Are cars no longer fueled by gasoline because they are now fueled by data? Consider how driverless cars, electronic vehicles, and Uber are changing the outlook for the future. And reflect on how the in-vehicle computer has increasingly changed you safety, your comfort, and your ability to manage the vehicle’s maintenance. Gasoline is so last century; today it’s all about the data.
A Financial Review article from July 2017 by Mark Eggleton plays with the idea of data as the fuel of the future. For a century oil ruled our world, influencing geopolitics, urban design, and decisions about where to work and travel. Today, it is data that is significantly changing our world. However, we cannot just obey data on blind faith. We need to look up from the GPS, so to speak, and decide for ourselves if the data we are being fed is relevant and appropriate.
We need to consider data in the context of trust. Take banks for an example. Although banks could do lots of things with our personal financial information, they operate within the context of trust that has built over centuries. Regardless of whether we trust their profit motives in society overall, we do indeed trust that the information they hold will be handled in a responsible and diligent manner. Banking is deeply immersed in a human context, regardless of whether it always seems that way.
I personally think that in workforce analytics, there is a similar concern about trust. We have at our fingertips sensitive information that could be used for good or evil. So let’s ask, are human resources departments actually good? Perhaps we need some time establishing ourselves, to give a better sense that when we’re wrapped up in industrial conflict and individual terminations, that we’re sincerely doing what is expected of us. If we collect accident statistics and attendance lists for mental health workshops, do employees bank on us only using this information to make people well? Have we truly established that the employment equity data we collect will be used exclusively for its intended purpose? When we survey employees on their engagement experience, is the information used to create a better workplace, or are there attempts to punish those who express low motivation? While we closely guard peoples’ confidential pay data, do we have the correct attitude towards employees discussing their pay amongst themselves?
I think it’s high time we subordinate data to the human context. After all, if big data peaks, we are probably into the human economy. If data is going to change the world, we need to ensure it dovetails with our history, the geography, the people and their culture. If we get this wrong, it will be a dystopian science fiction movie come true. That’s kind of what happened with oil. So let’s get it right this time.
(Hat tip to KPMG’s Hugo van Hoogstraten for sharing the original article with me)
Stuart Murray Speaks 