Democratising Data for Improving Lives

Secure data management plays is vital to the digital economy and overall human progress. Yet,
there is a vital need to balance innovation, and enterprise in data with due diligence to privacy.

As the human race accelerates its journey into the connected era, democratization of data can propel
businesses and nations to boost performance, productivity and profitability - certainly, if done well.
Breaking down the silos of data across geographies can unlock exponential value and empower the
world. However, the biggest challenge is lack of collaborations that stifles innovation for everyone.

Significantly, the cost and burden of applying the privacy standards can be intimidating. More so, for
developing nations with their economic growth intrinsically linked to the global world order. To
harness Big Data and realize value from it, businesses need sophisticated tools, and global best
practices and understanding. Generating smart insights and knowledge this helps better governance.

Making data democratic augurs well for existence of democracy. Not only, this enables people gain
access to right information, and insights, but also helps governments enhance citizen-centric services.
For the businesses this offers enterprise-wide visibility and transparency. Bridging the digital divide
and empowering the bottom of the pyramid, access to information is quite vital to improving lives.

It is high time, we learn to reimagine how best to unlock the hidden treasure of Big Data for the good,
for the betterment of businesses, society and the planet. For this to happen we have to transcend the
narrow boundaries of parochialism and the contours of geographic boundaries. In a globalized world.
The solution lies not in abundance of data, but in unleashing value through smart data management.

The good news is progressive government policies in India continue to strengthen the digital backbone
of the world’s largest democracy and second-most-populous nation. Fast emerging as a smart nation,
India is ready to lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution, embracing modern technologies. Trust is going
to be the engine to traverse the path to progress and ameliorate pressing challenges of the masses.

Forwarding thinking leaders have the foresight rooted in co-creation and collaboration to cope with
the volatile, uncertain, changing and ambiguous world. While anxieties about data security, and
personal privacy are not quite unfounded, smart data management solutions ensure GDPR-aligned
privacy, and security at core, with role-based access controls and with encryption at rest and in transit.

To address the privacy challenges of tomorrow, we need to think beyond the best practices of today.
Fortunately, today, technology and data have the potential to empower everyone, if harnessed for
good. Together, this opens up immense opportunities to alleviate some of the most fundamental
global challenges - including food security, climate change, universal education and healthcare for all.

In the race for AI supremacy for better governance, no country can afford to miss the bus. India’s
national #AIforAll strategy is on the right track, aiming at empowering Indians with skills to find quality
jobs, investing in cross sectoral research has potential to maximise economic growth and social
inclusion, and drive innovations in healthcare, agriculture, education, smarter cities or mobility. Yet,
the sophistication of the AI models depend on the quality, depth, and diversity of data management.

In recent years, the country has righty focussed on significantly improving the transparency,
accountability, and efficiency of operations across government institutions to boost citizen centric
services through digital transformation. In times to come, India could be a real case study in showing
the world how to harness citizen data for social inclusion and protect privacy at the same time.
Collaboration across the industry-academia-public -R&D institutions can render huge societal benefits.
Predictive models and hyper connected data exchanges could help improve national productivity,
mitigating risks and opening up novel opportunities. It’s our collective responsibility to nurture the
trust in democratisation of data to fully explore the progress, and promise, of this fast advancing field.

Secure data management plays is vital to the digital economy and overall human progress. Yet, there
is a vital need to balance innovation, and enterprise in data with due diligence to privacy.

Smarter policies, rigorous frameworks and systemic approaches are the best ways to optimize data
management and maximize dispersed value for the next billion. For sure, it is imperative for nations
to develop the ecosystem use data responsibly to maximize the potential and improve people’s lives.