Data as a Service: A data bank to serve the ever-evolving world

Before 2015, you’ll probably wonder what DaaS is, but with the increasing development that has met bandwidth and cloud-based software, it is gradually becoming a household name.

Data as a Service (DaaS) is one of the products of “as a service” technology and it is powered by Software as a Service.

The reasoning behind the introduction of Daas is that important data and information about a particular niche could be provided when needed and being stored in a central location, This sort of data is hence provided as a product.

To get into the groove as to what DaaS actually is and what it provides, it is important that we understand the reasons for the inclusion of this software service in businesses and corporations.

Problems Prompting the introduction of DaaS.

With constant development in business, technology, finance, and many other spheres in the world, the amount of information needed to make telling decisions was on the rise and the time needed to make these decisions was also of the essence.

The need to develop a sustainable system to help individuals and businesses make informed decisions became necessary. These decisions also need to be made in relatively short periods.

Even private individuals also constantly need to be able to get access to data in an easy-to-understand manner. Not everyone is willing to know everything about every subject.

In essence, people need a largely efficient and knowledgeable as well as an easy-to-understand advisor to guide their decision-making.

Although there are still conventional ways to do this, with the rapid rate of growth and development in the world today people need more efficient ways to get things done and with credible results.

Also, obtaining this sort of information with conventional methods may seem time-tasking and also somewhat expensive. To put this into perspective, imagine as a car retailing business owner, you are seeking ways to boost your customer scale and also how to ensure better customer retention. You would have to go to all sorts of places to scrape information, analyse them, and then also fit those data into the grand plan you have. These would literally take a lot of time to handle and put in place. DaaS helps to erase all this by getting you relevant information upon request.

Now, to be a little more specific in our illustration, we would consider a conventional organization and its means of storing and accessing information. Most organizations utilize data stored in a specialized data storage space and to access and present this data, special software would have to be designed. Should this company decide to hand this data out to another company, they’ll sell it in conjunction with the software.

This system is of course with its own barriers and one of its biggest barriers is that another interface would have to be developed for communication with varying business software. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) was developed for this purpose. EAI integrates these applications together to provide for an easy understanding of business processes without having to affect the current data structure.

The creation of so many layers means increased amounts of software for organizations to maintain and manage for the use of a single data as well as increased costs of purchasing this software. In addition to these costs, additional amounts would also be needed to frequently maintain these setups.

How does this software even do this? Well, to answer this question, we would have to consider the mechanism through which DaaS provides an efficient solution.

Solution DaaS Offers

Having understood the inadequacies of traditional methods ( time and efficiency constraint) especially, it is now understood as to why a new system that works actively for all spheres is necessary. This system is here and with us in the technological world. It is DaaS and it has been received with much patronization since its inception in 2015.

The dynamics of how Data as a Service works is based on the need to have all data kept in a centralized space. This data can then be updated, enriched, protected all at once and then offered to organizations upon request. Also, DaaS is capable of providing data irrespective of organization of the network.

The former restrictions to how cloud-based services function were the amount of storage it could allow and its bandwidth but now that those have been improved upon, we are sure to enjoy the best of these services in time.

When it comes to providing services, customers expect that the services would be way better than what they imagined. Successfully satisfying customers’ expectations is what helps you keep them and with the constantly evolving world, that is even harder than ever. Before now, there was probably no truly efficient way of knowing exactly what your customers would desire and this is where the whooping gap between perception and reality arises

Perception – is a feeling of how we think things are in terms of understanding or interpretation.

Reality – is the state of things as they actually are.

Most companies are actually focused on building on the perception they have of their products instead of the reality of what is going on hence, why they do not satisfy their customers. There are several factors as to why there is this bridge between perception and reality. Use of wrong tools and lack of support are chief amongst those reasons. With DaaS though, this gap is bridged as companies now have access to real and updated data as it relates to the services they provide.

This data helps them understand the reality of how their services are faring instead of just building on how they think their services are doing. DaaS platforms help these companies get more insights from their data, enrich it and come up with more data-driven decisions.

Now that we understand what DaaS is and the game-changing results it provides for companies, let’s now consider some companies actively involved in providing these services for other companies/brands.

Major Players In Data as a Service

With every revolutionary change in the way we do things, there are always front liners who are pushing the movement forward and actively providing services to individuals. DaaS is no different, there are major companies at the forefront of providing these services. In this section, we explore these companies as well as their contributions to the data as a service space.

There are virtually no limits to the amount of data we need to satisfy our ever-growing world. Seeing how data as a service operates via a centralized system, it is easy to keep the data updated as new sets of data keep arising.

Talking about information banks, there is Clearview which is an American facial intelligence company. This company provides its softwares to law enforcement agencies and businesses. It has a centralized database of over 3 billion images scraped from the internet as well as social media pages. When facial pictures are provided to be identified, it finds a match from its stack of over 3 billion images and matches the pictures.

Clearview claims that the data they provide is purely for law enforcement agencies in helping solve criminal cases. Little was known of this company for a while as they operated in secrecy until open letters were written against their activities. Just to quantify the margin of its growth, Clearview has since its inception seen its valuation grow to about $100 million. Although there are mixed reactions to the invention of this software, it is left to be seen what becomes of it in coming years but one thing is for sure, a data bank like this would surely provide faster and rather reliable results although, the ethical side of using a software like this is another ball game entirely.

Still keeping with being able to provide highly accurate data, there is Ahrefs which contains a relatively large amount of tools for backlinks and SEO analysis. Backlinks are particularly important in improving search engine rankings as pages with a relatively high number of backlinks tend to have high organic search rankings. Ahrefs also provides fantastic results as it gives suggestions for effective link building and content analysis. Ahrefs is able to function so effectively as it has over 11 billion keywords and over 400 billion indexed pages.

Data for Ahrefs are obtained from search crawlers. Search crawlers visit and download a page and extract its links to discover additional pages. If there are changes to the page, it automatically updates its index to accommodate those changes. This is why Ahrefs is able to constantly provide the best links for page optimization.

If you’re looking for better ways to improve your customer satisfaction, Clearbit provides efficient ways for you to do that. Clearbit is a marketing data engine for customer interactions that allows businesses to grow by providing tools to help brands and businesses fully understand customers, identify future prospects and personalize single marketing and sales interactions.

Data from Clearbit are received from over 250 public and private data sources and also through millions of data points. A variety of sources like social presence, company websites, legal filings, crowdsourcing, and more are used to get data that clearbit offers to businesses.

These data points are turned into useful information by dynamically weighing and scoring each data source to use for each attribute. Machine learning is also used to analyze the data and turn it into standardized and usable attributes. To ensure that the data provided are accurate, Clearbit uses two verification stages to maintain data accuracy. .

As we know, the world is a global village and geographical location is no longer a barrier to having access to quality information. As a global village, a language particularly similar to most individuals is the word “website”. People go to websites not only for information but also to patronize products and services. With this knowledge, it is clear to see how websites are being highlighted as sweet spots for receiving data to improve customer satisfaction, and with SimilarWeb, you’ll surely be utilizing this data hotspot in an efficient way.

SimilarWeb is a website whose primary purpose is the provision of web analytics services for businesses. SimilarWeb provides its customers with useful information on their clients’ and competitors’. Some of the information SimilarWeb provides includes website traffic volumes, keyword analysis and demographics, website stickiness and more. SimilarWeb has over time developed a reputation for being one of the most accurate data analysis tools as it precisely predicts organic website visits to within 1%.

A sneak peek is always an added advantage as it gives you an idea of what a particular situation may present and this is exactly what Owler does. Owler is an American internet company that crowdsources competitive insights on companies. It provides sales intelligence about companies and this data helps its users understand companies and how best to approach them.

Owler obtains information like news alerts, company profiles, polls etc. This information allows users to follow and track companies in real-time. The thing with data sources like this is the accuracy of the data they provide and to ensure data accuracy, Owler utilizes editors to review the documents and ensure that they are properly tagged.

In recent times, reaching out to potential clients has certainly moved levels higher. This time, you may have to develop a sort of connection with them. Every potential client has their own specifics hence, gaining information you need to create a connection with them could be quite difficult. Not to worry tho, BuiltWith provides the tools you need to establish these connections as well as understand what the top websites are made of. This website profiler tool has a database of over 673 million websites. It is able to provide information on how these websites are built as regarding lead generation, understanding what the prospects platform is all about, and gives a general overview of who your competitors are.

Online marketplaces are becoming the new “normal” in our world today as we constantly look for ways to make things easier for ourselves. With the growth of marketplaces like Amazon on a daily basis, it is necessary to get the tools that are needed to ensure that you function well in this space. What tools do you need? Simply put, data. As we’ve come to understand, the right data is what we need to make progress.

JungleScout gives us access to the right data. It assists sellers in the Amazon marketplace increase their sales by giving them data from a wide range of Amazon sellers. JungleScout processes over 500 million data points each day. These data are ranked while considering product information as well. Specialized algorithms were also developed to provide accurate estimates and these algorithms are updated as need arises.

As stated in earlier paragraphs, the right data forms a majority of what we need to get things done effectively. Also to add, data is available virtually everywhere but the method of collection and accuracy usually proves quite difficult. Hypetrace makes this data collection quite an easy affair as it acts as a search engine for social media influencers (TikTok and Instagram). It categorizes the search based on engagement rates, location, follower number, and more.

Even for small businesses, the right data goes a long way in helping you save money as well as helping you make your effort worthwhile by providing credible results. Cubit Planning assists small businesses with the right information by gaining data from data assets like the US Census and the bureau of Labor statistics. For information not readily available in government assets, a partnership with AGS allows data like these to be obtained.

The types of data Cubit Planning provides include small geography population projection for a physical location for new businesses, crime risk data, using demographics to target online ad campaigns, and more.

With the introduction of technology comes the development of several means of communication and with the introduction of a wide range of communication means comes the need to increase proficiency in reaching out to potential clients. One communication method that’s being used to reach out to clients has been emailing. To reach out to clients via emails, the best thing is to get actionable emails to work with and that is what Hunter helps you provide. Hunter helps you find professional email addresses in seconds and connect with decision-makers that quite matter in businesses. In this way, you are able to work smartly.

Hunter works by searching company websites and it looks for email addresses it has in its base using the same domain name (meaning email addresses with @ company.com. It then checks if an email matches the profile.

Even for sporting enthusiasts, the right information means being able to get more accurate NBA stats to make for a better understanding of the game. This sort of accurate data is provided by Cleaning The Glass. This basketball focused stat provider provided accurate, easier to use, and particularly rare data useful in making basketball decisions.

Particularly efficient in conducting market research, Crunchbase is a platform for finding business information about private and public companies. Over 55 million professionals trust Crunchbase as a means to help them develop a connection with producers of innovative brands. This enables users to make informed decisions regarding their potential businesses.

Still keeping with data-driven decisions, we have Windfall which is focused on ensuring that customers have access to reliable data and also through machine learning drive better decision making. Efficiency is particularly ensured with the data Windfall produces as it utilizes AI-powered contextual analysis which allows it to give a wholesome view of the database as well as accelerate workflows and drive better performance. The data set in Windfall is completely rebuilt on a weekly basis to keep it updated and to give the best results.

It currently offers financial insights to about 80 million U.S. households. Windfall separates itself from other data provision services by non-reliance on misleading sources like surveys and U.S. Census data. Instead, it leverages data like real estate transactions, court records, SEC filings, and public domain sources. It also partners with other data vendors to fill in other information.

WIndfall is used by Nonprofit clients to understand their donors as well as identify high-potential donors. Profit businesses also use the windfall to better engage with their ideal customers.

Not only does quality data influence businesses alone, it also influences our personal choices and with Listen Notes, but you’ll also be getting suggestions of the very best podcasts concerning different topics. Listen Notes is a free tool that allows people to search podcast episodes regarding specific topics from its comprehensive online database. Comfort is particularly ensured with Listen Notes as it erases the need to scroll or listen through hours of podcasts to find the perfect one. It also provides options to buy customized datasets as well.

The internet world is constituent of a wide range of contents on even the same topic which is why to ensure credible conversion, you need to put your content right on top of the list to have a better chance of winning customers over. This is where SEO optimization comes in and with Moz, your content is sure to gain more traction. Moz is backed by the largest SEO community and it contains tools designed to enhance search engine visibility. It allows you to track local and national searches to give a full view of your marketing and to understand where your content stands in comparison with others.

In making informed and data-driven decisions pertaining to legality in businesses, there is LexisNexis which is a corporation that sells data mining platforms through online portals. It provides computer-assisted legal research and provides information around a wide range of consumers. This data bank is specifically for professionals in legal, risk management, corporate, government, law, accounting, and more.

Joining the already impressive line of powerful data banks, we have Quandl which particularly delivers essential financial and economic data to professionals. It also delivers top-tier information about companies published by outside sources. Quandl allows users to download free data, buy paid data or sell data to Quandl. Quandl provides data products like daily job posting activity.

A particular favorite for companies looking to improve customer experience, Acxiom enables better customer experience by collecting, analyzing, and handing out customer and business information for use in advertisement campaigns. FullContact is also particularly dedicated to ensuring much better customer support as it delivers data necessary to create nicely tailored customer experiences. It ensures this by unifying data and applying insights in critical moments. This way, trust, and relationship is better built between individuals and brands.

With the current evolution of our world, individuals are finding new ways out of the conventional ways to have things done and even the investment aspect isn’t left out of this change. There are now alternative investments that are away from traditional asset classes and include precious metals and arts. As with every form of investment, you’ll need proper guidance on insights, recommendations, and analysis, and thus is exactly what Alternative Assets provides.

As earlier paragraphs have shown us, there is virtually no limit to how comfortable the right data makes life for us all and with Scott’s Cheap Flights, even more, comfort is guaranteed. Scott’s Cheap flights has a team of hunters around the world who are constantly on the search for cheap flight deals. Upon seeing appealing deals, they are sent to subscribers.

To make hiring processes even faster and more reliable, we have Checkr which uses artificial intelligence to screen both public and private databases to check for records that match those of applicants as opposed to having to go through these processes manually.

Even as a real estate agent, you’ll still need the right data to get you in tune with what is going on in the ever-changing market space which is why Green Street is a worthy companion. This website provides data through real estate alerts on deals and dealmakers in the property market. Green Street has over 30 years’ worth of news reporting experience as well as over 20,000 users. It serves its users by putting the most intriguing news together and handing them out through weekly publications.

Even for startups, the right data would make a world of difference and with Cyberleads, you’ll be getting the data service to take your outreach to clients to the next level. Cyberleads hands out a monthly package of over 700 specially chosen fast-growing that’ll suit the services you’re willing to provide.

Cyberlead helps users find companies currently making waves by income generated, find companies that are easy to reach out to and build relationships with and to also reach the CEO and decision-makers in those companies via emails. Sources of information for Cyberleads range from news outlets to social media platforms and blogs. These data are handpicked and properly proofed by professionals to be both verified and publicly available and to give you the very best results.

Another platform that helps its users discover new business partners is GrowthList, a lead generation company capable of delivering over 150 leads on a weekly basis. Information GrowthList provides include; recently funded tech startups with needs for certain services with ranges from $500K to $5M, verified email addresses, CEO’s name and so much more.

Also available to help your brand name get in and amongst the right audience, there is awario. Awario actively helps brands increase their awareness by discovering important discussions in real-time for them to join in and advertise their products and services. Awario takes word-of-mouth marketing to another level. Awario provides its services by scrubbing web pages daily and leveraging the social media space to sieve out meaningful customer insights.

Infusion of technology like artificial intelligence only makes data services even much better and that soothing experience is what Explorium provides. Explorium functions via automated data and feature discovery. It connects thousands of external data sources and integrates this with machine learning to give out insights to ensure superior business decisions.

Bloomberg Second Measure was born out of Bloomberg’s acquisition of the second measure. It is a tech company that analyzes a wide range of anonymized purchases to help brands understand their customers thoughts regarding their performance and their products/services.

Bloomberg’s acquisition of Second Measure is due to the fast-growing demand for alternative data which are quite difficult to process and analyze. Second Measure helps in this as it decodes transaction data, enriches them, normalizes the data, and gives it out as understandable insights to guide business decisions. This acquisition means Bloomberg would continually be able to serve on all fronts.

One of the most satisfying things about data as a service is particularly how it erases the need to have to do several types of research to come to a decision. These researches have already been done for you and they have also been provided in easy-to-understand terms for better business decision making. To reinforce this ability to provide the very best data comfortably, we have Xeneta which is a cloud-based ocean freight platform that provides its users with actionable insights through real-time rate movement, schedule reliability, and capacity data on major trade corridors. Being cloud-based means that this software allows for flexibility, scalability, and speed. Xeneta has an impressive data density of over 12 million contracted rates. These rates are particularly more impressive when we consider the fact that they are constantly updated as soon as data is imported.

Considering the fact that freight manages about 90% of global trade, it is important for us to understand that all decisions cannot be made based on emotions or made in an uninformed manner.

Through the introduction of the innovative technology provides to a fairly rigid sector, these emotions and uninformed decision making are eliminated as technology acts based on the data provided and does this with urgency, accuracy, and fairness. Before Xeneta provides data for its users, a minimum of 5 rates per route, per day, per equipment type.

Alternative assets provide ways to reduce overall risk. Alternative assets allow investors to invest in rare and expensive physical assets like sports memorabilia, fine art, racehorses, luxury goods and more. Although alternative assets are meant to reduce overall risk, it doesn’t mean they are completely risk-free as well. There is still a need to make informed decisions as it is a yet emerging space. To ensure that you make the right decisions in your investment space, we have Altan Insights. Altan insights provide coverage on alternative assets with research, data, and exclusive interviews to ensure that you stay informed. Still walking on the same investment pathway, there is Investor Scout which aid startups.

A particularly common denominator with revolutionary thoughts is that they sort of influence how we do most things and this is common to data as a service too. Space particularly influenced by the introduction of DaaS is the brand promotion space. FindThatLead gives its users an opportunity to reach out to potential clients by using data generally on the web to generate emails based on the name, surname, and domain of the prospect. After generating the emails, it then confirms if the emails are correct.FindThatLead provides virtually unlimited contact opportunities to decision-makers in brands in virtually just two clicks. VoilaNorbert also functions in a similar fashion to FindThatLead by giving out accurate emails after inputting the name, last name and domain name of potential clients.

Yet another display of how effectively DaaS works in establishing business-to-business contact is seen with Lusha. It is a chrome extension that allows users to easily pull up contact information containing both their email address and direct phone number. Lusha gets its data from its business partners, community users, and publicly available sources like social network profiles. It actively serves over 120,000 users.

The web possesses the largest source of publicly available information but this information is not readily available for use as they are unstructured and noisy. To make these data readily consumable, they have to be cleaned and converted into easily understandable data. A website named DATAWEAVE currently does this effectively. It is able to get millions of data points from the web across different locations, zip codes, and more via its data aggregation platform.

After obtaining these data, it uses advanced techniques and AI-powered image and text analytics to clean the data. It then uses deep-learning techniques to classify the data into categories. To ensure that the data provided is accurate, human intelligence is further used to prove these data and make sure they are over 95% accurate.

Another advantage data as a service provides is that it reduces having to leave brand operations to chance. It gives users a platform to understand what is being said about their product or to measure the current appeal of their products so changes could be effected for better results. This sort of opportunity is what Brandmentions provides its users. It gives brands opportunities to measure their products through hashtag tracking tools, competitor spying, social media monitoring and so much more. Apart from just being able to measure your product’s growth, users can also engage with their customers and key influencers in their niche for larger brand exposure. Also with a website like this, users are able to know what customers are interested in and create products that suit these interests.

Access to the right data always improves innovation and gives startups motivation to grow as they improve decision making. This is the case with Dealroom as it provides data for startups, growth companies and tech ecosystems. The next big innovation may not necessarily come from top-tier companies which is why moving away from traditional data gathering methods with restrictions is necessary. To do this, Dealroom applies Artificial intelligence and algorithms to gather data in large quantities from public sources like news, trade registries, investor portfolios and more. Another important thing in providing accurate data is to ensure that they are credible and valid. This is usually done manually in Dealroom via a team of analysts assisted by verification softwares.

Also aimed at improving deal-making by making data-driven decisions, there is Mattermark

This ensures customers are able to discover, consider the chances of the companies being great and track the fastest growing companies.

The right data as we have come to know through this text makes things work smoothly and very easily. This is because individuals no longer need to make decisions based on uncertainty, they can now make what is described as informed decisions. This is the common theme regarding the development of Locale.ai which helps companies increase utilization of ground assets by constantly providing updated location data. The location data Locale.ai provides would then be used to move service delivery to high demanding areas so everybody gets to earn more and services are provided much quicker.

In addition to what Locale.ai does, there is also Localistico which helps to improve sales for businesses by strategically placing stores in regions where they can be easily reached by customers hence improving businesses. Foursquare also aims at improving the delivery of products and services by giving product and service delivery a more personalized touch while instilling trust with businesses and consumers. It provides information about people and about places. It not only makes for better service delivery but also transforms brand advertisement. Since you already have action points that could give your brand more pull, advert campaigns become more effective as you are able to gain more clicks and views.

We have seen several data as a service companies serve other sectors from finance to transportation but this next brand serves to ensure proper nutrition. Examine.com is basically a team of scientists who through day-to-day analysis gets the very best nutritional advice to individuals. Examine boasts the largest nutritional database of nutrition and supplement on the Internet and the advice scientists at Examine.com give out are purely evidence-based.

Yet another website that assists in making informed decisions is FlightAPI. Similar to how several data collection platforms were produced, FlightAPI was developed out of necessity. It was developed out of the frequent request of flight prices from multiple vendors. What FlightAPI does is that it tracks prices from a wide range of vendors for different Airlines in real-time.

Not only does FlightAPI provide you with flight prices, it also gives you details related to the flight like the speed, altitude and exact coordinates of the flight of choice. A particular convenience a website like FlightAPI is that it reduces the tendency of leaving everything to chance by allowing for informed decision making.

To round up the already impressive list of data as a service company actively providing data, we highlight a particularly common feature of them all which is innovation. Innovation is quite crucial to the success of a brand and that is quite boldly replicated by intrino. The financial industry has not enjoyed as much innovation compared to other sectors but with the introduction of technology as relevant as DaaS, the change to how things are done is quite inevitable.

Intrino provides the power to innovate by making data more powerful, accessible, and useful. It does this by automating the data supply chain with advanced infrastructure and machine learning. Services provided by intrino include fundamentals, market data as well as data sourcing.

DaaS Marketplace

Finding the right data is a recipe to success in our ever-evolving world as it gives users an insight into what people think about their products and services.

Despite how important finding the right data is, it proves quite difficult for data scientists to have full visibility to a given data set, understand what that particular data set is, and also understand the quality of each data set as it pertains to service delivery.

This is where Data Marketplaces gain their importance as they help those in search of useful data find data sets as well as understand if these data sets are fit for their purpose as It provides options for users to leave reviews which in turn help those seeking particular data types.

A data marketplace is mostly cloud-based and presents a space for users to buy or sell different data sets and data streams from several sources. Data marketplaces usually offer gifts to prompt the release of data. It is also relatively important for these marketplaces to be secured which is why some of them incorporate blockchain technology in their operation to encrypt and anonymize access to only purchasers of data streams from data providers.

Simply put, a data marketplace allows data providers to manage and sell their data while allowing data buyers to buy, compare and purchase data. Some of these marketplaces are discussed below;

The very first on the list of data marketplaces is Qlik which effectively does what is expected of a data marketplace as it connects and combines data from several data sources. Qlick carves a unique niche for itself as the only marketplace that allows open-ended, curiosity-driven exploration giving everyone at any skill level the ability to make real discoveries and make data-driven decisions.

Next, we have Ocean which also reveals data value by allowing data owners and consumers to publish, discover and consume data assets through ocean market app. It does these in two of the most cherished manners in the world today, in a secure and private fashion. Ocean data tokens also incorporate blockchain technology by turning data into data assets which enables the introduction of data wallets, data exchanges, and data co-ops by working in a similar way as crypto wallets, exchanges, and DeFi tools.

If you’ve been impressed by the ability of these marketplaces to connect data owners to buyers, then you’ll even be more impressed by RapidAPI. RapidAPI is a marketplace as well that allows more than a million developers to find, test, and connect to thousands of APIs.

API is short for Application Programming Interface and it is a set of functions and procedures that allows the creation of applications that can make use of data and features of other applications, services of operating systems.

There are thousands of APIs out there that store files, enrich data or send messages but it is quite difficult to connect these APIs or find ones that work perfectly as they vary in structure, data format and networking protocol. RapidAPI makes choosing APIs much easier as metrics like Latency, uptime, and popularity so that you gain a wholesome view of the API you intend to purchase. It also helps to monitor the API’s performance.

As we already know, several companies purchase data for a variety of reasons ranging from targeted advertising to improvement of products and service delivery. Along with the advancement in technology, a thin line has developed between companies getting the data they need and them intruding into customer’s privacy. To ensure that this thin line isn’t crossed, Airbloc developed a data marketplace that allows individuals monetize data in a safe and secure manner. Airbloc also allows companies to exchange data between them for gaining deeper insights into customer data without intruding into their privacy. Through data alliance, airbloc allows the connection of fragmented parts of customer data across the different enterprises in an alliance to gain further insights into products.

Web scraping refers to extracting data from the web and it is particularly gaining a lot of traction seeing how much data the web contains. The contents on the web are principally for people hence and the computer usually finds it hard to automatically gather that data. Web scraping lets people extract information in easy-to-understand structured data formats. Creating a personal web scraping platform itself is not usually the solution everyone thinks it’d be as it is time-consuming and may not guarantee success as well hence why the Apify platform is very important.

Apify automates anything that can be done manually on websites to scale. These can be even done on millions of products simultaneously. It does this via services like Autoscaling, run schedulers and more. Apify also has a marketplace feature which connects experienced developers to tackle special web acquisition cases. It does this in four basic steps; specify your needs, get offers from developers, track development and receive solutions. With this marketplace, unique solutions can be gotten in relatively short time periods.

One of the greatest strengths of data marketplaces lies in their ability to oversee the rightful exchange of data as it suits businesses or individuals. Dawex reiterates this function as a data exchange platform that gives organizations a way to distribute, source, exchange and commercialize data. In the Dawex data exchange platform, control, security and traceability of transactions are ensured.

It is no longer a myth that personal data are usually obtained whenever certain websites or apps are used. This leaves users at a disadvantage in two ways; firstly, privacy is intruded without consent and secondly, individuals do not even get paid for this data. This is what Streamr Network aimed to tackle when they created their very own marketplace. First, they developed an open-source data union program that allowed brands to give control of data release to their customers. This means they can choose whatever data they are willing to sell.

When calculated individually, this does not count for much but the Streamr marketplaces gather this data into a bundle of more useful data which can then be sold to companies and is regulated by means of a smart contract.

Inefficient service/data delivery which is region-specific, there is QueXopa which is an alternative data provider that finds, sources and aggregates data that are important to decision making in governance, finance, and industries. It helps in data-driven decision-making as it provides insights into Latin America via a proprietary approach with which it finds undiscovered data. Also important in the services QueXopa offers is its use of a data monetization strategy to create monetizable events through a strategy that optimizes operational data while maintaining privacy for both partners and their users.

Snowflake helps companies gain more data, secure and govern access to data. In essence, it helps companies manage their data in the cloud. Many companies have so much data that they end up managing instead of actually making use of. To effectively manage large amounts of data, snowflake stores data in a data cloud which then allows it to reimagine analytics and execute processes at an incredible pace. In snowflake, there is also a data marketplace where data owners get to place in-demand data so everyone can enjoy such useful data. The data sets provided on snowflakes are third-party data and they help provide deeper insights to organisations. They also get some data from SaaS vendors whom you already work with to give a wholesome experience.

Another marketplace that allows easy data access for its users is Bloomberg Enterprise Access Point. It is a web-based platform that allows clients to easily discover and act on Bloomberg data products. This platform allows users to browse datasets, examine metadata, download and even test sample datasets before purchase.

Datavant is healthcare-specific with an aim to connect the world’s healthcare data. To fully hand patients value for their money, a great level of analytics is required for great amount of data and this is usually not the case. Hence why Datavant aims at creating an open, connected healthcare system that helps improve patient outcomes, bring medical solutions to the market faster, reduces costs and overall, improves lives. Datavant allows users to protect, link to other healthcare data that has been stored with Datavant’s technology via tokens and exchange these data in the Datavant ecosystem. It does all this while protecting the patient’s privacy by de-identifying each patient.

To round up this list of impressive marketplaces responsible not only for data distribution but also data monetization, we have Fyber. Fyber is a leading mobile advertising technology company that combines proprietary technologies and expertise in meditation, ad server, RTB, video, and audience segmentation to create solutions to further enhance the app economy by discovering better ways for developers to monetize apps. It provides a next-generation monetization platform for app developers.

No-Code DaaS Tools

As its name implies, no-Code makes application development accessible to everyone by creating developers who are normal individuals that can easily develop applications without a code that meet their needs in real-time. With no-code, organizations can easily move to an agile development strategy that allows their users to rapidly develop solutions that transform businesses.

No-code DaaS tools generally allow companies to develop tools to meet their data needs in real-time by transitioning to an agile development strategy. Some of these tools are already available and are making waves in the DaaS space. Some of these tools include;

Extraction Tools

Phantombuster – is capable of automating sales and marketing processes by scrapping useful data from all over the web, automating actions to interact with prospects, enriching customer relationships in that manner with the data gained, and building advanced workflow all without having to write a single code. Phantombuster visits the web on your behalf and scrapes data that matters to you and saves this data in CSV and JSON format. It also delegates redundant action to automations. These activities include auto-following profiles, auto-linking posts, sending customized messages, and more. All these actions are done from the cloud and can be done all day long.

Spider – which provides an easy way to scrape the internet by turning websites into organized data and downloading them as JSON/CSV without coding or configuration.

Yet another tool that efficiently scrapes websites is Simplescraper which allows data extraction from any website in seconds. It allows users to instantly download, srape in the cloud or create an API with no coding required of course! Everywhere that is scrapped automatically becomes an API that can be consulted for fresh data.

Octoparse also allows for the scrapping of unlimited web pages for free. It uses a point-and-click interface that makes its usage ridiculously easy. Octoparse also utilizes cloud service which allows its users to execute multiple extractions with faster scraping speed, schedule scraping at any time at any frequency, and automatic IP rotation.

While most of the data extraction tools we’ve discussed earlier have been website and social media-oriented, Parseur allows automated data extraction from sales orders, bookings, invoices, PDFs, lead emails, documents and more. Parseur is built for heavy-duty use as it easily receives and parses a large amount of documents in less to no time.

Automatio is an automation tool to extract data from any website. Automatio completely does this without having to code, reduces the need to hire developers, saves a lot of money, and even allows users to make a bot to function in different efficient capacities as related to the function they assign to it.

Data ensures better service delivery and enhances productivity but this can only be ensured if data is gotten in real-time. Getting data in real-time has been the bane of most companies’ existence but with Monitoro, things get way easier. Monitoro is a cloud service that watches websites for changes and takes this a step further by scraping data and sending it to another service every time a change happens.

Monitoro also creates its own special niche amongst web change monitoring services by being able to scrape specific data from a page and send this piece of data to any other service not just via emails or SMS but to anything with webhooks.

Storage Tools

The word No-Code does not involve application development alone but also involves building workflow automation with ease, improving business processes, and generally improving aspects of your business to improve your brand growth. No-Code DaaS tools are generally tools that make this job so much easier. Earlier on, we discussed the extraction tools responsible for extracting important data in relatively short periods. We’ll be going a little further this time by discussing tools that help store this data.

The very first tool we’ll be discussing in this category is Airtable which is a low-code platform for building apps that helps people get work done together. Airtable is a spreadsheet database with features of a database but applied in a spreadsheet sort of way as it makes it easy to use and understand. In Airtable, users can create a database, set up different column types, input records of choice, link one table to another, have jobs done together, and even publish results on websites.

A particular advantage of using Data as a service is that it helps to save time massively as it allows for collaboration in projects. Another example of a tool that perfectly functions in this capacity is Google Sheets which makes it easy to obtain and have data arranged and organized inside of a browser. Google sheets are particularly efficient in getting all hands on deck regarding certain projects. It allows more than one user to work on a single project which helps in saving time on certain projects.

Still keeping with collaborative efforts towards achieving a goal, we also have Coda which is a productivity-based software functioning with building blocks like pages you could fold out. It allows everyone to work on data the same way. Coda has ample space for big teams and big projects. It can make from a simple table to a database and allows everyone full access to all aspects of documents including maps.

Rows is a spreadsheet that also allows teams to work faster with built-in integrations and a slick sharing experience to ensure that teams can build and share their work in a single location on the web.

The final tool on this impressive list of storage tools and probably the most impressive itself is Clay which is also a spreadsheet with a little spice to its functions as it is capable of filling itself. It allows its users to automate the acquisition of prospecting customers, enriching data on the existing and new leads, and also unifying customer data in excellent turnover time.

Presentation Tools

Webflow presents an easy and efficient way for designers to build professional websites as well as fully customize the websites to taste with a completely visual canvas and importantly with no code involved.

Siteoly even more impressively allows users to build websites from google sheets without writing any code. It is particularly useful in building data-rich sites.

Sheet2Site also allows users to create their own websites using only google sheets. The websites are able to contain pictures, texts, filters, and links without writing code.

Softr, unlike some of the apps above, allows the creation of apps via Airtable in a few minutes with no code or design skills required.

Table2Site allows conversion of an Airtable database into a website

Predictions

As we have seen virtually all through this text, data as a service is a method of data born out of innovation, and through innovation, it will continue to grow. Here are some thoughts on certain things that may fall into place with the emergence of DaaS;

Along with the emergence of data as a service, it is expected that companies with upper hands in terms of service provision tend to lose their grip as other companies with somewhat less popularity start to emerge. This is quite the case as it’s been observed that Acxiom now competes with self-serve models like Clearbit. Clearview faces the consumer side. Companies become less dependent on single data providers.

Notwithstanding how good data as a service seems to be, the ethical side of it is another ball game entirely. One thing to be expected with the emergence of this service is that some companies would begin high-fidelity shadow profiling which involves collecting people’s data without their consent and some may even go further to use this data to create customer profiles that closely resemble the original. Facial recognition currently drives this trend further.

Shadow profiling as discussed earlier would continue to grow in prominence and it’s growth would be further enhanced by social media firehoses which ensure continuous data flow.

In efforts to keep with the ever increasing data need, passive crowdsourcing would be employed by companies. This method of gaining data to improve user experience is particularly seen in the Apple watchOS which through being able to get data about what users really appreciate about the watch, they were able to generate a more user-oriented device. To also improve the ability of companies to crowdsource in order to provide much better user-oriented service, we have Teragence which is capable of turning any mobile app to a passive data source.

Inevitably, with the introduction of DaaS, sales of hardware that are especially data collection oriented would significantly reduce as dependence on them reduces as well. This reduction in dependence as DaaS now provides a central spot for all this data to be stored and even processed. Little or no profit may be realized from the sale of that hardware.

DaaS will move towards actionable insights. Data is a means to an end. Insights get you closer to the “job to be done.

Opportunities.

Just like every innovative idea that has gone on to greater things, the early investors and users of these technologies have been found to profit largely from them. Data as a Service is no different as there are so many things to take advantage of in this space. Some opportunities that DaaS provides are discussed below.

Helping consumers and companies make better decisions regarding daily activities, startups or even large businesses. Some brands already taking advantage of these opportunities include;

JungleScout — What should I sell on Amazon?

CamelCamelCamel — When should I buy from Amazon?

Hypetrace — Which influencers should I sponsor?

Scott’s Cheap Flights — Where should I go?

Development of a paid community on top of data where members are engaged and invested in the continual growth of the database. A paid community allows individuals to share information on how to better businesses they all have in common. An example of this is seen in Altan insights which provide critical information and powerful tools to navigate the alternative assets space by being able to make smart and informed decisions.

Another opportunity DaaS provides is for users to brand a metric to escape competition. An example of this already being used is seen in Zestimate which helps users know the current prices of their homes and how they’d fare in the market. Other examples include Walk Score and KBB.

Use data as a growth tool. Baremetrics attracts users with open startup dashboards.

Another way through with Daas can be optimized is through provision of a freemium model which provides free features of certain services while enticing individuals to pay or subscribe for the full package. This is particularly effective in DaaS as its ability to provide excellent results is even more enticing. Nomad List prompts you to upgrade to see all cities.

Crowdsource actively (Nomad List) and passively (Tesla) to collect first-party data and boost defensibility.

Use DaaS to find potential investments. Growth Ranker finds fast-growing businesses. Tensor Social helps you value alternative assets like social media accounts.

Build a SaaS-enabled DaaS. SaaS-enabled marketplaces provide software to boost marketplace participation. SaaS-enabled DaaS (Mint, Signal and Credit Karma) provide software to collect first-party data.

Mix data and narrative escape commoditization. See Alternative Assets.

Build your DaaS with no-code tools. Michael Gill’s live Airtable database (STACK$) was built with Integromat.

Key Lessons to Take Away from Introduction of DaaS

Data helps you bridge gaps between perception and reality. The lower your spread, the better your decisions.

Data is a means to an end. Insights are closer to the “job to be done.”

The more data is shared, the less valuable it becomes:
- Shared lead lists have low close rates
- Shared flight deals are sold out
- Shared credit card transaction data is priced into stocks
- Shared travel destinations are busy and expensive
- Shared marketplace listings are expensive or unavailable

The Red Queen Effect pushes us towards alternative data in search of an edge.

One thing DaaS makes obvious all through this exposition is that we are at a point where not the strongest or the most intelligent make progress but those willing to make effectual change as the need arises.

We are already aware of how ever-changing the world is and how the next big idea may come from a small startup hence, the need to maximize insights and data become ever necessary. This leads innovators into devising means of getting insights in a faster and more effective way in response to the need for data hence, the emergence of alternative data as no one wants to lose out in this ever-changing data game.

Data depreciates. Buying opportunities fade and spreads shrink. Tomorrow’s forecast is less useful a week from now.

Negative views

“‘Data are’ not ‘Data is'”

That sounds weird to say. And write.

“All data doesn’t become less valuable the more it’s shared.”

In cooperative environments, like public health, sure. In competitive environments, the model holds.

“DaaS companies don’t have a moat.”

First-party data sources have an obvious moat. Third-party DaaS competes on distribution, design and sometimes infrastructure.

“The problem is bigger than bridging gaps between perception and reality.“

Some DaaS companies give you data that you can pull yourself, faster.

“DaaS isn’t always about making better decisions.”

Cleaning The Glass customers may pay for the joy of knowing. This is an exception.

“This is scary. What about data privacy?”

When’s the last time you read terms and conditions? We’re trading privacy for convenience.

“Some companies will want data not insights.”

Sure. Commoditized answers don’t lead to competitive edges.

KEY REPORT – Data as a Service (DaaS)