What is Dark Data and How Can You Use It?

Shining a light on dark data

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What is Dark Data
Unified Communications

Published: October 23, 2019

Rebekah Carter - Writer

Rebekah Carter

The world currently has an expanding interest in data – in all of its forms. In the age of experience, we’re discovering that the only way to design more meaningful and valuable moments for customers and employees alike, is to tap into the endless amounts of information we collect each day. Over the years, the amount of data that we receive has been steadily increasing. After all, data exists in every instant message you send on a collaboration app, every video call, and every customer conversation.

However, the more data we collect, the more trouble we seem to have making the most of that information. Current estimates suggest that up to 73% of all data goes unused. In some cases, organisations aren’t even aware that there’s useful data waiting in the wings that they haven’t tapped into. So, how do you collect this “dark data” and make the most out of it?

Defining the Value of Dark Data

According to Gartner, dark data is any information that businesses collect, process, and store, but don’t “use for other purposes,” like analytics and insights. Some dark data might be dark for a reason. For instance, you may not have had a chance to process and refine that information into something useful. However, there are many different types of information that can fall into this definition, including:

  • Customer call records
  • Raw survey data
  • Financial statements
  • Log files
  • Surveillance footage
  • Email correspondence

While the value of your dark data might not be immediately apparent, it does have benefits to offer. For instance, Splunk suggests that 76% of companies believe that the organisation that ends up with the most data is the one that will always come out on top. In other words, dark info is valuable because there’s a lot of it. The more information you have, the more you learn about your business operations and how to improve them. What’s more, the larger the data set, the more accurate your information will usually be.

It’s also worth noting that storing any data costs money. If you’re gathering information in any format and storing it somewhere, then you’re paying to do so. The data that you’re storing and not using is just costing you money over time.

How to Use Dark Data

Almost every piece of dark data you collect has the opportunity to offer something to your business. For instance, geolocation data that you gather about your customers can give you new insights into how to manage shipping and logistics patterns. Information collected about the amount of time a customer spends on a call can show you how efficient your current call queues are, and where bottlenecks in your system might be located.

Taking advantage of dark data is a process that will often be different for every company. However, some of the first things you can do to leverage this information include:

  • Ask more questions: Find out what kind of information you need to make better business decisions. If you want to improve customer experience, then it’s safe to say that the dark data in your contact centre will help you do that
  • Audit your database: Learn where you’re storing extra information that you’re not making use of. Look at your data collection tools and sources and think about the changes that you can make. For instance, how can you ensure that you’re gathering useful insights from your call recordings, without putting yourself at risk of problems with things like GDPR compliance?
  • Stop storing data “just because”: While you’re auditing your systems, make a commitment to get rid of the data you don’t need. If you’re not going to use the information that you’re collecting, then don’t waste money storing it
  • Empower and expand your team: Once you’ve found the dark data that you want to tap into, make sure that your team has the tools they need to transform that information into actionable insights. Look into things like RPA tools, artificial intelligence and machine learning. There are countless new tools that can help you to make the most of all kinds of data today
  • Keep your goals in mind: With so much data to sort through, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, start by focusing on the goals that matter most to you. Think about what kind of problems you want to fix in your business operations or contact centre environment, then start analysing with those goals in mind.

The shadows over your data could be hiding some useful insights. Is it time to shine a light on your dark data?

 

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