The European Business Review - July-August 2019

22 The European Business Review July - August 2019

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unauthorised use of proprietary information.

When faced with legal concerns, companies can

take a conservative approach. They can play it safe

bybasing policies for every territory on countries

with the strictest data regulations. On the other

hand, companies can actively utilise the data today to

create strategies and policies that will remain useful

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data or using it in certain ways in the future.

4

How do I motivate the investment?

The desire to exploit current opportunities

can outweigh the motivation to invest for

tomorrow – including data that will create future

opportunities. Successful companies may be using

alltheir resources to meet current customer demand.

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resources needed for new types of data analysis or

new data-driven initiatives. The managing director of

anIoT technology lab elaborates: “much of the data

ends up being dark after the fact that people are busy

and they don’t have excess capacity to go and hunt

and peck for this data.”

Similarly, the future value of dark data initia-

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software executive explains how the nature of dark

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biggest differences between traditional data sets,

and dark data sets, and potentially IoT dark data, is

there’s typically a time element associated with the

IoT data. [...] If you don’t analyse the data or do

something useful with it, you’ve lost the opportunity

because time has passed.”

To encourage the investment, whether pausing

current operations to install data collection capa-

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data initiatives as solutions to existing priorities.

While dark data can create new opportunities, it can

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initiatives, it is much easier to get buy-in for actions

and investments that will help accomplish a compa-

ny’s current objectives.

Additionally, emphasise that exploiting dark

data uses what you already have. A key advantage

• and selling point – arises from the fact that dark
  data are already being generated. Existing data can
  beanalysed to support existing work.

Conclusion

Substantial opportunities lay within the grasp of

many companies. Leveraging existing dark data

can create opportunities today, as well as build data

management and analytics capabilities needed for

new initiatives launched in an IoT-driven future.

By answering four questions – what data are bring

generated, what types of problems these data can

solve, should we use the data given a particular busi-

ness context, and how do I motivate the allocation

of the necessary time and money – executives can

effectively bring dark data into the light.

AbouttheAuthors

Gregory Gimpel is a clinical assistant

professor of computer information

systems at Georgia State University.

Prior to GSU, he conducted digital

strategy research at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology and he designed Ball State

University’s business analytics major. His research

focusses on the intersection of emerging technolo-

gies, analytics, and digital business transformation.

He worked in senior management positions for a

decadebeforeenteringtheacademicworld

Allan Alter is an independent consultant

and researcher in the Boston area. He is

a former senior principal at Accenture

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Intelligence and Machine Learning at

the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth

Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. His research

focuses on emerging technology and technology

management strategy. He was previously an editor at

MIT Sloan Management Review, Computerworld, CIO and

CIO Insight. He holds degrees in intellectual history

from the University of Michigan and the University

of Pennsylvania.

References

1. Chou T. Precision: Principles, Practices and Solutions for the Internet
   of Things. USA: Cloudbook, Inc.; 2016.


2. Solon O. Wearable Technology Creeps Into The Workplace. Bloomberg.
   Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-07/
   wearable-technology-creeps-into-the-workplace, 2018.


3. Association G. Mobilizing Intelligent Transportation Systems: GSM
   Association; 2015.


4. Liongosari E, Mullan P, Muller M, Guittat P. Finding a Way Forward:
   How Manufacturers Can Make the Most of the Industrial Internet of Things:
   Accenture; 2015.


5. Markoff R, Seifert R. The Real Industry 4.0 Challenge. The
   European Business Review; March – April, 2018.

Industry 4.0

To encourage

the investment,

whether pausing

current operations

to install data

collection

capabilities or

allocating financial

resources, frame

dark data initiatives

as solutions to

existing priorities.