The rise of big data will lead to demand for specialist information brokers to soar, as firms seek to extract value from their information assets, claims Gartner.
The analyst house said the financial demands of storing and managing ever increasing amounts of data will lead to 30 per cent of companies trading, bartering or selling their information assets by 2016.
Gartner claimed a number of enterprises have already begun to appreciate the value of information such as point-of-sale data.
The organisation also claimed that, as many businesses lack the skills and infrastructure to develop and introduce information-based products, they will need to enlist the help of specialist resellers.
Doug Laney, research vice president at Gartner, said: "Consumers and businesses must realise that their personal usage, location, profile and activity data has a tangible market value.
"They should guard it and ensure that when they do share it they receive ample services products or cash for it," he added.
However, companies that go down this route could face some opposition, he added.
"Businesses monetising information assets need to be sensitive to the reputational risk of public backlash against such practices, that may in turn lead to a tighter regulatory environment," said Laney.
Gartner also highlighted the role cloud has to play in helping firms gain value from big data.
For instance, traditional database management systems are not well suited to sharing data in a subscription-based manner, the analysts claimed, whereas the cloud is.
"A nascent crop of shared information hosting services already complements established syndicated data providers and most vendors have taken steps to cloud-enable their technologies," Laney concluded.
