Don’t underestimate the power of web data collection for informational advantage

Our real-time economy relies on real-time data – in the past two years, that has become a well-known fact. Without data, things would look very different. That’s why businesses today no longer massively prioritise digitally transforming their operations and processes. Instead, they use data to create more engaging experiences for customers, innovate according to real market demand, improve their operational processes, inform future business models, and make important business decisions. Data, and more specifically real-time data, is at the heart of the most critical business moves. The more reliable real-time data you have, chances are the better decisions you will make.

For this reason, many companies across different industries, from hedge funds to cosmetics brands, are deploying public web data collection at mass scale to make more strategic decisions. In this context, informational advantage is about exploring data-intelligent technologies and innovative ways of retrieving web data to transform the vast amounts of unstructured data into valuable insights and trends. Doing so will provide the foundations for present and future business decisions. As a result, data is becoming the driving force for everything that a business does and the direction it takes.

Let’s dive into how web data collection strategies can influence competitive superiority and examine how businesses utilise web data collection to their advantage.    

Keep your eyes on the prize

There are many reasons why businesses collect publicly available data that examines their market landscape and industry. The main reason, though, is to gain an informational advantage to ensure they are making accurate business decisions. However, accessing this public data is more complex than one may think. 

Public sites are often blocked for competitive reasons, even though the information is open to the public and can be easily accessed by typical users. This is where data collection solutions play an important role, allowing access to thousands of public web data access points that would, otherwise, remain deep within the sub-layers of the internet. These solutions are designed to be easily integrated into businesses' daily operations.  

Web data gathering at scale and in real time has already established itself as a useful tool in many industries, like e-commerce, travel, cybersecurity, adtech and fintech. We can expect it to become commonly used across a broader range of sectors in the future, including healthcare and wellbeing, legal, traditional financial services organisations, and many more.

ESG data is not niche

The term ‘ESG’ is banded around a lot today. But what does it mean? 

The acronym covers all public information related to environmental, social, and governance factors that could have an impact on an organisation.

It's particularly helpful for those within the financial sector when weighing the short-term and long-term risks and returns of a potential investment venture. However, ESG should no longer be considered ‘niche’. According to AIMA and other sources, by 2024, there will be over 5,000 separate ESG alt-data sets available. 

Additionally, a recent survey conducted in partnership with Vanson Bourne highlighted that fulfilling sustainability goals is a main priority for businesses, no matter the industry. In fact, almost two-thirds (60%) of businesses stated that environmental considerations are very important to the way their business operates. The survey also revealed that 8 in 10 businesses are currently working with either public or private partners to use data to help tackle issues related to climate change – with over a third (36%) working with local public authorities.

Public web data collection strategies are already including ESG factors as a way of gaining an informational upper hand over competitors. In the future, we expect this development to further grow. 

Social sentiment data can talk the talk, but can it walk the walk? – Here’s an example

Now that we’ve established what web data collection is and its benefits, it’s important to demonstrate just how crucial it is to businesses today with a real use case.

Melvin Capital Management (MCM), an investment management firm, never used to use public social sentiment data, which led to huge losses on the past GameStop (NYSE: GME) stock. MCM took major ‘short positions’ based on ‘classic corporate financial data sets’ (e.g., debt-to-earnings ratio and projected annual sales). 

However, what it failed to realise was the influence of social sentiment on the stock market. While MCM was focused on hedging against GME, WSB investors were openly discussing their positive outlook on this position. They were momentarily able to increase almost 200 times above the stock’s historic average valuation. This would’ve been fine if it were not for the fact that MCM portfolio managers were so confident in their decisions that they placed hedges on more than 40% of existing stock volume. As a result, they were forced to sell at certain price points; otherwise, their fund would not physically have had enough cash to cover their losses, and they would’ve needed to file for bankruptcy.

The main takeaway here is that the firms that accessed public social media data were able to track positive sentiment towards GME, which enabled them to take preemptive (i.e., selling their shorts) and proactive measures (i.e., ‘buying long’). 

Don't get left behind

In an industry where 24 hours can make or break a strategic step – accessing real-time resources can make a difference between a massively successful move and one that is less so. Some businesses have yet to realise the true power of public web data and the ease with which it can be integrated once they join the right web data collection platform. Now is the time to test and make sure you are tapping into a reliable information source that will provide you a fast-track advantage – a step that, today, is much simpler to implement and integrate.

To succeed, you need to make the right decision at the right time – and with web data on your side, chances are that the force is always with you.  

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