The New Corporate Data Ecosystem

The pivotal role of information in managing and governing business has long been acknowledged in academic research. Over the past decade, the enterprise data ecosystem has expanded significantly at an apparently boundless pace. We are now immersed in the “digitization” or “datafication” era, and companies worldwide must grapple with the availability of unprecedented volumes of high-velocity, high-variety complex data. This compels companies to fundamentally innovate the way they conduct business, make decisions, and carry out internal and external controls. This chapter will present an overview of the various data sources made accessible to companies by ICT and will scrutinize their most pertinent attributes in terms of both opportunities and challenges in business settings, underscoring the need for companies to confront these data challenges.