The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted and sparked a deeper concern among businesses for people’s well-being, particularly socially vulnerable ones. Social responsibility was already an important topic in any company’s strategic planning, but it became even more so with the recent economic downturn and high unemployment rates.

Under this context, technologies have shown to be valuable allies in pursuing solutions to extraordinary conditions for both businesses and communities. Data and technology solutions, in addition to essential materials, have become critical in dealing with the pandemic.

This affirmation gets echoed at the core of the Data for Good Movement, an intersectoral community founded to use facts and data to guide social initiatives. Put simply. It is a social movement aimed at bolstering the ecosystem of innovation that uses data to benefit communities.

In this article, you will see how companies acquire and use data. Furthermore, you will learn about the current issues and recommendations related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on data activities and how to minimize disruption, manage risk, and decrease bias when collecting data for the benefit of society.

What Kinds of Consumer Data Do Companies Collect?

Companies collect data in a variety of methods from a variety of sources. Some data collection methods are very technical, while others are more deductive, albeit both involve sophisticated tools.

There are four types of consumer data that businesses collect:

• Personal data: This type of data includes personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers and gender as well as non personally identifiable information, including your IP address, web browser cookies, and device IDs, which both your laptop and mobile device have.
• Engagement data: This information describes how customers interact with a company’s website, mobile applications, text messaging, social networking pages, emails, sponsored advertisements, and customer care channels.
• Behavioral data: Purchase histories, product usage information, and qualitative data are all included in this category.
• Attitudinal data: Consumer happiness, purchase criteria, product appeal, and other indicators get included in this data category.

The simple conclusion is that businesses are skilled at extracting data from practically every nook and crevice.

How do Businesses Make Use of Data?

Companies can use the customer data they collect and the insights they gain from it in a variety of ways, including:

• To enhance the consumer experience;
• To fine-tune a company’s marketing plan;
• To convert data into cash flow; and
• To secure additional data.

More and more organizations are doing more than these nowadays; companies are increasingly focusing on social responsibility on local, national, and global levels. They use data to support social causes and ultimately contribute to the data for good movement. People and organizations transcend organizational boundaries to use data to better society.

The Challenges Heightened by the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic has caused a shift toward remote primary data collection, which has introduced a variety of complexity and challenges.

First, remote data gathering relies significantly on telecommunications and digital tools, including phone calls, online surveys, virtual communication tools, and satellite imaging. However, for many operations wanting to use distant channels for data collecting, a lack of connectivity remains a major barrier. This issue can rear its ugly head in a variety of ways:

• lack of legal access to SIM cards;
• limitation in availability of devices;
• shortage of infrastructure;
• differing levels of digital literacy; and
• lack of affordability or inadequate digital access by vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or people with disabilities.

Second, because humanitarian workers have had to adjust to new ways of working speedily, they may not always have a clear understanding of the preferred communication channels of the community members they are attempting to contact. People may utilize the ones that are closest to them. Still, these may not necessarily be the best and safest channels for inspiring the expected degree of trust and collaboration.

Third, difficulties with remote supervision of data collection operations will directly influence the ability to manage the quality of the data obtained. Before its use, you must spend more work verifying the data to guarantee reliability and accuracy.

Finally, because fewer data gathering methods accessible, the same ones may be employed again, leading to survey fatigue among those surveyed.

Overcoming Challenges: Recommendations and Opportunities

Despite the challenges caused and heightened by the pandemic, opportunities arise to work around such hurdles.

Secondary Data Reviews

Businesses can utilize secondary data review (SDR) to reduce survey fatigue while also maximizing the value of accessible data. SDR is the process of discovering and reviewing data collected by someone else for another purpose to see whether you can use it to satisfy their information needs. Businesses, notably in the context of COVID-19, have an ethical obligation to safely share (non-personal) data in order to facilitate effective re-use of what has previously been acquired.

Coordination

The foundation of GIMAC (The Global Information Management, Assessment, and Analysis Cell) was proposed jointly by many United Nations agencies and international NGO partners to strengthen interagency coordination for data collecting and pool capacity for data analysis in times of COVID-19.

GIMAC is a multi-stakeholder humanitarian initiative to coordinating, structure, collating, managing, and analyzing COVID-19-related information, as well as providing technical support and services to prioritized countries and global decision-makers concerned about COVID-19’s humanitarian impact.

This is something that businesses can learn and draw inspiration from.

Getting Around Connectivity Issues and Involving Communities

When secondary data is not enough to meet your information demands, you may need to obtain primary data. Even when there is a physical distance and a lack of connectivity, there are many ways to continue engaging with communities in these situations:

• First, businesses can talk with the communities to determine levels of connectivity and obtain a better knowledge of the best communication routes.
• Second, businesses could take steps to improve digital inclusion and access.
• Finally, keep in mind that numerous approaches might be used to collect data. When connectivity is limited, and survey fatigue is high, combining online and offline approaches to acquire information can sometimes yield the best results.

Conclusion

As companies thrive on the data that consumers provide, it is only right to have the initiative to give back to where the data came from in the first place. For this reason, integrate social responsibility into your strategic planning with Run2biz.

Contact Run2biz today to find out how to make use of your “Data for Good.”