How to Share Insights & Success with Data Marketplaces

The rise of the internal data marketplace

When Clive Humby described data as “the new oil” back in 2006, he was mainly talking about the huge strategic value that it can deliver. Two decades on, and his assertion holds true. In that time, though, it’s also become clear there’s a secondary meaning to Humby’s pithy descriptor. Because, much like a car engine needs oil flowing through its components in order to function, today’s automotive companies need their data to flow through their business if they are to thrive.

Take any of the key functions within a typical automotive company today. From the sales team to the supply chain, there’s a good chance that data collaboration is already playing an important role. And that contribution will only become bigger as time goes by.

Use cases — both current and future — bear that out. In the R&D department alone, shared data can drive incredible innovations. Real-world performance data can help design teams create smarter cars. Customer feedback can help engineers to refine performance. Quality control data can help manufacturing teams to optimize the production process. Data that starts in one place can end up having a dramatic impact in another.

The same principles apply elsewhere, too. With data shared in the right way, for example, sales teams could access service histories to help better understand buyers. Supply chain managers could use sales forecasts to optimize inventory levels. And customer service professionals could get a genuine understanding of an owner’s every interaction with the company—that long sought-after “single view.”

For any of this to happen, of course, manufacturers need that collaborative infrastructure in place. What’s more, they need to ensure that said data is accessible and searchable, without ever losing control over who can access it. It’s for these reasons and more that a growing number of automotive manufacturers are beginning to explore the opportunities presented by the internal data marketplace.

The road to faster, safer data sharing

You may already be aware of the concept of a data marketplace, an online platform in which data can be securely bought and sold. For instance, a manufacturer’s R&D team might buy test data for a new technology they’re thinking about using. Essentially, a data marketplace (or, as it’s sometimes called, a data exchange) offers a way for an organization to enrich its understanding.

An internal data exchange works in much the same way, with one major difference: the data here isn’t being bought or sold—it’s being provided and accessed by different divisions within the same company. An internal data marketplace allows people from different teams and functions to get hold of the information they need to do their jobs better. More specifically, it enables them to get hold of that information at speed.

This matters. Right now, 84% of employees say they can’t get the data they need to do their jobs effectively (Salesforce, 2023). Eighty-three percent of organizations say data silos are hindering their ability to deliver a seamless customer experience (Accenture, 2023). And Immuta’s own experience suggests it takes an average of two and a half months for a data “consumer” to be given access to the information they want.

An internal data marketplace doesn’t just help to bridge those gaps — it does so in a very specific way. Done right, an internal data marketplace should deliver:

1. A consumer-grade discovery experience: An internal data marketplace should work in a similar way to the app store on your phone. Different teams create individual “data products” (specific datasets), and then publish them to the marketplace. Others can then browse that data by category or type, and download the information they’re looking for. This “consumer-grade” discovery experience makes it easier to find and source data across teams.

1. Global access controls that automate access to data: An internal data marketplace doesn’t just allow teams to publish their own data. It gives them the ability to set controls on who can access that information, too. Once locked in, those controls are automated—ensuring that anyone who should be able to access a data product can do so automatically. Any requests that fall outside of those parameters, on the other hand, are fast-tracked back to the relevant team.

1. The foundations needed to begin sharing data externally: Sharing data internally is only the start of the journey. Some automotive manufacturers can be part of the same overall group, but be split into entirely different legal entities. Others might have ambitions to boost their direct-to-consumer business. An internal data marketplace gives those companies a strong foundation to start exploring the possibilities of external data sharing, too.

Naturally, there are other considerations as well. An internal data marketplace goes hand-in-hand with the principles of a data mesh architecture, where data is managed and organized by individual teams rather than centrally. Therefore, to implement a marketplace at scale, you also need to have the capability to build a data mesh — and that has implications for everything from culture through to resource.

At the same time, the effort it takes to create an internal data marketplace is well worth the effort. If the future of automotive is based on data collaboration (and it is), then a marketplace provides the foundation not just for sharing — but for fast, secure sharing.