Collecting Data Is Not Enough: How Do You Create Real Value With Data?

Clive Humby, an English mathematician, famously said in 2006, “Data is the new oil,” a statement that shaped companies’ strategies for years. Companies focused on making large investments to gather, diversify, and integrate maximum data. It was believed that storing and analyzing data would be enough for business to progress smoothly. However, a critical detail in Humby’s statement was overlooked: Data, like oil, is raw. To realize its true value, it needs to go through specific processes and be refined.

Over time, this narrative became so clichéd that, in many organizations, data began to sit idly as a passive asset. Efforts to de-duplicate data and use it across various channels often remained at the analysis stage. Instead of taking real-time actions, personalizing, or improving customer experiences, data became an element solely used to generate campaign ideas.

At this point, organizations faced a critical question: “We’ve collected the data, now what do we do with it?”

Data is a Meaningful Asset, Not Just Stored Data

Collecting data was only the first step in the process. Now, what needs to be done is to make it meaningful and actively usable in daily operations. The issue is no longer just storing or analyzing data, but processing it with concurrently working applications, automations, AI algorithms, and operational processes.

In the journey of transforming data from a static asset into one that can create real-time value, business teams face several challenges: the technologies used are not flexible, systems operate independently of each other, and business teams depend on technology teams.

So, how can modern marketing and customer experience management transform data from a static asset into a structure that can generate real-time value?

First-Party Data Layer Powered by ID Resolution

The key to data-driven transformation is presenting this data to business teams in a way that allows them to use it easily. Traditional data warehouses and analytics tools are quickly becoming insufficient in the fast-changing digital ecosystem and do not provide the necessary ease of use. The structure we once defined as “customer 360” five years ago no longer meets today’s needs. Today, simply defining a customer is not enough; we need systems that can track every step of the journey from anonymous user to known customer, consolidate behaviors at touchpoints, interpret past interactions, and predict future needs. The foundation for this is building a strong first-party data layer.

Two critical components stand out for this transformation:
1. Data Layer – This is the fundamental building block that allows brands to use the data they own effectively. It requires an architecture that can be easily used by business teams and works as close to real-time as possible.

2. ID Resolution – This technology combines customer data from different channels, databases, and devices to create consistent and unified customer profiles. By resolving a customer’s identity across various identifiers, it offers a more holistic experience at every touchpoint.

Without a solid data layer and ID resolution infrastructure, personalization, audience management, activation, and analytics processes cannot be sustainable. In today’s competitive environment, what sets companies apart is not just using customer experience and marketing tools but being able to process data correctly and integratively with these tools.

Using anonymous footprints only for advertising or Google Analytics, or using purchase history to generate discounts in loyalty systems, is now a significant missed opportunity. Moving forward, organizations that can use data across horizontal axes without compartmentalizing it will have the competitive edge. Data is no longer just for tracking; it exists to understand the customer at every touchpoint, shape the experience with real-time insights, and make the business smarter. We should not only use it to analyze the past but also to guide the future.

Those Who Gain a Competitive Edge Are the Ones Who Use Data Smartly

Clive Humby’s metaphor of “Data is the new oil” made sense at the beginning of the data age. However, today, data has evolved from being a static resource into a constantly changing, fluid ecosystem. To gain a competitive advantage, it is not enough for companies to have big data; they need to interpret it in real time, integrate it, and incorporate it into their operations.

Today’s successful brands are those that no longer view data as a buried treasure but position it as a structure that can generate real-time value. Data is no longer passive; it is active, functional, and sustainable. And the issue is not collecting data, but knowing what to do with it.