The growth of data has enabled businesses to understand large volumes of data and generate valuable insights. Companies that rely on this information to execute important decisions and continue to improve their products and services. The data industry continues to progress, and ‘dark data’ offers the ability to take it a step further.

Harnessing dark data is vital for businesses, particularly those in the fintech industry looking to grow and remain resilient. Dark data refers to information collected as a by-product of regular business activities but isn’t directly used to create additional income. The data gathered in these processes may not necessarily be the target, but additional information could still have some value.

Dark data represents the information that is pushed aside but could be vital in understanding customers and overall market conditions. This could include anything, from internal data such as email conversations and financial statements to external data sources, like customer profiles. Interpreting these data sources can enable businesses to gather new insights and intelligence that could greatly influence their decision-making process.

As the volume of data increases, so does the volume of dark data. Many businesses, however, are ignoring this source of information and the potential it could have on their overall performance.

Harnessing this data and transforming it into usefully structured information can be challenging. Automation and other emerging technologies have enabled businesses to manage this process more effectively. With further support, access to dark data sources can enable teams to gather more insights into their business and anticipate patterns and industry trends. As a result, the business will be more informed and prepared when making important business decisions. For example, a major hotel chain in Europe measured its internal dark data, which in their case was Wi-Fi usage data. The company used the data to identify and solve potential issues regarding waiting times to check-in and out and ways to improve staff allocation across the hotel. Dark data supported the business in optimising their resources, while at the same time improving the customer experience. Research by Accenture indicates that dark data analysis has assisted insurance companies in generating vital insights and resulted in a profit increase of up to 21%.

The potential benefits of dark data can be applied to the fintech industry too, enabling businesses to deliver stronger analytics and potential business opportunities. Dark data provides a means to remain competitive and profitable and this year all businesses will be focused on resilience. The difference between businesses that continue to progress and those that struggle will be closely related to their alignment with market conditions and customer expectations.

Dark data is a valuable tool in delivering resilience and provides a great opportunity for fintech to generate, informed, data-driven business decisions. Leveraging dark data within a business model can enable CFO’s to focus on generating new business opportunities and a considerable edge over other competitors.