The vital role of data in bringing improvement across many industrial sectors is now apparent. Any business leader can’t ignore this inclination, making it essential that they recognize the forces bringing changes in their value chains. 2020 assures to be a demanding time for managing data-driven improvement within organizations and also a year of chance for those ahead of the curve. Let's look at major factors that will help decide these challenges and opportunities over the coming year.

Legal factors

In Europe, the GDPR has begun to have a blow on the collection and using of data of firms. The possibility of huge fines for companies that break the law has certainly determined minds. One of the key changes initiated by the GDPR is the necessity for organizations gathering personal data to attain the informed permission of individuals instead of the implicit permission allowed under preceding legislation. A noticeable impact of this are the pop-ups which show up on most websites now asking us to mark a box agreeing to the use of cookies before we can get the site’s content.

Less noticeable is the impact this is having on how firms gather data from different sources and inducing many companies to recheck whether they should be gathering this data in the first place. US-based organizations must not be too contented either: some new rulings in several European courts have recommended that the GDPR and associated legislation could be useful to businesses across the Atlantic. In combination with more local legislation such as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, the legal environment is becoming more aggressive to data abusers.

A shifting policy outlook

Related with more severe legislation, the approach of many policy makers in the US and Europe against “Big Tech” is turning. Many of this may be political expression in the run up to some significant elections but there is a specific change in tone at a high level. Like Standard Oil in 1911 and AT&T in 1984 were broken up by controllers for being too foremost in their markets, calls for Facebook and Google to experience similar destinies are rising stronger. As this may be an existential danger for those 2 companies, it could exhibit opportunities for smaller contenders that might profit from a more level aggressive playing field. Construction of an oil or a telecommunications company needs huge capital investments but digital startups can accomplish scale and profitability with far lesser resources: Google and Facebook are genuine examples of this.

Progresses in AI and ML

As developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning let faster and more precise processing of data at scale, new participants are rising to apply these procedures to industry problems. Like the current spotlight on digital healthcare, anticipate 2020 to generate more investment declarations from firms building AI and ML solutions to other sectors. But, the age of just adding the word AI to your business description and considering the funding roll in is reaching to a rapid end. There is growing pressure for companies to show the value their systems are adding, and this will only enhance over the coming year.