“Data” – The expression you will come across if you are a working professional, ‘or’ you have any other area of interest. Over the past decade, It has been talked as the most significant and treasured asset; even surpassing the value of Oil.

What is “Data”? Well, it’s just Information in a raw or unorganized form (such as letters, numbers, or symbols) that refers to, or represents conditions, ideas, or objects. It is infinite and is present all around us.

A few centuries ago, Oil was the talk of the town in terms of a future resource. A similar development is being witnessed lately, where Tech Giants are indicating“Data” as the new Oil of the Digital Era.

Yes, you heard it right! “Data” is more valuable as an asset, when compared to Oil.

Let’s find out what makes it stand out.

It has made a tremendous impact and every sector. People who work with it on a regular basis: bankers, marketers, advertisers, sociologists, scientists, researchers, lawmakers, government officials, organizations, etc. will attest the value of it.

Even Tech Giant’s like Google, Amazon, and Facebook are piling data resources and generating humongous profits in the sector of digital advertising and various online activities, covering almost the whole world. Which clearly states that few people today, want to live without Google’s search engine, ‘or’ Amazon’s one-day delivery ‘or’ Facebook’s newsfeed as mentioned in the economist.

It is desired by every top industry. Without it, they will cease to exist. Sectors like healthcare need data related to patients & their history, pharmaceuticals’ need it for their medicine, whereas, staffing & recruiting giants need candidate data to track and hire them, and the list goes on.

Mentioned below are some points which showcase the Want for Data over Oil:

  • It has captured the whole world with its ability to provide benefits to the end consumer.
  • It is easy to transport in comparison to Oil.
  • It has more variety than Oil.
  • While Oil is a finite resource; data is an effectively infinite, durable and reusable resource.
  • There is no substitute for it. Oil, on the other hand, has alternatives such as biofuel, ‘or’, natural gas.
  • You don’t have to face Standard Antitrust Laws.

(Antitrust laws are designed to prevent restrained trade in interstate commerce)

The end conclusion being, “Data” as a resource has many advantages over Oil, however, it is still a debatable topic and may vary from person to person, ‘or’ business.

So what do you think? Has Data replaced Oil as the next Big Resource?