Research shows that the vast majority (94%) of large enterprises say data visualization and analytics are critical to their business growth and digital transformation. Yes, data analytics is critical to business success. But only if staff across the enterprise—from the boardroom to the shop or factory floor—can access it and gain insights.
The new 2020 Global State of Enterprise Analytics report sheds light on how UK enterprises leverage data. Two-thirds (65%) of UK businesses say they use data analytics to inform business strategy, and nearly the same percentage (63%) use analytics to drive operations and cost efficiency.
Peter Walker is the General Manager UK & Ireland for MicroStrategy.
For UK companies to gain a competitive edge, it is crucial to open data access to the entire enterprise. Currently, UK businesses claim that limited access to data across the organisation is a barrier to more effective analytics use, with data privacy and endpoint security concerns being the biggest barrier to adoption.
Empowering the enterprise with data
One of the challenges that UK businesses face is the lack of data democratisation, which empowers staff to access, analyse, and act upon information.
Another study by Gartner (2017) estimates business intelligence and analytics adoption hovers around 30% of all employees and given that front-line staff are making decisions daily in response to customers’ needs, it is a missed opportunity not to involve them in the data journey. Insights from the field could contribute significantly to the company’s customer service strategy, product offerings, and bottom line.
Lack of data distribution throughout the enterprise produces reliance on business analysts and IT to inform strategic decisions. By raising awareness of data analytics and empowering all staff with training and technology, organisations can look forward to more intelligent decisions and greater overall business success.
Democratising data also frees the IT service management and analytics teams to focus on business-critical operations.
Three easy pillars to the Intelligent Enterprise
Research finds that half (50%) of UK decision makers say that the ability to embed analytics into popular business tools such as email, SharePoint, and search tools is the most effective way to increase analytics adoption across the enterprise. UK businesses say that more intuitive tools, training, and visual displays of analytics across the office would also help increase user adoption.
There are three key pillars that a data analytics strategy should be built upon for successful adoption of analytics across the business:
1) Think openly and embrace a multi-tool environment: A single tool cannot cater for all of the organisation’s needs and a wide range of user data capabilities. Consider an open platform approach that ensures a secure, governed, scalable, high-performance environment.
2) Seek to enable every person, process, application, and device. With countless business decisions made every day, insights must be accessible in seconds. Tools need to match users’ abilities, and data must be available on the business applications people use every day, in the office or on the go.
3) Start with trusted data and enrich it to gain insights: To be successful in the next generation of analytics, users must have governed, trusted enterprise assets and systems. These must improve over time so artificial intelligence and machine learning can play a key role in business analytics, fueling a feedback loop that makes an organisation smarter over time.
Enterprises worldwide are preparing for a data deluge, and investments are increasing to meet demand. From hiring talent to adopting new technology, business decision makers are preparing for a data-led future. To get the most out of that investment and become a truly Intelligent Enterprise, there must be enterprise-wide access to analytics.
Peter Walker is the General Manager UK & Ireland for MicroStrategy.
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