The public sector.

Web scraping, alternative data, and many other things have been the buzz in the private sector. Digital businesses have been looking for ways to diversify their data portfolios for more accurate decision making and discovery of new strategies. Unfortunately, the adoption of all the above in the public sector hasn’t been as successful. Few, if any, institutions employ web scraping. Even fewer have the necessary tools and expertise to work with alternative data. A lot of different reasons can be found: legacy systems, lack of availability for technical expertise, slower adoption of new technologies. Nevertheless, there should be a push towards greater adoption as the uses could usher in a completely new era for the public sector.

By Julius Černiauskas, Chief Executive Officer at Oxylabs.