Open Data Changes The Business Of Government

Data has become quite the buzzword lately, with everyone looking to mine their big data for customer insights, operational efficiencies, and business performance improvement. Governments are no different. But in government, the operative word is "open." Governments worldwide are waking up to the opportunities that data provides and launching programs to publish the data. Open data programs serve a number of purposes: improving transparency of government operations and performance by publishing the data, improving that performance by analyzing the data, engaging citizens in the process (and operations) of government, and improving service delivery by allowing developers to create new applications with the data. And, the ultimate goal, enabling innovation and economic development as new business is created through the use of data. This report will provide an overview of the trends in open data, as well as a how-to guide to launching an open data program.