Organizations are generating and collecting ever-increasing volumes of data – and Chief Data Officers (CDOs) understand the importance of scaling its use across the organization and beyond. This will maximize business value, demonstrate ROI on data investments, and ensure that CDOs are seen as proactive enablers, rather than simply being viewed as reactive and compliance-driven.

The challenges to data sharing at scale

Yet, while every CDO is focused on turning data into value, many fail to achieve their objective. That’s due to a range of key challenges – an increasingly large and complex data stack, growing volumes of data scattered across the business, often in silos, the difficulty of balancing governance and compliance with access, and above all a lack of trust in data from business users.

Simply put, employees either cannot access the data they need, don’t know where to find it, or are worried that it might be incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate. The result is they simply carry on working as before, impacting their productivity, or ask a data analyst for help, impacting your team’s productivity.

Overcoming these challenges requires CDOs to solve the “last mile” problem of making data easily accessible to the business while ensuring security and compliance.

Existing technologies don’t deliver on this need. Available tools for data sharing are technical, rather than meeting the needs of business owners or enabling consumption at scale. For example, data catalogs do a great job of inventorying your organization’s information, but they don’t provide direct access to data for non-technical users, or your AI models.

Lessons from e-commerce marketplaces

What’s needed is a new approach that shares data with the business in ways that encourage its use. When it comes to widening data access and consumption, CDOs can learn lessons from e-commerce marketplaces. Such sites often sell tens of thousands of products, yet consumers find it easy and intuitive to discover, examine, and buy the specific products they are looking for. They can ask questions, read reviews, examine product specs, and receive suggestions of similar or complementary products before choosing whether to buy through a seamless, single-click checkout experience.

Applying the same ideas to data sharing through a data product marketplace transforms how information is shared and consumed. A data product marketplace is a single, centralized space for all data assets, from datasets to data products, available online and with the same engaging self-service experience as an e-commerce marketplace.

Designed to be used by non-technical users, it enables everyone to search and discover data, collaborate with and question data producers, and download data in formats that meet their needs, from Excel to APIs.

If deployed as part of a data mesh architecture, it enables the seamless sharing of data products from across the business. Governance is enforced through granular access management capabilities that balance data availability and security. Data can be shared internally, externally with partners, or with everyone, and can be provided for free or monetized.

Fundamentally a data marketplace builds trust between data consumers within the business and data producers. It adds a commercialization layer to an existing technical data catalog, connecting buyers and sellers, meeting both of their needs, and enabling them to interact seamlessly.

Consumers benefit from the ability to sort data products by popularity, ratings, and relevance, building trust and driving usage. Producers are able to promote specific, high-value data products and understand who is using their data, and for what. Administrators and governance teams can approve/audit access, monitor usage, and see any changes to data assets on the marketplace. 

The main benefits of a data product marketplace

There are four reasons why a data product marketplace redefines value creation, and goes beyond the capabilities of traditional data catalogs: 

1. Built-in data catalog capabilities

Data marketplaces include and integrate the essential features of data catalog solutions, such as a business glossary, connectivity to data assets, metadata management, and data lineage.

2. Direct access

They provide immediate and direct access to data products and other data assets to meet the demand for last-mile access beyond metadata. Data can be easily discovered and consumed with confidence, while protecting security and enforcing governance.

3. Self-service

They deliver a seamless, self-service experience as they are designed specifically for non-technical users. An intuitive experience builds confidence and data is available through visualizations, dashboards, and data stories to meet their specific needs. It can also be downloaded in a variety of formats or accessed through the existing tools that they use.

4. Seamless user experience

They promote data assets in an appealing, engaging way that encourages their consumption, just as in an e-commerce marketplace.

Global industrial technology leader Schneider Electric provides the perfect example of how a data marketplace delivers data consumption at scale. It needed to find a way to make its data understandable and shareable with its partners, and to achieve this it launched the Exchange platform: a marketplace of data services for collaboration and networking between players in the energy sector.

Multiple data offerings and products, such as a data service that allows organizations to easily collect sensor data from across their buildings, are now available, allowing Schneider Electric to easily work with its ecosystem to create value and help improve energy efficiency.

Solving pressing data consumption needs

While Chief Data Officers have a clear mission and objective to increase data consumption and turn data into value, technical and trust challenges can hold them back. Implementing data product marketplaces solves these issues, connecting business employees directly to the data they need, building confidence, increasing usage, and unlocking the true value of data for the wider organization.

About the Author:

Franck Carassus is the Co-founder, CSO and CEO North America of Opendatasoft. He is responsible for driving global sales, with a focus on growing the company’s presence in the U.S. Since 2011, Carassus has helped 200+ organizations worldwide improve their governance or operations through data sharing.

Prior to joining Opendatasoft, Carassus spent 20 years in executive sales and business development roles for major software companies including HP Software, Symantec, and Novell. He holds a Master’s degree in finance from the European Business School in Paris as well as post-graduate qualifications from Université Paris Cité and INSEAD.