Digitization
The impact of the digital revolution
The digital revolution is impacting everyone and everything. It affects the way we learn, live, and work, the ways in which we stay in touch, how we design processes, how we shop and how we bank. In short: digitization shapes our personal lives. And its impact is only set to increase; just consider for instance the increasingly clever machines or self-learning algorithms.
Centerdata has conducted research into digitization in various areas and for multiple clients in recent years. Our team of data science specialists is thoroughly familiar with the world of artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, process mining, web scraping, optimal character recognition, and more. Furthermore, we speak the same language as organizations that have only just started explored the opportunities brought by digitization.
Data maturity and data-driven policy
We know that a lot of organizations have the ambition to move towards data maturity. The correct use of data can create a significant strategic advantage.
Most (government) organizations make use of data but are not able to take full advantage of all the valuable information at their fingertips. Data are often used to represent the outcomes of certain actions or interventions in the past but not to make decisions and determine strategies that affect an organization’s future. The correct use of data can create a significant strategic advantage. That is why it would be useful for organizations to focus more on efficient and creative use of data to achieve data-driven and fact-based policy.
Our team was involved with the ‘Data Lab study for municipalities’ pilot that started as a collaboration between VNG/KING and JADS in October 2016. Centerdata provided both technical support and advice. We also led the research part of the study as described in a data science maturity scan for municipalities.
Some examples of what we do
- Project Smart Start
Many children in the Netherlands grow up in a safe and healthy environment. Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to all children. Research shows that children who grow up in families with a social-economic disadvantage are more likely to have developmental problems. They tend to struggle more at school and have fewer opportunities than their peers from other families. The Smart Start program combines data and knowledge to identify problems in city neighborhoods at an early stage, so as to prevent them from affecting children. It is fairly unusual to use data in the social arena but it appears to be very effective. Would you like to know more about Smart Start?
- How the digital revolution affects the job market
How do organizations change with the advent of the digital revolution? Does it require a complete restructuring of operational processes? Which professions (and skills) will be most affected by digitization? Centerdata applied multiple Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to a huge data set on behalf of a wide consortium (including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and five of the Dutch leading economic sectors). The objective: to map out changes in the demand for certain digital and non-digital skills.
- The impact of digitization on society as a whole
Clients are wondering how digitization will impact various aspects of society. They can ask specific questions through our LISS panel that consists of approximately 7500 panel members from 5000 households. The panel offers a good representation of the Dutch population, based on a random sample taken from Statistics Netherlands. For more information about research opportunities, read the page about our LISS panel.
Digitization is also addressed in the international research project SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), in which we participate. SHARE focuses on ageing in Europe. What is the impact of new technologies on an ageing population?