MIT Sloan Management Review Article on How to Have Better Strategy Conversations About Monetizing Data

Companies can’t manage what they don’t measure. They also can’t manage what they can’t discuss. Take the term data monetization: Definitions range from the narrowly focused “selling data sets” to the overly broad “creating benefits from data.” Too little consistency among curricula in academia and too much siloed business thought leadership only add to the proliferation of data babel. When leaders try to have productive conversations about a data monetization strategy within a complex business environment, they often reach an impasse. They need a simple, common language to break through.

Try using this definition: Data monetization is the conversion of data into financial returns. In the new book Data Is Everybody’s Business, we offer two simple data frameworks that — when combined — represent an easy yet comprehensive set of data products. The first framework offers three different approaches to converting data into money: Improve, wrap, or sell. The second framework reflects three points along the data value creation process: People or systems need to use data to develop insight that informs action. Combine the two frameworks, and you have a matrix that offers nine distinct product choices, each with its own set of commitments and outcomes.

About the Author

Barbara H. Wixom is principal research scientist at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR). Cynthia M. Beath is professor emerita at the University of Texas and a research collaborator at MIT CISR. Leslie Owens is an industry research fellow at MIT CISR. They are the authors of Data Is Everybody’s Business (MIT Press, 2023).

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