“Knowledge is power”, Francis Bacon, 1597.

Every organisation is facing a threat of some type Regardless of industry sector, data sharing is essential. Every organisation is facing a threat of some type, and to successfully detect, manage and prevent threats before they occur, the most important tool is information.

The foundation for creating knowledge is data; collecting enough data will help join the dots (as we keep getting told). The maxim “knowledge is power” has never been truer in today’s organisational environment. Effective data sharing has enabled:

• US fusion centres to identify and prevent terrorist threats
• Cross-border agencies to combat illegal immigrant trafficking and
• Counterfeit good smuggling and private industry to pinpoint financial fraud suspects before they damage revenues and corporate reputation.

Effective data sharing is hard to achieve Knowledge is power is an old maxim, and investigation organisations have always been aware of a need to share data. So why even now is successful data sharing so hard to achieve?

Firstly, the phrase “knowledge is power” implies that with knowledge one’s potential will increase, which no doubt goes a long way to explaining why people naturally withhold knowledge to protect their position. Even when people are willing to share knowledge, three principal barriers exist:

1. Data is held in varying formats, channels and locations and to access it quickly is problematic
2. The way data is stored tends to be for compliance rather than access purposes
3. Concerns about data security prevent people from sharing it At Memex we have turned our knowledge of all three data sharing barriers into power

Organisations have no choice but to overcome all these problems, because the ability to share data successfully can be quite literally a matter of life or death for someone. That’s why we at Memex are masters of data sharing across both Law Enforcement and other industry sectors. Going back to our maxim “Knowledge is power”, at Memex we are quite simply aware of all the barriers to effective data sharing, and have developed a platform capability to meet twenty-first century data sharing requirements, no matter where and how your data is held.