Locating and refining the black gold of the digital economy

LOCATING oil is tougher than it looks. Geologists interpret rock surfaces and soil types via a combination of shallow drilling, satellite imagery, gravity methods or seismology. It's a long and complicated process. Refining crude oil for commercial use is not simple either. It requires large scale industrial complexes that involve many different processing units and auxiliary facilities such as utility units and storage tanks.

Data is the new oil. Yet, it seems elusive to many. Except for a handful of resource-blessed countries, not all of us are sitting on gallons of oil reserves. Similarly, large organisations have terabytes of golden nuggets of precious data, but not SMEs. However, this doesn't mean that SMEs should ignore their data. Instead, it's critical for SMEs to procure the resources to refine this black gold and turn raw data into coveted, actionable insights.

Here are the three widely-held misconceptions about data by SMEs that should be put to rest forever: