In a keynote interview with Ulku Rowe of Google Cloud Lance discussed the evolving alternative data market and the smart technologies leveraging these data sets.

1. The alternative data market is rapidly evolving, fueled not only by the collection and computation of data being simplified but also reduced storage costs. The cost of managing and distributing data is falling considerably.
   
   
2. Discreet alternative data sets are popping up. The use of alternative data in retail has been used for some time but other areas are following suit. Now organizations are exploring disparate and alternative data to combine with traditional data to help make decisions.
   
   
3. Data lakes have become an important tool for reducing fragmentation by bringing content together in a single location. Access to this technology allows corporates, financial institutions, governments and regulators to make better decisions.
   
   
4. Investing in the latest technology doesn't have to cost millions of dollars, but it can be expensive finding the right people to leverage the technology and deliver results.
   
   
5. High quality data and human input are key to delivering actionable data. People with the right skillsets are in high demand. We've come a long way from the 90's operations manager to today's Chief data and science officers. But they are ever more critical as we seek to exploit alternative data.
   
   

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.