Why Settle for Data
People have jobs to do. The goal of the product or service is to help get the job done. If there is a problem or confusion then people will need help. Data will not help. Information might, Knowledge should, Wisdom will.
"Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when to say it"
Data is symbols, without context it is nearly meaningless (42). Information is refined data (who, what why...). Knowledge is the application of data and information; how. In the world of customer service, customer support or customer engagement, we are talking about procedural knowledge; how to do something, such as how to configure a router or set the clock on a VCR. The price of admission is data and information; you need data and information to be able to get knowledge, but information is free, not so hard, right?
The Rub
If you breakdown knowledge into its specific elements - 'know' and 'how' - digital is getting better at the "know", as it is really information and Youtube is getting better at the "how". The goal should be to inject knowledge, possibly even to impart wisdom, but this injection is quite hard. The amount of data and information makes this a very tough ask, should it be push or pull. There is a relationship between how much information is consumable and a persons ability to learn or translate that information into knowledge.
What Questions do we need to Ask?
What is the most efficient method to transfer knowledge; without getting bogged down in the barrage of information and data?
Are the questions "who", "what", "where", and "when" or "how"answered?
The Path Forward
Data by itself is not the answer. Data that is processed (aka Information) is the start of the journey, but still not good enough. People (customers, partners, moms and dads) want to become smarter we need to make this simpler. In the workplace, systems designed to guide workers to become knowledge workers will rule..
Stop worrying about record management, that is the easy part. Within specific disciplines this is called predictive analytics, in others this a context integration. I am sure artificial intelligence has a role here, we simply need to make sure the algorithms are attacking the right parts of the system.