Many times before now I’ve written and given talks about the subject of big data as an asset, and there are a LOT of people repeatedly saying data is not like oil.

• Forbes: “Here’s Why Data Is Not The New Oil”
• BBC: “Data is not the new oil”
• Financial Times: “Data is not the new oil”
• Harvard Business Review: “Big Data is Not the New Oil”
• WeForum: “You may have heard data is the new oil. It’s not”
• Wired: “No, Data Is Not the New Oil”

I say this again here because I still see events in 2021 claiming things like “everyone says data is the new oil.”

Everyone does NOT say it.

Data is logically very different than oil.