IN RECENT WEEKS, data sharing practices have come under glaring media scrutiny. In the wake of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, the general public has come to realize the full extent of data capture on so-called “free” social media platforms and the advertising mechanisms by which this information is then traded and applied.

For marketing professionals, the scandal is a call for better management of consumer expectations and consent about where and how their data is used. More poignantly for IT and data professionals though, it represents a wake-up call for organisations to better govern and control the way their data is shared.

After all, the Cambridge Analytica event was not a breach but rather a living example of what can happen when data is shared (in this case via Facebook) without the appropriate governance, access limitations or liabilities.

In today’s world, the reality is that data must be shared. The productivity and social benefits of sharing data simply can’t be ignored – McKinsey estimates that Open Data can help unlock US$3-5 trillion in economic value annually in the US alone.

Similarly, data transfer has fast become embedded in everything from the operation of our global financial system, advertising markets and telco grid, down to being able to catch a public bus with a travel card. Indeed, Gartner predicts that by 2020, there will be over 20 billion smart connected devices in the world.

We can’t stop sharing data but organizations can get smarter about governing where and how data is shared.

Data Republic, a Sydney-based start-up with offices in Singapore and LA, has developed technology which solves the complex legal, data security and privacy barriers to data sharing, making it simpler and more secure for organizations to govern data sharing and control licensing terms.

Centered around their Senate Platform, Data Republic has developed an ecosystem explicitly for secure, controlled data exchanges between consenting organizations. Using the platform, organizations can govern data requests and manage shared data analysis projects on dedicated online analytics workspaces. Importantly, the privacy of consumers is protected through de-identification technology, full data encryption and ‘private by design’ governance controls.

For the data analysts, data sets from across an organization can be securely combined and analyzed in the cloud with their favorite tools. Data owners from across the business retain transparency and control of how data is shared and used but analysts enjoy the agility of a comprehensive legal framework, online request workflows and no internal IT setup for analytics tools.

Better still, the Senate platform allowed analysts to license (buy access to) a rich library of proprietary datasets available on the platform’s in-build marketplace, including major finance, retail and loyalty consumer brands.

These powerful datasets, many of which have been available for exchange or analysis before, can be combined with internal datasets or analyzed on their own to unlock business insight, enrich customer personalization or underpin new products or services.

Data stewards‘ tasks can also be made much more straightforward than the currently complicated minefield of aggregating distributed data lakes – for instance, from information spread across clouds (public & private) and held on disparate internal databases.

By providing a platform on which both internal and external bodies can securely access proprietary data, the infrastructure requirements of modern data exchange can essentially be handed over to Data Republic.

The Senate platform also manages any contractual agreements between organizations, with a full raft of negotiation facilities available for use by users. Once terms are agreed and digitally agreed, data can be provisioned according to granular privilege levels, configurable down to levels acceptable by the strictest governing laws and guidelines.

For those organizations with data of value (and determining the actual “monetary value” of data is something with which Data Republic can assist), the platform can be used as a way of monetizing data without introducing commercial or privacy risk. Of course, full datasets need not be shared, organisations have the ability to stipulate terms on a project-by-project basis with regards to access levels and permitted-use (or approved application) of the data.

As data owners, Chief Data Officers and the companies they represent will find that they now have access to new and valuable revenue streams, with the heavy lifting of both the provision of the sharing mechanism and governance controls left to Data Republic’s powerful code.

Similarly, collaborative partnerships between businesses can be created quickly, with mutually advantageous data exchanges set up securely and in a way that is contractually water-tight. Here, Data Republic can operate as a neutral, safe harbor for data collaboration, product incubation and joint innovation.

So where is all of this heading?

IDC predicts that by 2020, 90 percent of large enterprises will generate revenue from data-as-a-service, selling raw data, derived metrics, insights, and recommendations.

As data sharing fast becomes the norm in our digital, data-driven economy, there’s no denying that organisations need a means of managing data sharing risk in a simple, scalable way. Customers as well as internal data administrators benefit from a unifying framework, but all parties need the confidence in the security of such a structure. Data Republic’s secure systems provide just that, empowering organizations to realize the potential of data sharing, while protecting customers, commercial interests and data security.

Want to join major banks, airlines, media companies, retailers and governments in Data Republic’s fast-growing data exchange ecosystem?

Get in touch with a local representative today to discuss launching your first project on the Data Republic platform.