How The Data Divide Is Impacting Workplace Equity

A new year marks a time for fresh starts and creating new goals for companies. However, as the pandemic lingers on and leaders navigate how to work alongside this health crisis, data will become heavily relied upon for decision making. 

However, just as there has been a “digital divide” in access to the internet, a new “data divide” may threaten the future of an inequitable workplace. 

Specifically, there is a growing trend of using data to boost revenue and value, rather than solving societal and environmental issues.  

According to an IBM study, 67% of nonprofit organizations did not have the expertise to apply their data analytics towards their work. In fact, industries within academia, public health, and government lack the know-how of using data to solve their issues.  

There are four factors widening the data gap: access, capability, investment, and actionable solutions. 

Once these factors are addressed and understood, companies can begin making efforts to close the data divide.  

From there, organizations can partner and collaborate with nonprofits and startups in order to solve issues impacting society. For instance, software data company Splunk invested in retrain.ai, a platform that helps retrain professionals whose jobs have been replaced by automation. 

Creating data-driven solutions that actually aim to solve global inequities, such as climate change and poverty, will be key. Rather than simply focusing on using data to build self-driving vehicles, these tools should be applied to address wider issues.