KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): Many businesses went online for the first time due to the pandemic. This didn’t just allow them to reach new customers but also gave them access to heaps of valuable data. Prior to this, much of their data, be it sales or inventory information, were unstructured and could not be analysed easily.

Tackling unstructured data can give companies a leg up in the digital economy, where customer reach is no longer limited by geography. Using data insights about customer preferences and behaviours, businesses can offer services that tackle their customers’ pain points, save costs and nurture customer loyalty.

The potential in managing unstructured data is also present in the public sector. Open government data initiatives involve publishing important data in machine-readable form, so that researchers, businesses, civil society organisations and the public can have a transparent view of the situation on the ground.

This kind of communication increases public trust in the government and enables stakeholders to make better decisions or align their strategies with the government’s policies. This was seen in the pandemic, when the Ministry of Health improved its Covid-19 data reporting online after complaints from the public.

The amount of unstructured data generated is expected to increase as use of social media and the Internet of Things become even more common. Those who begin managing their data properly will be ahead of the game. 

Read the story in the latest issue of DigitalEdge, which comes out with the Oct 11 edition of The Edge Malaysia weekly.

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