Recently, many people and institutions, most notably the World Economic Forum, have claimed we’re living in the 4th industrial revolution – based around software, innovation, and complex technologies. Changes even over the last five years have been at an exponential pace, from our morning routines to the speed of businesses growth.

Data management principles give 5 criteria for high quality data:

1. Accuracy: It must be correct at the time of data capture;

2. Completeness: Context and the bigger picture should be clear;

3. Consistency: Data should be in a consistent format to enable analysis and extraction of metadata;

4. Uniqueness: Data is most useful when it provides new information;

5. Timeliness: Captured in, or near, real-time.

One thing we know is that most of the data available today does not fulfil these criteria; at least, not all at the same time. The challenge going forwards is to use data capture software that reliably collects high quality information on which to base decisions.

We could rephrase Andresson’s claim – “data is eating the world”. In order to understand ongoing changes on a day-to-day basis, we need to know the data being used is current, reliable, rich, in context, and from the right source.

At vyn, we're thrilled to be part of the solution.

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"Surfer" Image credits: Jeremy Bishop / Unsplash.