We’re Only at the Beginning of the Analytics Revolution

Listen to enough analysts and attend enough conferences, and you can be forgiven for thinking that every business in the world is filled with powerful data-driven ventures. But in reality, many are only beginning to dip their toes into the analytics waters. When it comes to advanced business-enabled analytics. Only 8% of analytics and cloud leaders have fully integrated analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) into their business processes. Plus, only 9% say their cloud migrations are complete.

That’s according to a recent study conducted by Corinium Global Intelligence, in partnership with Genpact, to examine the state of data-driven business transformation. Plus, while enterprises have accelerated their data-driven transformations over the past 24 months, just 21% use data-driven decisions to realize business value ‘all the time.’

Pressure from competitors is the most frequently cited driver for data-driven business transformation among the executives surveyed. A full 55% say this is driving demand for transformation in their enterprises. Meanwhile, 43% say regulatory requirements are a key transformation driver and 43% say the same about environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.

See also: 5 Ways Analytics Are Disrupting Supply Chain Management

In terms of future data budget priorities, 45% have budget allocated for appointing ‘data translators’ to act as a bridge between data teams and the rest of the business. “In man4y organizations, small teams with specialized training are responsible for data and analytics initiatives,” the survey’s authors point out. “As a result, most departments rely on a limited group of individuals to handle their data needs. In the digital age, however, this model is unsustainable.”

Another budget priority, cited by 43%, is driving data or cloud team recruitment or retention. Another 42% are focused on establishing a data-driven business culture. Another 30% seek to implementing self-service data infrastructure at scale.

This survey’s authors identified three common factors that distinguish the most datadriven enterprises from those at the start of their transformation journeys:

• Collaboration between business and technology leaders, plus support for transformation from company executives.
• A culture in which data, analytics and cloud strategies are aligned with business objectives.
• A trusted foundation of data that data literate employees can use to uncover valuable business insights.