data as Oil
Not everyone had come to understand the value that was laying hidden in their databases, CRM or ERP systems back in the early 2000s. Social Media and smartphones were only just beginning to create interesting insights into the activities of consumers. Marketing was still often volume-based rather than personalised or targeted beyond broad geographies or demographics.
We were just about to enter what some have called the 4th industrial revolution in 2011. Previous industrial revolutions had been driven by a major leap forward in technology; such as mechanised factories in the 1st industrial revolution and rapid transportation of goods by rail in the 2nd; and had taken a further leap forward with the 'information age' of the 3rd revolution, characterised by the move from analogue to digital technologies and the birth of the web.
The real change this time is the ubiquity of technology. The rise of smartphones, always-on devices, blended digital and real spaces and the rapid advancement of automated data crunching tools (often referred to as "AI" but I'll get on my soap box about that one another time).
Behind all of the rapid change since 2000 has been data. Unlike a steam train or a car, it's difficult to pick up data and understand the value. On its own, data looks pretty weird and worthless. This clearly presents a problem if you're trying to market your game changing new tech to Execs who can't visualise data and the value beyond the obvious stuff such as using an address to deliver a purchase.
As with all good marketing campaigns, we therefore needed a good visual or mental metaphor. Oil made sense.
On its own, oil looks pretty worthless. There are processes required in order to extract value.
- Firstly, you need to find it and pump it out of the ground.
- After that, you need to refine it to produce products.
- You can combine it with other ingredients to further increase its utility.
- Those products need to be transported to the consumer to realise value.
It's easy to draw similarities to data here. Data is often stored in difficult-to reach places. It's not always structured in a way that makes it usable, you need to transform it into something that can be used and you often need to combine it with other ingredients (e.g. an analytics tool) to realise value.
I get it. However; the extraction, refinement and transport of oil all create damage to the environment. Then, the actual usage of the products also creates damage such as climate change or plastic pollution of our oceans. It's not great is it? In fact, it's pretty horrendous.
I think data is better than that.
Why data is actually like water
Here's my pitch to data marketing folks. Data is like water.
Just like data, clean and trusted sources of water need to be found and used.
Just like data, you often have to pipe this water to the right place in order to use it.
Just like data, you can combine water with other ingredients to make value-add products (such as delicious beverages!).
Just like data, waste water can be re-used. If you clean it, water and data can be re-used infinitely.
Just like data, waste water even has its own use. Waste water can give you fertilisers for food or tell you about the presence of disease in a population. Waste data can tell you why your customer churn is so high or help you to spot problems in your workflows.
Just like data, you need to secure your water supply so it doesn't become polluted.
Just like data, too much water is dangerous. Floods, tsunamis and torrential rain can damage property and land. Too much data can create noise and overwhelm your analysts. You need to manage it properly - create canals for water and structured data warehouses (or "lakes" if you really love marketing terms) to enable controlled usage.
Just like data, too little water is also dangerous. Crops can fail, famine can ensue. A business without enough data doesn't know if it's succeeding, doesn't know what the customer wants and can't prevent catastrophe in the future.
A better analogy
Personally, I think using water as an analogy for data (and the value it can create) is far better than oil. Water doesn't carry any of the negative connotations that come with oil. Yes, water can be dangerous and damaging due to natural disasters or poor management by humans. Using water can have unintended consequences if you don't think carefully (remember kids, water and electricity don't mix).
Data can have the same negative connotations too. We all know what happens when personal data is leaked or hacked. We all know that having too much data on a person can lead to creepy or downright dangerous outcomes.
Fundamentally though, water and data, when managed correctly and in the right amounts can have continual and long lasting positive impacts without the systemic damage that is created through the extraction and use of fossil fuels and their derivatives.
So please; marketing people, data people, sales people, product people, Executives; please stop comparing data with oil. It's a lazy analogy and frankly damages the benefits of the programmes or products you're trying to sell or use.
Water and data are better than oil. They are the very lifeblood of society and economies. Without them, we couldn't function and unlike oil, there are no alternatives.
That's it. Rant over.
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