In Data We Trust: How First-Party Data, AI Drive Monetization

Data. It's a word we’ve heard throughout our entire lives: birth data, mortality data, math data, movie data, data about the person we like. 

Let’s define it in a simple way: Data is a representation of a fact, event, or attribute. By itself it may not provide value, but when it is organized, parameterized, and given context, it becomes information that enables decision-making.

As simple as saying: 

• Who is the ideal buyer for this new product? Women

• What age? Between 25 and 35

• What segment? Those who earn at least six times the minimum wage

• Where should we sell it? In the southern region of the country

Data, data, and more data. But where does it come from?

To answer this question, let’s focus on the digital world. 

Between 2000 and 2010, we lived through the era of massive data, where cookies were responsible for collecting information. For those who still don’t know, cookies are essentially small files that websites store in browsers to remember information and track activity. They are tags that allow websites to recognize users in the future.

In this era, data quality control was low, regulation for its use and protection was nonexistent, and its value was based on volume. This is the era in which third-party data emerged, databases you could buy from an intermediary who had no direct relationship with the end user. 

Between 2010 and 2020, we lived through the era of social networks and big data in full force. There was a boom in data coming from social media, mobile devices, and IoT technologies. Regulations, such as GDPR in Europe and local laws in Latin America, began to appear, and second-party data emerged: databases collected first-hand by one organization and shared with another; for example, a hotel sharing guest information with an airline. 

Finally, from 2020 until now, we are in the era of first-party data. It is the era of consented data and artificial intelligence. This is when first-party data becomes central: information collected directly by a company from its users through its own tools, such as apps, captive portals, CRMs, and others. These are the most valuable datasets because they are precise, exclusive to the company, aligned with what the company wants to know about its users, and collected with consent.

Actionable Insights, User Trust

The value of data is no longer measured in volume; it is measured in its ability to generate actionable insights and user trust. The trick is knowing what to ask, what to look for, and where to look.

But before discussing this strategy further, let’s talk about the different metrics used to measure data value: 

• Quality metrics, which refer to accuracy and completeness

• Impact metrics, such as incremental revenue and reduced operational costs

• Usage metrics, referring to data reuse and use cases;

• Cost metrics, including capture, storage, and compliance.

Each metric provides a perspective on what we will obtain, and the goal is to connect data to generate return on investment. In this sense, hotels can reduce internal guest flow friction and increase sales of internal services, stadiums can monetize their audiences in real time and retailers can measure mobility and reduce inventory through layout adjustments based on that mobility.

And AI, as expected, also plays a very important role, becoming the catalyst that transforms raw data into recommendations and decisions. It is the engine that gives big data meaning, scale, and speed.

Imagine an airport with 8 million annual connections, where typically 4 million actionable data points can be obtained. With AI, you can increase this amount by at least 30% and also ensure that the data is not duplicated or incomplete, which increases certainty.

In stadiums, you could identify that out of 100% of the people in the food court, a certain percentage is more likely to buy a souvenir after the match.

Because you can discover hidden patterns, correlate zones, schedules, and audience responses, you can move toward hyper-personalization, segmented advertising, and predictive analytics.

Hybrid AI Engine

At Datawifi, our software is prepared for all of this through our hybrid AI engine (we call it Data Success Manager) and, of course, with the support of our human talent, who have experience across many sectors and verticals. 

But let’s return to the trick behind all of this: the strategy behind the tools. You may have the most powerful software in the industry with Datawifi, but if you don’t use it, if you don’t dare to implement it, you will continue watching data and money pass right in front of you.

Many businesses think that using a captive portal through Wi-Fi networks to collect data is intrusive for their customers, but they overlook the reality: more than collecting, they are listening to their customers, and they are gaining precision.

You can direct advertising and send duty-free offers to international passengers and local coffee promotions to domestic passengers, but if you don’t listen, if you don’t dare to give them a communication channel where they can tell you who they are, what they like, what they think of the place, where they come from, their age, their preferences (and this applies to all sectors), you won’t know what to offer them. 

If you don’t progressively learn about your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend, if you don’t take an interest in getting to know them little by little, without being intrusive, collecting information constantly, your first-anniversary gift will probably not be successful. 

That is the true value of data: a happy customer who feels heard and understood, who knows their information is protected, and who feels unique.

We could continue talking about theoretical terms such as intrinsic value, performance value, business value, or market value, but the trick is daring to ask.

An Intangible Strategic Asset

Let’s take advantage of the era we live in, where we no longer need to hire an interviewer armed with 150 questions and moving from person to person — and often being rejected. 

Now, it is as simple as an intelligent captive portal saying, “Welcome,” “Where are you visiting us from?” and three days later saying, “Welcome back,” “Did you enjoy the product?” “Would you like to receive a promotion?” 

And that is only the beginning. Data is the most decisive intangible strategic asset for any organization; its value comes from quality, context, and the ability to turn signals into measurable decisions. Captive portals transform connectivity into consented first-party data, offering real profiles, physical context, and direct traceability between interaction and commercial outcome. 

At Datawifi, we are the enablers of that transformation, offering intelligent captive portals and AI capabilities that turn every Wi-Fi connection into an actionable asset. For leaders seeking competitive advantage, the decision is clear: investing in governed first-party data and applied AI is not optional. It is what will determine who advances and who leads in the next decade.