Is data the new oil? Eunoia CEO Stefan Farrugia weighs in

Back in 2006, Clive Humby, a mathematician, came up with the phrase “data is the new oil,” referring to the relevance that data has to 21st century businesses. While most tend to agree that this is the case, the debate goes on as to whether data is indeed such a valuable resource when it is not utilised effectively.

In the light of this ongoing debate, Stefan Farrugia, CEO at Eunoia, shares his thoughts via social media, making reference to the reality that locally, there is much that still needs to be done when it comes to the systems and processes used for storing such data.

“My 20-year career has been circling around data workloads in different verticals both in public and private sectors. What I learned is that all businesses are data businesses”, he states.

“The tech used might be primitive, such as Excel, but the local business community has adopted data as a decision support mechanism for decades now”, he continues.

Mr Farrugia goes on to claim that “if you look at verticals like FMCG, retail, insurance, part of the financial and insurance industry, construction, to give but a few, data is core for decision making. I have seen fascinating insights that have been used successfully to improve performance.”

In his concluding comments Mr Farrugia refers to the pandemic and argues that throughout COVID, the companies “which harnessed data have been easier to adapt in the market constraints that a pandemic can bring.”