The recent release of the Combined Online Information System (COINS) database on public spending sees the new Coalition Government join the data “gold rush”.
 
Publication of Government data has proliferated through the EU over the last few months, with the UK component perhaps prompted by the debacle surrounding the publication of MP’s expense claims last year.  As a result of detailed interpretation of this data by the Daily Telegraph we now know how much it costs to clean a moat and how to “flip” properties to avoid Capital Gains Tax.  However, we did need to rely on Telegraph journalists spending months wading through complex information to draw out the worst abuses.  This information finally gave the public a real insight into the behavioural identity of our MPs….and led to a fundamental shift in the trust we have in our politicians.

The recent release of the COINS data is posing similar challenges and opportunities.  Some of the headlines are being grabbed by early analysis - £1.8Bn spent on consultants comes to mind, together with £100M on swine flu prevention!  Mmm, didn’t seem to help me last winter…

However, the early extracts of this data seem to raise more questions than answers and what is becoming clearer is that this game is all about what you do with the data, rather how much you have…

Back in the Californian gold rush, speculators were pegging claims and digging for gold…but the real businesses that endured were the apocryphal shovel suppliers, clothing manufacturers and the infrastructure suppliers that developed around the – occasional – gold finds.

So, as all this new data surfaces, is the real opportunity here one of deploying traditional skills from companies – and individuals – who really know what to do with this identity data.  We might see the coalition try and take more control by partnering with providers of data analysis, but I suspect the real winners will be the journalists, bloggers and independent commentators who will interpret data in their own manner, together with those companies with core skills in identity and data management.

As one of the latter companies, we at GB need to make sure we act responsibly and impartially as we work with this information.  However, the trend to more and more open data makes the skills we have in identity management and analysis more relevant than ever.  We might only be in the shovel business, but you can’t bring that gold up without us…