Data collection is the process of accumulating and measuring data on a particular topic for marketing and research purposes.
The demand for data collection solutions is increasing as more companies look toward targeted ads and data-backed decision making.
Read on to learn more about the data collection market:
The Market of Data Collection
The global data collection market in 2021 was valued at $1.66 billion. It’s estimated to reach $8.21 billion by 2028 at a compound growth rate of 25.6%.
Countries and regions around the globe contribute to the data collection market:
- The U.S. data collection market was worth $263.4 million in 2020.
- Japan and Canada are expected to maintain a growth rate of 16.5% and 19% over the 2020–2027 period.
- Germany is forecast to grow by approximately 17.8% by 2027.
- The Chinese data collection market is estimated to reach $854.3 million by 2027.
- India, Australia, and South Korea lead the Asia-Pacific market to reach $544.3 million by 2027.
When it comes to industries, the IT and automotive industries dominate the global data collection market. Other major sectors include health care, government, retail and e-commerce, banking and finance, and insurance.
Data Collection Features
High-quality data collection is identified by seven main characteristics:
- Accuracy
- Validity
- Reliability
- Time relevance
- Completeness
- Accessibility
- Uniqueness
Data collection methods vary in the quantity and quality and data they generate depending on the source of data. Further, more than one data collection method can be used simultaneously to maximize results. Some data collection methods include:
- Direct interviews
- Wide-scale questionnaires and surveys
- Oral history
- Overhead observations
- Reports and documents
- Online activity tracking
Benefits of Data Collection
There are many benefits to collecting your own data instead of purchasing pre-collected databases with foreign markets and different consumer bases.
Over time, your data collection can grow in size, enabling you to extract highly-specific and accurate insights.
Other benefits include:
- Accelerating the corporate decision-making process
- Enhancing customer service
- Providing a deeper understanding of your market
- Improving your marketing strategies
- Enabling process standardization
- Allowing for personalized customer experiences
Data collection benefits are amplified when using first-party data collection strategies instead of third-party.
“Over the past few years, Google and Boston Consulting Group partnered together to study how brands achieve success using first-party data strategies,” says Erik Huberman, a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
“They found that those using first-party data for key marketing initiatives saw an uplift in revenue of up to 2.9 times (compared to companies that didn’t) and saved up to 1.5 times in costs.”
Data Collection Use Cases
Data collection, as a general concept, has been used by business and service providers for centuries to better serve their customers. But as technology got involved, more businesses started investing in data collection at a larger scale.
Convertale
Convertale is a Turkey-based company that helps online retailers personalize and customize their customers’ experiences. Founded in 2008, Convertale is one of the leading retail recommendation engines in Turkey.
When running its recommendation processes on dedicated on-premises servers was no longer viable, Convertale resorted to AWS 3 to substitute its infrastructure. Convertale was able to scale and automate its data collection labeling process using Amazon’s Elastic Load Balancing with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
“We build code into our clients’ websites in order to collect data from the source. So when a client’s website receives a lot of traffic from potential customers, our infrastructure receives all that traffic too,” says Ismail Arslan, product manager at Convertale.
“We regularly run Amazon Elastic MapReduce jobs that may require hundreds or even thousands of servers at once, depending on the client.”
Dextra
Dextra is a construction and industrial infrastructure company and a global leader in its industry. With 14 offices around the world, nearly 1,000 employees, and more than 10,000 large-scale infrastructure projects, Dextra handles massive amounts of data on a daily basis.
Dextra needed a cohesive solution to collect and manage its customer data at a scale. Upgrading to Dynamics 365, Dextra was able to merge all of its customer data into a single source, significantly reducing costs and increasing salespeople’s efficiency.
“The solution’s Excel upload capabilities saves each sales representative two to three hours weekly by uploading customer data automatically into the system — meaning a total of 130 to 195 hours per week saved,” says Matthew Paul Schmitt, group ITS manager at Dextra.
“By shifting to Azure — considering the leasing, purchasing of hardware, and licensing — we’re saving about 20 to 30% on our core infrastructure.”
Data Collection Providers
Some of the leading data collection services providers in the market include:
- ScienceSoft
- Oracle
- InData Labs
- Amazon
- Teradata
- Xplenty
- Dell Technologies
- Microsoft
- Splunk
