Knowledge Base

Data Collaboration Platforms is a software platform that allows individual companies to set up their data commercialization strategies, be it on the buy-side or sell-side.

Other essential distinctions set Data Collaboration Platforms apart from brokers:

• Neutrality: Data Collaboration Platforms themselves don't buy or sell data.  Brokers typically take a position and are an active participant in their market.  Active participants in a market usually have different incentives than that of a neutral party.  We believe that by not participating in data marketplaces, a Data Collaboration Platform's incentives more closely align with its users.
• Transparency: Data Collaboration Platforms offer full transparency to both buyers and sellers, whereas Data Brokers covet owning the relationships directly and create an opaque layer between the source of the data and its destination.  Both buyers and sellers need to understand the full data supply chain, which is impossible under a data brokerage model, but supported and encouraged via a Data Collaboration Platform.
• Liquidity vs. Software:  Data Brokers have traditionally focused on the buying and selling of data itself.  In fact, most brokers don't have a product to speak of.  Their customers aren't logging into software but rather interacting with a human.  As discussed above liquidity is an important part of the equation, but Narrative feels like it is in no way sufficient.  Data Collaboration Platforms are first and foremost software, creating a more robust and scalable solution than can be offered by brokers.
• Fee Structure: A comparison in fee structure between a Data Broker and a Data Collaboration Platform can be difficult because Data Brokers operate in an opaque model where it isn't often clear where, how, or how much they are making.  In fact, many brokers arbitrage data by buying it once and selling it multiple times.  Other brokers charge a flat fee to buyers and give a percentage of revenue to sellers.  That model disadvantages sellers because as they add more supply the overall size of the pie decreases for any individual seller.