Data Marketplace Capabilities

In a recent post, I described what a Data Marketplace is (e.g. an online portal or website where data can be easily found and shared)

Since then I have been working with a company to create "a consolidated market place for multiple data sources specifically targeted for the transportation and mobility market"
https://www.smartpassenger.co.uk/

I therefore thought it would be useful to map out the capabilities a data marketplace would have.

These capabilities are generic descriptions of key features you could expect to see in any Data Marketplace, regardless of the sector or industry vertical the platform was found.

1. Data Catalogue
2. Content
3. Data Gateway
4. Data Documentation
5. Self-service Account
6. Data Licensing
7. Offline Billing
8. Online Payment
9. Community
10. Data Source Management
11. Catalogue & Meta Data Management
12. Platform & Account Management
13. Community Management
14. Content Management 

What is a data marketplace?

A data marketplace (or data mart) is an online portal or website where data can be easily found and shared.

Although the name indicates that data is only bought and sold via a Data Marketplace, other data can also be made available such as Open Data (free to use, re-use or redistribute) or Shared Data (limited by license or end-usage).

Data marketplaces typically offer various types of data for different markets and from different sources. Making them a focal point for providing and accessing information about specific sectors or industries.

There can be a wide range of data formats and technologies provided via Data Marketplaces. However the widespread adoption of APIs for integration has meant that these are often the chosen modern way of publishing data sources now.

Transport & mobility - data quality

Lately I have been looking at data quality in the transport & mobility sector.

Helpfully UK Gov has 6 "Core data quality dimensions":

1. Completeness
describes the degree to which records are present

2. Uniqueness
describes the degree to which there is no duplication in records

3. Consistency
describes the degree to which values in a data set do not contradict other values representing the same entity

4. Timeliness
describes the degree to which the data is an accurate reflection of the period that they represent (and that the data and its values are up to date)

5. Validity
describes the degree to which the data is in the range and format expected

6. Accuracy
describes the degree to which data matches reality

These terms are use across UK Gov and were created with the UK Data Management Association https://www.dama-uk.org/

More info here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-government-data-quality-framework/the-government-data-quality-framework

VUCA - the military term for tech projects

I'm finding that I'm increasing using the military term VUCA when referring to a technology project. This acronym, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity has been used over the last 2 decades to reflect the lack of knowledge about what is about to happen.

For me it sums up the vauge definition of large software-based projects, where either there has been insufficient strategic input, not enough analysis or just a general lack of willingness to define future scenarios or risks.

I'm now on the hunt for further useful military terms, without falling back on SNAFU.

Transport volumes are very low right now, but this isn't just bad news

We live in a business world now driven by Digital Transformation. It seems that every media outlet wants to be "the next Netflix" and every takeaway restaurant thinks they should be "the next Deliveroo" Note: This is despite Deliveroo actually losing over £200million last year, a fact that hasn't been lost on the UK stock market in the week

2020 will be remembered as the pandemic being the catalyst for a huge shift to digital. Digital working processes, Digital meetings, Digital retailing, etc. 

It will also be remembered as the year there was a huge reduction in the overall use of transport, as:

- those working were strongly encouraged to work from home, where possible

- lockdowns prevented a significant amount of personal & business travel 

- tourism was stopped

- people were furloughed from work  

Photo credit : https://unsplash.com/@thenightstxlker

But, as vaccines are rolled-out and restrictions are lifted, we are likely to see a significant "bounce-back" in the transport & mobility sector over the next few months, as staff return to the city and the office (although perhaps not to pre-pandemic levels for a long while / if ever). 

So now it is high time for transport operators (and their suppliers) to fully embrace digital transformation and modernize their legacy business processes & systems. The current situation of low passenger volumes may mean reduced revenue, but also means less risk when making significant technology and data changes. 

In short, if you are going to implement a new process or technology solution across the transport sector... now is probably the best time to do it.

Does your website really need “personalisation”?

I see it in nearly every new website set of requirements these days… the request for “personalisation of the digital user experience” or something similar.

(Usually just sitting in one line of a very long set of crafted and prioritised requirements or user stories – hiding in wait to catch-out the unprepared software or digital agency that has to fully respond with a costed and carefully caveated proposal in a matter of days)

So what is meant by “personalisation”?

In my experience there are two different types of digital personalisation:

Implicit personalisation

This is where the user experience is changed based upon inferred and non-personal details cleaned from the user e.g. their referral site, the search engine term they used, the language of their device, the day and time of their visit and even the assumed location they are browsing from.

This gleaned information can then be used to serve-up more tailored marketing messaging & content (text & images) and perhaps more targeted products that have been previously viewed or purchased by similar people. The aim is that the website ‘learns’ what assets to serve to improve the site’s goals (AKA the conversions), typically an ecommerce purchase or a lead generation form completion.

It can be relatively easy to implement basic implicit personalisation, either using such functionality already available with a decent Content Management System (CMS) vendor or from a Conversion Rate Optimisation tool that can be added subsequently.

 

Explicit personalisation

This functionality has the same basic aim, to increase the conversion rate of the digital experience and therefore make more money or generally get more business. This is also done by serving up the content, data or features to favourably change the user’s behaviour. However explicit personalisation does this by utilising data actually known about the customer, such as: their address data (for more local content), their demographic data (for more age or gender relevant content) or their previous browsing & purchase data (for more targeted content).

This form or personalisation, as you can imagine, requires the digital user experience to have access to some or all of the customers' personal data, perhaps stored in an online account. It therefore typically needs a more complex integration to the source of the customer’s data and secure handing of potentially personal details. 

Google now using bold to show keywords in organic and Ads

To quote my old pal Jon Gritton "Whoa.... Google's bold text just changed font"

And yes, a quick check in Google UK indeed confirms that both the organic and paid (Ads) text now highlights the search term in bold text.

This is a significant change to the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and now almost certainly increases the value of Meta Description tags within each page. So expect the Search Engine Optimisation and Paid Ads community to be excited and full of recommendations to take advantage of this alteration.