As I noted in my previous post, the data business was the right place to be in the last decade. Commercial data producers were already well-positioned in 2010. The value of data products was already well understood. The quaint subscription model that data producers had been stubbornly clinging to for years suddenly became all the rage. The birth of Big Data and the growth of data science as a profession put a spotlight on the need for high quality datasets.

From 2010-2019, things only got better as Big Data tools proliferated, the cloud offered cheap, efficient storage, computer processing power continued to increase and we were finally able to build and make effective use of truly massive, multi-sourced databases, many updated in real time.

The advances we have made as in industry in the last ten years have been truly breathtaking. But if the last decade was characterized by a wondrous growth in the accumulation of data, the decade in front of us will be about the smart application of that data.

A picture of what’s in store for us is already emerging. Artificial intelligence will take the data industry to the next evolutionary plane by enabling us to predict buyers and sellers and other transactional activity with confidence and in advance. That’s no small statement when you consider that the vast majority of commercial data products exist to bring buyers and sellers together or otherwise enable business transactions.

Our new decade will also be notable for its embrace of data governance. There simply won’t be any place for poorly managed and sloppily maintained datasets. Those who properly see data governance as an opportunity and not a burden will prosper mightily. And yes, the commercial data business will yield a first-mover advantage, because we understood the power of data governance even before it had a name.

Boil it all down, and my prediction is that we will be entering the decade of data-driven predictions. By 2030, commercial data producers will literally be able to predict the future, at least from a sales and marketing enablement perspective. The new tools required already exist, and they will continue to improve. All that’s needed is the creativity to apply them to the oldest, most basic objective of business: buying and selling. And our industry is nothing if not creative!