Denzil Rankine (pictured), executive chairman, AMR International, looks ahead at 2018 and discovers the ubiquitous role 'data' plays. Question is, however, is data friend or foe in 2018?
As we welcome in the new year, we are inevitably seeking opportunities to improve and to increase competitiveness. Core to everyone’s thinking in 2018 must be our relationship with data and analytics. No one can claim to have cracked this, yet.
We are all aware of the spectre of GDPR. It looks more like a constraint than an opportunity. It requires new levels of data compliance and carries unnerving financial penalties if the new data regulations are found to have been breached.
However, as we discovered at December’s Transform Europe conference in London, GDPR can bring commercial benefits and generate competitive advantage.
Christine Andrews, managing director of DQM GRC, explained how GDPR presents an opportunity. It allows organisers to re-think their business processes, map out the data they have and determine how it is being used. This was a call to be more effective in capturing the data flowing through their organisation.
GDPR becomes an opportunity to improve efficiencies, develop more targeted communications, and secure more customer loyalty – with clear and transparent data strategies.
Furthermore, a better understanding of the data we hold, how and why we gather it, and what we intend to do with it, will also provide the pathway to using analytics. We know that analytics is driving the success of companies in some of the most competitive industries; the time is now right for exhibitions to follow suit.
Click here to read Rankine's feature in the latest edition of EW. You can visit DQM GRC's website here.
