Main Highlights
- Alation issued its newest State of Data Culture study today, focusing on how neglecting data may lead to big business mistakes.
- According to the research, 97 percent of data executives believe their organizations have experienced the repercussions of neglecting data.
- Employees at firms with the largest overall growth in sales and profitability cited data and analytics as a driver in the surge, according to recent McKinsey research.
- Stronger data cultures may lead to an increase in business use of AI and machine learning technology.
Alation issued its newest State of Data Culture study today, focusing on how neglecting data may lead to big business mistakes. According to the research, 97 percent of data executives believe their organizations have experienced the repercussions of neglecting data, such as losing out on new income possibilities, underestimating performance, or making unwise investments.
“Organizations that learn from data faster comprehend their consumers, innovate, and perceive markets faster and more clearly than others,” Alation cofounder and CEO Satyen Sangani said. He also stated that firms who invest in data and foster a culture of data literacy farewell. Those who do not fall behind. Companies must change the way they make choices and work in order to incorporate data into everything they do. They must establish a data culture.
The new Alation study, produced by Wakefield Research and based on a poll of 300 CEOs at firms with more than 2,500 people, discovered that 89 percent of enterprises that fell short of their sales targets blame their CFO for not investing enough in data and analytics. Respondents underlined the importance of data and analytics to the enterprise, such as process efficiency, improved revenue potential, and the capacity to analyze risk and better plan for unpredictability, as well as boost customer retention and drive product innovation.
Employees at firms with the largest overall growth in sales and profitability cited data and analytics as a driver in the surge, according to recent McKinsey research. Employees from high-performing businesses were three times more likely than others to indicate that data and analytics projects contributed 20% or more to earnings before interest and taxes from 2016 to 2019.
Alation’s report
Previous Alation polls on business data strategy were notably negative. According to a whitepaper published in April by the organization, just 13% of firms are delivering on their data strategy, with a clear majority of employees blaming data quality concerns for management’s failure to properly deploy data-reliant technologies like AI and machine learning.
Despite the doom and gloom of the latest Alation study, respondents across the board stated that their data culture has improved in the last year, owing to improved data tools, governance, or literacy. For example, data leaders reported more than 14 percent growth in the three major pillars of data culture (literacy, search and discovery, and governance), with year-over-year increases in companies that have adopted data literacy reaching 22 points (37 percent to 59 percent) and 15 points (39 percent to 54 percent) in companies that have embraced data governance.
Data governance — the total management of an enterprise’s data availability, accessibility, integrity, and security — is a particularly fast-growing subcategory. According to Kenneth Research, the market for governance solutions will grow to $5.13 billion by 2025, up from $879.25 million in 2016, owing to benefits such as data consistency and improved data quality and accuracy.
“The key conclusion is that businesses are increasingly investing in data culture, embracing data literacy, data search, and discovery, and data governance,” Sangani said. “This research should serve as a wake-up call for businesses who want to postpone their data [analytics] investments by another year or even a quarter. Creating a data culture is the only long-term strategy to gain a persistent competitive advantage.”
Funding for AI will increase
Stronger data cultures may lead to an increase in business use of AI and machine learning technology. According to a recent Gartner study, one-third of technology and service provider businesses with AI technology ambitions intend to invest $1 million or more in these technologies over the next two years. The vast majority of respondents (87 percent) who see AI as a significant investment area predict that industry-wide spending for AI would rise at a moderate-to-rapid pace through 2022.
“Rapidly developing, varied AI technologies will have an effect across many industries,” said Gartner managing vice president Errol Rasit. Errol also stated that technology companies are expanding their efforts in AI because they understand its potential to not only analyze important data and enhance company efficiency, but also to develop new goods and services, grow their client base, and earn new income. These are significant expenditures that will help to debunk AI rumors.
However, obstacles exist, as evidenced by the Gartner survey. Just over half of respondents claim “substantial” customer acceptance of their AI-enabled goods and services, while 41% say AI emerging technologies are still in the development or early adoption stages.
“Very few respondents reported financing levels of less than $250,000 for AI technologies, showing that AI research is more expensive than other technological advances. “Because of the intricacy of creating and training AI models, this is not an easy market to enter,” Rasit added. He also stated that the poll results reflect the challenging cycle of creating AI technology owing to its complexity, as well as industry-wide problems in acquiring AI expertise due to the limited quantity of qualified personnel.
