One of the most important lessons we've learned from the pandemic is just how important technology is to building robust and thriving businesses. Organizations that have prospered in the last nine months have done so by leveraging cloud computing, high-speed networks, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT) to push forward their digital transformation agendas.

1. Managing Data
To Drive
Competitive Advantage

2. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
Introduction
Introduction
One of the most important lessons we've learned from the pandemic is just
how important technology is to building robust and thriving businesses.
Organizations that have prospered in the last nine months have done so by
leveraging cloud computing, high-speed networks, artificial intelligence (AI),
and the internet of things (IoT) to push forward their digital transformation
agendas.
Managing Data To Drive Competitive
Advantage

3. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
Introduction
Introduction
All of this has been fuelled by data, as we've found new and innovative ways
to measure, record, understand, and react to the changing world around us.
This is true for everyone, from those responsible for tracking and attempting
to contain coronavirus, to businesses reacting to the changing needs and
behaviors of their customers.
Managing Data To Drive Competitive
Advantage

4. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
In the so-called data decade, when data is expected to hit 175ZB worldwide by 2025, less
than 0.5% of the world's data is actually being analyzed, our lives become increasingly
digital and virtual. Harnessing it and using it to generate competitive advantages is the
number one challenge facing business leaders and strategists today. To put it starkly, if
you don’t become the leader in data-driven business activity in your industry, someone
else will.
This topic – and particularly questions around how data can be leveraged in the real world
to generate real business growth – was the subject of an event I took part in recently,
hosted by Dell Technologies. Along with experts such as Florian Baumann of Dell
Technologies, Michael Cote at VMWare, and Roger Benson of AMD, we discussed how to
turn data into useful insights, how to overcome challenges inherent in working with data,
and how it is affecting different industries, during a series of panel discussions and
question-and-answer sessions.
Digital Transformation and Data

5. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
And there are certainly many challenges. One of the first common mistakes we identified
in our discussion is the danger of putting technology before business. There's sometimes
a propensity to think, "This is an amazing new technology, what can I do with it?" – when
in reality, the correct approach is "This is the problem I have, what technology should I use
to solve it?“
In one panel discussion, we focused on how these issues are affecting the fields of
mobility and automotive. Today's generation of connected, smart vehicles routinely
gathers and transmits up to 10 TB of information per day, from sensors around the vehicle
monitoring every aspect of its performance. As we move towards even more autonomous,
self-driving vehicles, the volume of that data will explore further, taking in-camera and
lidar data. The challenge for vehicle manufacturers is to take that data and use it to make
sure they are meeting their customers' needs and expectations better than their
competitors are.
The Data Challenges

6. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
As Baumann puts it, "The vehicle will be a data center on wheels … vehicle data
is the most important asset we have in the industry. But very often, we have to
deal with a lot of challenges … how do we collect this data and what kind of
data needs to be collected, and how to identify valuable training data. Because
we are collecting up to 100 TB of information per vehicle, per day – we have to
identify what's important."
The Data Challenges

7. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
A fantastic example of data being harnessed to provide new business opportunities is
Tesla’s Autobidder project. While Tesla is best known for its electric vehicles, a knock-on
effect of the data it has collected over the years is a huge amount of information gathered
on the way energy is used. As a result of owning this data, it has been able to develop a
solution for trading and distributing energy assets in real-time. It allows energy producers
to sell excess power they generate to business or residential users, driving down energy
costs by creating competition with existing suppliers. The platform makes use of AI to
predict demand across different regions and to set prices, as well as Tesla’s cloud
computing infrastructure for data storage and processing.
How Tesla Is Harnessing Data

8. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
What we see here is a company that was able to create an entirely new revenue stream by
leveraging its existing capabilities in order to solve a problem common to its customers –
expensive energy.
This also illustrates another key point covered in the conversation, which is that these key
tech trends behind today’s smartest breakthroughs and innovations don’t exist in
isolation. AI, cloud, edge computing, and IoT – all underwritten by big data – are trends
that feed and supplement each other. So often, an understanding of all of them, as well as
the ways they intersect each other, is very useful when it comes to deploying them in
business.
How Tesla Is Harnessing Data

9. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
During our discussions, I also cover what I consider to be the three core ways that
businesses can benefit from this data boom, as well as the new tools and applications such
as AI and IoT that let us harness it.
The first is by using data to make better-informed decisions. Data-driven decision-making
succeeds or fails depending on our ability to use data to make predictions. Asking
ourselves, based on past experiences and observations, are we more likely to achieve a
successful resolution if we take path A or path B? The most advanced applications of this
predictive technology operate using real-time data – monitoring and acting on insights as
they happen and in-the-moment. As tools for real-time data capture and analytics
become more efficient and affordable (for example, through cloud and edge services),
companies will increasingly work with newer, faster-moving datasets to provide
increasingly accurate predictions and increasingly valuable insights.
Three Ways Businesses Can Harness Data

10. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Secondly, digital leaders need to consider how they can use data and digital strategies to
offer their customers better products and levels of service. Often this means building a
better understanding of who the customer is and how they want to use our service. Netflix
and Amazon do this by understanding what we are likely to want to watch or buy. Fitness
devices leverage cloud computing, edge computing, AI, and IoT to monitor our activities
and sell the data back to us as insights that can make us healthier. I even have a
toothbrush that uses AI to monitor how well I brush my teeth and point out areas that I
might have missed! Vehicle manufacturers that are moving into self-driving cars and
delivery vehicles, and even autonomous passenger drones (now operational in Dubai) are
all examples of businesses finding new ways to use data to solve customer problems.
Three Ways Businesses Can Harness Data

11. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Michael Cote, digital transformation specialist at VMWare, highlighted some of the
methods software companies are using to create applications that are more in-tune with
their users’ needs. This is enhanced when development teams are able to monitor user
data and use it to make decisions about enhancing their products.
"If you're given weekly data, you can start to make very strategic decisions, like stopping a
feature no one uses or adding a new feature … a study some time ago found people only
use a third or less of the features in any given software. If two-thirds of the app layer are
things no one uses or cares about, that's a tremendous waste, and developers can start
paying attention to that third of data we're using."
Three Ways Businesses Can Harness Data

12. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
The third way in which companies should be using data and advanced data processing
technology is to develop smarter and more efficient internal processes. Multinational
manufacturing giant Unilever has automated huge swathes of its recruitment and HR
processes, by creating online cloud-based services that use AI to screen initial applications
from would-be employees. It also provides HR services to existing employees using
chatbot technologies involving natural language processing (NLP) technology to converse
in natural human languages. Predictive maintenance is a reality in industrial sites around
the world now, where networks of cameras and sensors monitor machinery and learn to
predict where and when failures will happen, meaning they can be fixed more swiftly and
cost-effectively.
Three Ways Businesses Can Harness Data

13. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
For me, it's becoming clear that in order to become leaders or maintain their place as
leaders, during the 2020s, companies are having to rethink how they use data from the
ground up in order to hit all three of these objectives. This means new roles and skillsets
will need to be developed or hired in, covering everything from data science to DevOps.
To achieve this, every executive and decision-maker in a company should be thinking and
acting as if they are a leader of a tech company. This means putting data at the center of
everything they do and working to ensure this is true across their organization.
You can watch the webinars in full by clicking here.
Three Ways Businesses Can Harness Data

14. Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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