Utilizing Big Data in Industry 4.0: Managing Competitive Advantages and Business Ethics

Industry 4.0 has arisen from an advancement of information and data technology. Thus, data has becomes valuable knowledge that can be organized, managed, and utilized to enhance productivity performance and further innovation in order to gain more competitive advantages for organizations.

Technologies—among others, big data techniques such as machine learning, data mining, crowdsourcing, and time-frequency analysis, etc.—have been invented to draw useful information that helps organizations gain valuable insights into past and current market behavior in order to predict its future needs and direction by producing innovative business models, projects, products, or services. Harnessing big data in the private and public sectors produces enormous benefits. The utilization of big data has been used to reduce production cost and working capital and to further increase productivity, improve quality, and generate more business revenues for both sectors. As a result, information is more usable and accessible for both service providers and customers, and therefore, resulting in value creation and competitive advantages.

However, some challenges on managing data and information are existed, mainly regarding privacy protection and data security. Collecting, managing, and utilizing the data can be a problem if not performed with the proper mechanism and authorization.

Data Protection, Privacy, & Security

Competition around new business models should be designed to enable data utilization to enhance industrial applications that are beneficial for end users. Companies bear a high degree of responsibility, including data confidentiality protection. Data privacy breakdowns and the use of private information for inappropriate and harmful purposes can be destructive for business reputations.

Blown away by digital world freedom, people have detailed their personal data, interests, even obsessions on social media platforms, generating a river of data that can be collected and harnessed for advertising or other means. We live in a world full of tangible and intangible data, where some people may gain benefits from others’ personal information with few constraints and almost no supervision. Furthermore, some individuals or organizations have taken advantage of social and digital platforms to deceive, mislead, or harm others by creating or disseminating fake news and disinformation. Thus, with such economic value, data is now too valuable to go unregulated. For example, the current scandal involving Cambridge Analytica exposes how we need a better data-protection system.

Well aware of this situation, the European Union has exhibited a fast breakthrough response toward the rising threat of data misuse through the issuance of the General Data Protection Regulation that will enter into force next month. Businesses that neglect to consider and implement privacy requirements and data protection will be subject to enforcement actions. As a result, failure to comply with the regulation is subject to a fine up to either 4% of an organization’s global turnover or EUR 20 million for noncompliance. Furthermore, utilizing algorithms and crowdsourcing technologies, strengthening online accountability, and performing peer-to-peer review as well as improving public digital literacy can be optimized to mitigate data misuse and disinformation.