Data can be a double-edged sword.

Public data marketplaces are experiencing explosive growth. While this is great for companies looking for insights from weather data, another data set is waiting to be unlocked - protected data. The sidelining of protected data is mainly due to changing laws and intellectual property worries. Generally, companies are not equipped to market this data safely and efficiently. Haven hopes to change that.

 Data can give businesses insights into user behavior. This data can also influence business decisions and define broader strategic goals. Over time it could develop into a marketplace that can provide a company with an unexpected revenue stream.

 However, this same data can be a double-edged sword. Increasingly governments are passing laws protecting consumer data. These laws come with aggressive fines on a business that cannot react. Moreover, data is increasingly becoming like oil to companies - a precious commodity deserving of protection.

 Companies with rich datasets willing to provide access to their data find themselves in a challenging position - giving access to their data can expose them to litigation through consumer protection laws and expose the company to intellectual property risk.

 Before we look at each facet of this dilemma, let's look at the opportunity eluded to above.

 Data is powerful. Consumer buying data can direct how companies position products, and real-time health data can influence medicine distribution. Consumer energy data can drive solar sales.

 Imagine a company, BuildCorp, with data on the relative health of consumers' homes. BuildCorp knows addresses, names, and data on how healthy a specific home build is - Storms, weather patterns, and usage define this data. Locally this company uses its data to influence advertisement recommendations for its in-house repair business. However, BuildCorp wants to think bigger. Three companies have suitored BuildCorp for their data - One company wants to model home insurance in the area, the next wants to resell this data to contractors, and the last wants to use it to distribute lumber better nationally. Each company has a valid use case for BuildCorp's data but also exposes BuildCorp in distinct ways.

 BuildCorp realizes that each opportunity can be lucrative and directly feeds off the data it already owns. The home insurance company must link home health data to individuals over time. The contractor company needs to know the addresses to send targeted advertisements. Finally, the national lumber company wants to understand the bigger picture and wants BuildCorp to partner with other local home data vendors.

 However, each partnership exposes BuildCorp to risk. BuildCorp resides in a state where consumer data is highly protected. Giving the home insurance company data on individual home health is only possible with controlled auditing and access controls. The contractor requires a single piece of data and an anonymized way (addresses) that can provide historical linkage through time - BuildCorp realizes that this doesn't need protected information but rather a way to track changes to the same home. Finally, the national lumber company wants anonymized data - BuildCorp's protected data is of no interest in the aggregate, and the company would prefer to be without it, given the data protection laws. These three opportunities could provide BuildCorp with a considerable revenue swing; however, BuildCorp needs an enormous engineering boost to provide solutions for each partner while complying with local laws.

 While pondering how to fulfill these partner requests, another opportunity arises from a currently cooperative but potentially competitive consumer home health firm, NewHomeCorp. This firm operates in different cities and serves its clients - NewHomeCorp hopes to use BuildCorps data to influence its advertising models in similar towns. However, BuildCorp fears NewHomeCorp will clone the data to compete directly with BuildCorp. NewHomeCorp is offering a large amount of money and is not requesting BuildCorp's most precious client data. NewHomeCorp's offer could be a safe opportunity for BuildCorp!

 These four opportunities could bring considerable financial gain to BuldCorp, but each comes with risks.

 How can BuildCorp react to each request without scaling up engineering?

 Thankfully BuildCorp is built on Haven's Infinite Scale-Out tech. BuildCorp can arise to each opportunity without fear of litigation, competition, or substantial engineering effort.

Coming next - How did BuildCorp achieve infinite scale out using Haven?