As global enterprises continue to face increasing complexity and market volatility, all business functions are turning to data-driven analytics and insights as a means to manage growing uncertainties, gain a better understanding of customer bases, and fuel growth.
The findings of the Dun & Bradstreet/Forbes Insights 2017 Enterprise Analytics Study bear this out, and indicate that the move to data-driven insights is being forced by continued business reliance on technology and automation throughout the enterprise. Growth in digital technologies is driving the ability to analyze more data. This, in turn, is fueling the enterprise’s appetite for better data, more advanced analytics skills, and the implementation of best practices. Indeed, analytics is the primary enabler to derive truth and meaning from data that drives business growth.
Key takeaways from the report include:
Insights-based decision making needs to span the enterprise
It is no longer enough to champion sophisticated data and analytic strategies to the C-Suite. Analytics is no longer a “nice to have.” This survey illustrates that the field of analytics has very high, cross-functional adoption across the entire best-in-class enterprise. Senior executives are thus understanding the need to invest in the people, processes, and technologies that empower insights-based decision making and decision automation to keep pace with their peers or leapfrog the competition.
Analytic expertise is required
Of those surveyed across business functions, 27% cited skills gaps as a major obstacle to their current data and analytics efforts. In fact, 60% reported working with third-party data vendors to address the lack of skills. This strongly indicates a need for skilled data analysts across the enterprise spectrum.
Demand for data insights is growing across all major industries and disciplines
The demand for data insights appears to be almost evenly distributed across a variety of industries. Manufacturing leads the pack with the most demand, but is closely followed by technology, retail, financial services, and insurance.
New use cases arise
An intriguing and enlightening perspective was revealed when the survey explored respondents’ value perceptions in advanced analytics use cases. Emerging analytics categories like geolocation, cyber security, and the Internet of Things (IoT) all scored well, and 33% expressed interest in responsible business analytics covering key areas, including human trafficking and sustainability.
The impact of digitization on the enterprise has only just begun
Disruptive initiatives such as IoT, digital transformation, and the consumerization of B2B generate enormous amounts of data. And unfortunately, while enterprises have spent billions to address infrastructure, workflow, and transactional frameworks, many have not scaled their analytics solutions to derive insights and actionable intelligence from the growing onslaught of data.
Is your company being put at competitive risk by not leveraging analytics to uncover new growth opportunities? Find out more in our research report.