Let’s start this post by saying that data can be structured or unstructured. In the case of unstructured data, they are data with a lot of text that may or may not have numbers, dates, or other elements usually found in structured data. What makes them complex to use is that they cannot normally be processed in traditional software as structured data in databases or those semantically annotated in documents can.
A trend that experts repeat over and over again is that the percentage of unstructured data is on the rise, with a high percentage created in the last two years, ranging from 80% to 90%. According to IDC, 80% of the world’s data will be unstructured by 2025.
Another relevant point is that this unstructured data is being stored without any use, without creating value for organizations and companies. It is estimated that only 0.5% of unstructured data is being used.
High-value unstructured data is generated every day in thousands of organizations, medical records written by a doctor, surveys with free text, customer service by WhatsApp or chat, opinions in social networks, emails, etc.
Stop for a moment and think about all the unstructured data your organization generates every minute vs. structured data and what you are doing to give them value.
Data Silos
While the challenge may sound overwhelming, something almost magical happens, a relevant percentage of unstructured data is produced centrally and can be obtained with relative ease, something that is often almost impossible in the case of structured data, housed in dozens of silos in companies.
Social networks, customer service through messaging channels, SMS, mails, surveys, etc., are housed in just two or three platforms in each company. Be it CRM, social media software, mails, or contact center software.
A large percentage of a company’s unstructured data is in a few places, so the challenge is often how to add structured metadata to this unstructured data!
Deep Talk clients today use unstructured data to predict customer satisfaction, detect fraud, prioritize where to focus planning, improve care bots, automate digital care, detect patterns of self-harm, etc.
Companies that can use unstructured data as a relevant asset in their decisions have an advantage over those that only try to access 20% of the total available data.