As the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution continue to evolve, the role of data has become indisputable. In an effort to extract even more value from data, organizations are increasingly linking and connecting diverse data sets, a practice that stands as one of the primary factors shaping today’s global economy. From 2017 to 2019, the percentage of companies forming data-related partnerships rose from 21 percent to 40 percent. A growing share of business competitors are also deciding to connect their data—rising from 7 percent to 17 percent. Overall, McKinsey estimates that connecting data across institutional and geographic boundaries could create roughly $3 trillion annually in economic value by 2020.
