Data sharing masters

How data ecosystems lead to competitive advantage

Data ecosystems help organizations use the data they amass. But can they help them derive competitive advantage and create new value in terms of innovative, data-based products and services while benefitting society? We wanted to find out.

For the latest Capgemini Research Institute report, Data-sharing masters: How smart organizations use data ecosystems to gain an unbeatable competitive edge, we spoke with 750 industry executives in 12 countries and over 30 industry experts and academics. We found that data ecosystems improve customer satisfaction, provide new revenues, boost productivity, and help reduce costs – giving data-sharing masters a strong upper hand but leaving late movers at risk of disruption and disintermediation. In fact, 48% of organizations plan to launch new data ecosystem initiatives and 84% of them will do so within the next three years. Data ecosystems have the potential to generate 2–9% of annual revenue as cumulative financial benefits over the next five years for an organization of $10 billion in revenue. Moreover, organizations involved in more collaborative data ecosystems have the potential to drive an additional 10 percentage points of financial advantage (including new revenue, higher productivity, and lower costs) in the next three years over their less collaborative peers.

To truly leverage data sharing, organizations need a strong data ecosystem strategy, and they should make key design decisions as early as possible. A small-scale implementation followed by scaling to a higher level while proactively addressing privacy, ethics, trust, and regulatory requirements will ensure lasting benefits.