For many, the idea that you may use data you don’t own is a novel concept. Businesses have been traditionally built around the ‘data is the new oil’ motto. There are many reasons why this statement is flawed, but the most important one which most managers don’t understand is that if you have some oil, you can still heat your apartment with it, but if you have some data, it may be difficult to derive the value you desire.
Now, data privacy bills are moving towards saying that businesses don’t actually own the data they consume, the consumers do. The EU is setting strong precedence, and the rest of the world will eventually follow.
For example, if you’re a medical provider, you likely store patient data within your databases. Most involved in this scenario would think they own this data. This is quickly no longer becoming the case.
So what does this mean for my organization that relies on storing vast amounts of data within my systems for intelligence? If I no longer own the data, how can I still leverage it to provide awesome products and services to the world? Rather than increasing internal costs to manage data, I may consider ways to consume data from outside my four walls that I don’t need to own and store internally. I just need to ensure the data I’m consuming has authenticity.
The solution (commence drum beating). Issuing and consuming Verifiable Credentials are a great way to get ahead of the curb with upcoming data privacy laws, while gaining from operational efficiencies today. It’s easy to get started and becoming a Verifiable credential issuer can allow your organization to make new revenue from credential re-use.
Sounds interesting? It definitely is! Schedule a quick 15-minute call if you’re interested in running some proof-of-concepts around Verifiable Credentials that follow W3C data standards.
Mathieu Glaude, CEO Northern Block
Follow Mathieu Glaude:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mathieu_glaude
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathieuglaude/
I also recorded a podcast recently on this topic. Check it out: https://northernblock.io/data-centric-architectures/
