Ahead of this year’s Data Insight Leader’s summit 100 Heads of Data Analytics from some of the biggest fortune 500 companies were asked to give their input into the biggest challenges they face today, and what they are doing to overcome them. Below are some headline takeaways from the survey but you can also download the full report here. Big Data Trends
How is data currently generating revenue for your business?
84% of companies surveyed are able to use data to enhance revenue generation
42% of firms interviewed stated that data is improving profit margins on current products and services and a further 40% by retaining and increasing the customer base. It does however seem surprising that 16% of respondents are yet to see the direct impact of their data on company revenue. Many businesses are still trying to find out how to attribute monetary value to their data sets.
Top challenges in data analytics
Almost 20% of respondents are struggling to overcome challenges when working with legacy systems
The top challenge facing heads of Data Analytics was ‘Achieving ROI from investing in data analytics’ coming in a close second was ‘Overcoming challenges caused by legacy systems’. A lot of companies are making investments in data analytics solutions. However firms are still struggling to prove that these investments are impacting their companies bottom line.
Is your data function centralised or de-centralised?
Respondents are evenly split on whether their data function is centralised or decentralised.
Whether your data function is centralised or de-centralised primarily dictated by how your company operates. A lot of companies are prioritising data – and centralised structure reflects this however the advantages of de-centralised is also evident especially for those business units that rely heavily on the insights that data can provide. There are also advantages to operating a de-centralised model, especially for business units that rely heavily on the insights that fast access to data can provide.
If de-centralised, where do your data function and team members sit?
Almost half of respondents have their data function scattered across various functions of the business. A fifth of respondents have their data function sitting in IT. IT departments are often involved in allocating spend on new technology and this is why it’s the most common specific department for the data function to sit in.
What types of data tools are you investing in?
76% Analytics tools
46% Applications
36% Cross infrastructure
32% Infrastructure
10% I’m moving to open source
“It is interesting to see that only 10% of respondents are moving towards open source when it comes to new tools and technology. I foresee that in the coming years we will see an increasing number of companies adopt open source and shift their investment toward services instead.” Errol Koolmeister, Data Scientist-Security Lead, Vodafone
Are you planning to allocate more resources to your data function capabilities over the coming year?
70% of companies surveyed are looking to increase spend and allocate more resources to their data function. People are waking up to the fact that data is not a minor consideration, simply a feature to help keep up with the competition. Data should underpin the overall business strategy and create competitive advantage.
How easy is to communicate the importance of a datadriven environment to departments across the business?
70% of Heads of Data Analytics reported that they are finding it challenging it to communicate the importance of a data driven environment.
Do you have active backing from the board for your data projects?
62% of respondents feel they have active backing from the board, with a further 14% who feel that they are on the way to achieving it. However, almost quarter still struggle to get senior management behind them.
Do you struggle to find real data science talent for your data function?
48% of respondents say they have a hard time finding data scientists.
Are you planning to grow the size of your data science team? and by how many new recruits?
68% of the companies surveyed are looking to recruit new data professionals, with 22% of respondents looking to hire a team of seven or more.
Do you have an in-house team of experts to build on and run your big data ecosystem or do you partner with third party providers?
Almost 3/5 of respondents have a mixture of in-house and outsourced solution providers to manage their data ecosystem. Companies want to retain talent in-house as it gives them needed oversight into how they are running their data programs. Data is crucial to the business, the fact that no business is completely outsourcing their big data ecosystem demonstrates that they understand that.
Source: Data Insight Leaders Summit Whitepaper
