To a more effective, and more trustworthy, data-driven 2021

The results of a recent Capgemini report summarize well the state of data-driven practices in organizations all over the world. 

The report found that "data masters", just 16% of the companies Capgemini surveyed and analyzed, performed far better than their peers – profitability, revenue per employee and fixed asset turnover were significantly above average.

On the other hand, just 20% of business executives surveyed said they entirely trusted the data they received.

It is the best of times, and it is the worst of times.

Regaining trust

Anyone who works daily with data, as we do at Piwik PRO, sees the enormous potential. But we can't ignore the problems. In the EU, 41% of residents don't want to share personal data with private companies. In the US, 69% lack confidence that companies will use their personal information in ways they would be comfortable with. It's no surprise that confidence in data quality is low when there is a general lack of trust around collection.

Gartner predicts that by 2023, 65% of the world’s population will have its personal data protected by modern privacy regulations. The GDPR in the EU and the CCPA in California are good examples of this trend. But is that enough to regain people's trust?

I think it's a good start. In the meantime, though, organizations of all kinds can do more to improve both that general trust and the quality of the data they collect.

A win-win-win scenario

Capgemini's definition for data master includes having a robust framework covering all aspects of privacy, security, [and] ethics. In another study, Deloitte found that consumers were 28% more likely to be open to sharing data when satisfied with a retailer's privacy policy.

These two things together point to a principal we believe in strongly at Piwik PRO – good data security and privacy is mutually beneficial for all involved. I like to call it a win-win-win. Let me explain.

Win trust

People can tell when proper infrastructure, processes and protection mechanisms are in place for collecting their data. This starts at the point of collection but also builds over time when there aren't any security breaches or stories about data being used to make money in suspicious ways.

With this awareness comes growing confidence that the organization in question will responsibly handle the data it collects. 

Win data

That confidence from customers, users and citizens means those people will be more willing to share data about themselves and how they use online services.

Those collecting data will get more and better data. Businesses will gain a competitive advantage. Public institutions will operate more effectively and efficiently.

Win better experiences

All those people who provided data can expect better service in return – better customer, user and citizen journeys that will make the internet a more productive place for everyone.

This is the virtuous cycle that we encourage our customers and partners to be a part of.

The pandemic factor

Most of us have been spending more time on the internet than ever. While there isn't much good to be said about the reasons why, we're happy that more and more organizations are reacting to these changes in a positive way – by deciding to collect data in a more responsible way. 

We saw an increase of 46% in subscriptions for our flagship analytics platform. This means that many organizations saw the increased flow of data and decided to take a big step towards a win-win-win cycle of responsible data collection and data-driven optimizations. We couldn't be happier to start working with them to get the most out of their data, anchored on a solid foundation of privacy, security and regulatory compliance.

This is good news for our business, of course, but also good news for everyone that thinks a more sustainable model is possible for data collection on the internet.

A new year, a new phase in Piwik PRO's development

That growth is even more thrilling as we continued, for yet another year, to allocate 40% of our revenue to product development.

This year is different, though, because we feel like we've hit an important milestone in the development of the Piwik PRO platform. Next year could be big because the product has come so far compared to powerful competitors such as Adobe and Google.

None of this would be possible without the Piwik PRO team. Every day, exceptionally talented people improve the product's capabilities, expand our business and take good care of customers and partners. Thank you all for your resilience in the face of pandemic lockdowns and your devotion to getting the job done. 

Another big kudos to business partners and friends of Piwik PRO. Thanks to your work, awareness of both our products and approach to analytics is growing. My thanks go to Jan Dalsfort and Appstract team, Hopkins Oy team, Max Ossé and the Fulcrum Analytics team, Ari Soetjitro and VGI Digital team, Badrinath Vankadari and Nabler team, Gaurav Chhaparwal and Datahash team, Miguel Loureiro Silva and datatekin team, Maria Sofia Martins and Quidgest team, John deTar and Guilherme Soter of Global Data Bank ROIX, Christophe Alves and Scal-e team and Mark Loughran, Rafa? S?yk & Piotr Szczepanik from Microsoft.

I would also like to send my thanks to Piotr Litwa, Krzysztof Franaszek, Santi Roc Castells from SimpleSite, David Lastra from SNGULAR, Gebruiker Centraal community, Gemma Milne & the Connected & Ready podcast team, Amy Woody & Jonathan Wiersma from CivicPlus and Nicolas Grilli from Axxiome.

Finally, a special thanks to Toon Vuursteen from Deloitte NL and Mikko Piippo from Hopkins Oy. You are both leaders in analytics and government analytics, respectively, and it means a lot to us that you see the quality and potential in our product.

That's a long list, but I've still probably forgotten a few others I should thank. So to all of you not named above, thank you for a great year and I look forward to an even better 2021.

2021: A data odyssey

We'll keep working hard to improve the performance and stability of Piwik PRO and to add many more integrations with external platforms and tools. 

There’s also a big announcement we're planning for next year, but we can’t share the details just yet. So stay tuned! I'll just say that anyone who wants to see more privacy-friendly analytics in data-driven organizations should be excited. 

Here's to a more effective, and more trustworthy, data-driven 2021.