Our role and the impact of trusted information

Openness and transparency are essential components of thriving democracies and market economies.

In this article, we explore the potential for data technology providers to facilitate positive impacts on our environment, economy, and society by providing access to trusted information.  Get this right and we enable a broad range of industries, including Artificial Intelligence and Embedded Finance, to leverage the power of trusted data.

Levers

The fundamental principles of openness, transparency, and access have always played a pivotal role in business and trade relationships. From the earliest days of commerce, it has been clear that reliable and trustworthy information is essential for successful transactions. Today, these principles are more important than ever, as we face complex challenges within our environment, economy, and society.

When individuals and organizations are forthright and transparent about their activities, they are more likely to be perceived as trustworthy and reliable. Conversely, when there is a lack of transparency, doubts, and suspicions can quickly emerge, eroding trust and confidence.

Without access to accurate and reliable information, it can be difficult to make informed decisions and take appropriate action – access to this information acts as the throttle on the environmental, economic, and social impact:

• Environmental – since 2017, the World Bank has tracked lending of more than $809Bn in sustainability-linked finance.  Accelerating this lending, which directly enables carbon-saving initiatives, requires simplification of proof of sustainable use.
• Economic – the Bank of England wants to create a portable credit file to fix a £22Bn SME funding gap; the UK national data strategy calls for the foundations, skills, availability, and responsible use to be addressed; Innovate UK highlights the need for innovative methods of sensing, collecting, storing, transmitting, and analysing data in the future economy.
• Social – “Openness and transparency are key ingredients to build accountability and trust, which are necessary for the functioning of democracies and market economies.” – the OECD.

By prioritizing initiatives that leverage these principles, we can build trust, make informed decisions, and work together to address these complex challenges we are all facing.

Our role

As technology providers, our core strengths can be applied to trust and access.  Emerging technologies such as digital wallets where verifiable data can be deposited or artificial intelligence where unstructured information can be harnessed offer tremendous promise – but only if that technology has a path to users.  Today, barriers to accessing data and technology are numerous.  At Matatika, we are working towards solutions to these issues and many others:

• Expensive & specialist skills are required to aggregate and prepare information – we make this standard, upgradeable, and immediately available with cloud technology
• Low levels of automation create additional workload and costs in preparing reports – we make tasks intelligent and automated with AI 
• Fear of information misuse halts projects through uncertainty and doubt – we make private, secure, and consented data exchanges through our workspaces
• Inaccuracies and lack of trust limit the utility of the information – we make data verifiable back to the source

Why SMEs should be the focus

According to the World Trade Organisation and IFAC, small or medium-sized enterprises account for 90% of trading entities, 60 – 70% of employment, and 55% of GDP in most countries; therefore a small improvement across this group will yield a disproportionate impact on society and the economy.  At a medium size (between 50 and 250 employees), many companies are large enough to benefit from emerging technologies but too small to make investments.

Are you making the most of this data opportunity?