The “data is a corporate asset” aphorism has traveled to the C-suite faster than the express elevator in your headquarters building. And why not? Executives understand that data is a critical component of running their businesses more effectively, getting new customers, and driving innovation.

 Many of these executives find comfort in the idea that there is an economic value to data, allowing them to apply accounting and operational principles to data that they apply to other assets oh-so-well.Yes, data has value. And yes, that value may be tangible or intangible.

Managers grappling with proving data value usually make a bigger impact when they instead focus on formalizing a data prioritization process that aligns with their companies’ strategies.

 Companies often designate and fund projects according to their strategic alignment or their business impact. Data should become part of these processes.

 If you must quantify the value of data, by all means do so in the context of its role in solving a specific problem. This problem should either be costing the company money or impeding new revenues. Find a problem your company wants to solve, quantify the value of solving it, and illustrate data’s role in that solution.

 Simply put, data monetization exercises often take more time and cost more money than their outcomes warrant. In the time it takes to truly quantify the value of information, companies could actually be delivering something new.

 Source: www.cio.com