BrazilAward-winning book Everything Transaction available in English
Following a successful launch in the Netherlands, award-winning management book ‘Everything Transaction’ by Shikko Nijland, Douwe Lycklama and Chiel Liezenberg has been released in English.
The trio of authors are all experienced advisors and pioneers in the payments and financial technology space. Lycklama and Liezenberg founded consulting firm Innopay 16 years ago, and Nijland is currently the firm’s managing partner.
In their book, the authors reflect on a range of data-related topics that are changing the face of business, including the impact of digitalisation on data management and commercialisation, the growth of the transactional ecosystem, the commercial opportunities presented by data sharing, and the benefits of decentralisation and collaboration.
Across the board, they warn that against a backdrop of a rapidly growing use of data, both organisations and governments will need to find the right strategies on dealing with the boom. “Many firms are already struggling to handle their data situation, and this is only going to become more pressing,” said Nijland in an interview with Consultancy.eu earlier this year. 
While there is no secret recipe for success, the authors believe that there are a number of strategies that point in the right direction. Embracing collaboration is the mother of all. “The only way to get more grip on the situation is by looking at data in a different way. A holistic view is key – if you really want to prepare for the problems of tomorrow then you must collaborate beyond the borders of your own organisation, beyond the borders of your sector, maybe even the borders of your country,” remarked Nijland.
Who owns my data?
Another major topic they touch upon is data ownership, a theme that has made the headlines across the globe recently following the revelations of the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook case. The key question here is: who owns the data? An individual, or the company storing and exploiting the data? “At the moment, there is data benefit imbalance. Some companies benefit a lot from having consumer data, whilst the consumer doesn’t benefit from it at all,” explained Nijland.
In ‘Everything Transaction’, the authors outline a path on how data ownership could become more decentralised. “Ideally, data stays at the source and users have insight and control over who has access to their data and what they are doing with it.”
Collaboration combined with regulation are important steps forward, with emerging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and biometrics levers which can deliver the desired end-state.
Ultimately, trust and cooperation between companies is in the eyes of Nijland, Lycklama and Liezenberg the key to a sustainable solution for digital transactions in the future. “Certainly in Europe, there is an opportunity to change the current market conditions to a situation in which end users get more digital self-determination,” said the authors.
One year after launching the Dutch version of the book ‘Alles Transactie’ (named book of the year by Dutch platform Management Book), the book has today also been released as an English-language hard copy and e-book, titled ‘Everything Transaction’.
