With the Government’s new Digital Verification and Smart Data Bill announced in the King’s Speech, many are wondering what Smart Data is and how it affects them.

The first thing to note is that like any artefact, data itself can never be ‘smart’! However, the way we access and share data can be. In this article, David Crack, Chairperson of the Association of Document Validation Professionals and CDD Services, explores how ‘smart’ data can change the delivery of services so we can work together as one.

Why do we need smart data?

I like to think of ‘smart’ data in the same way project managers define ‘SMART’ tasks. If we define goal-driven tasks that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, then the data we need to perform those tasks will inevitably become ‘smart’.

Smart data is about accessing data from an authoritative source at the time you need it. For data to be ‘smart,’ it must be actionable, relevant, and useful for decision-making. This is not new. We use ‘smart’ data daily, like checking venue times for a show or up-to-date travel and weather information. This real-time information affects our decisions.

However, the long-standing culture in organisations is to create multiple database silos that hold extensive information about customers, staff, and suppliers. This culture stems from when only large organisations had the computing power to digitise data.  Not only is this model now maintenance-intensive and costly, it’s also highly inefficient compared to the alternative methods available today.

This is why smart data is becoming so topical. To become more agile, make better informed decisions, and improve efficiency, organisations need to start using data like we do. They need to become SMART in how and when they access data.

To become more agile, make better informed decisions, and improve efficiency, organisations need to start using data like we do.

What are the benefits for individuals?

As individuals we have more access to agile technology, high-speed communications, and extensive data sources than most organisations. Consequently, when we do engage with organisations our interactions are bogged down by outdated processes, bureaucracy, and delays.

A similar position existed in retail banking before the introduction of smart data within Open Banking. Now we can pay for things without cash, verify who we are going to pay before we pay them, and can seamlessly switch banks with minimal disruption.

The question is: why can’t we do the same with the rest our data?

This is the motivation behind the Government’s Digital Information and Smart Data Bill (DISD Bill). It aims to create a regulated market of ‘Holder Service Providers’ offering such things as personal data stores and digital wallets. These will enable our interactions with organisations to become simpler, as with contactless payments. The regulation will also enable central and local government to share information with regulated providers so that we can all begin to control and manage our data more easily. And, to avoid getting locked in with a single provider, we will all be able to move our data around in a similar way to how we move our money between banks and bank accounts.

What are the benefits for organisations?

To appreciate the impact of smart data, consider the effort of changing your address. Individuals must separately update every organisation they deal with, while each organisation must disseminate the change across all their databases. By contrast, in a smart data world, individuals update their address only once in a personal data store; organisations only access that data when it is needed. This simplicity and cost saving is transformational.

With this in mind, the DISD Bill builds on the Government’s digital trust framework used for Right to Work, Right to Rent, and DBS. After the pandemic, organisations did not want to return to pre-pandemic, in-person paper-based regulation. Instead, the trust framework enabled immigration verification to take place remotely using digital technology, eVisas, and smart data to help prevent fraud.

Similarly, the PASS Age Verification Scheme will help organisations meet their obligations within the Online Safety Act though digital PASS cards issued by multiple providers. Individuals have the choice of which card provider they want to use.

Another example is CDD’s SafeGuarden. This allows individuals to reuse verified digital credentials across multiple organisations to remove unnecessary friction and share the cost of compliance.  SafeGuarden’s inspiration is Singapore’s Singpass, which, since the pandemic, has enabled individuals to share their data with over 700 government agencies and private sector services.

What are the barriers to the introduction of smart data?

Getting market regulation and data regulation right is critical to win trust, achieve industry adoption, and public acceptance. It is important to recognise that the UK’s trust framework is NOT a national ID scheme.

Similarly, commercial models for new data institutions, cybersecurity, and national fraud prevention are also required to protect the public from abuse, and enhance productivity, competitiveness, and innovation.

If these barriers can be overcome, technology push will turn into market pull as organisations look to offload sprawling and unwieldy data management overheads. They will naturally focus AI decision-making on Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound data.

In the meantime, if you’re investing in new systems for the next five years, ensure they are adaptable and future proofed to thrive in the smart data world.

Originally published in Government Business Magazine 31.05