In layman’s terms, datafication refers to the conversion of the social aspects of our lives into data, which enables tracking, monitoring, and predictive analysis.
Social media platforms have been using datafication for many years. Sophisticated processes collect and analyse information about users, using this to inform the content that is then presented to them.
Smart, data-driven businesses also jump onto the bandwagon by collecting and converting data into real value, or ‘making data matter’. Datafication is becoming a vital strategy to future-proof your business.
Impact of Datafication
Forward-looking sectors are finding innovative ways of transforming social interactions into quantified data. These include:
Human resources. Data collected from mobile devices, apps, or social media may be used to identify prospective employees, their unique attributes, and their personality traits. Data about possible candidates may be used to predict how they would behave in certain situations, or used instead of personality tests. In addition, HR can verify details supplied by the interviewee against data available in the public domain.
Insurance and banking. In these fields, datafication enables a thorough assessment of a person's risk profile and borrower reliability.
Customer relationship management. Datafication is being used by businesses to better understand consumer demands and desires. The vocabulary and tone a person employs in emails, phone calls, or social media, for example, provide valuable information.
Smart cities. Transportation, waste management, logistics, and the energy industry are just a few of the industries that can make use of the data gathered by smart city technologies. Real-time datafication may also give groups a more in-depth understanding of environmental legislation, pollution levels, and water quality. In short, new ways to explore, process, store, and visualise information have led to, and will continue to result in, new business and societal benefits.
The future
There is no doubt that datafication will become more pronounced as more aspects of our lives take place online, providing opportunities for businesses to become truly data-driven and human-data-driven.
At Keyrus we pride ourselves on helping our customers make data matter and it is our company’s mission to humanise data. The experts at Keyrus understand the world of datafication and have a passion for finding solutions to any business challenges your organisation may face.
Learn more about Keyrus’s offering here or contact us directly at steven.hunt@keyrus.co.za.