Organisations still struggle with data quality

Nearly half (48%) of organisations are still struggling to use and access quality data as underlying technology is failing to deliver on a number of critical functions. According to new research conducted by ESG in partnership with InterSystems, while organisations are looking to rapidly progress how they deliver data across the value chain, many are still faced with security (47%), complexity (38), and performance (36%) challenges.

The research, conducted among almost 400 IT and business professionals, found that despite issues in data quality, organisations are looking to put an emphasis on simplicity and self-service to democratise data and empower experts and generalists alike, helping provide rapid access to actionable insights, alleviate burdens, and boost productivity.

“Enabling more people to use and benefit from data across an organisation sounds straightforward,” said Scott Gnau, Head of Data Platforms for InterSystems. “Yet as the results show, many organisations need to overcome significant challenges on a broad front, ranging from data quality to reliability, speed, and limitations on integrations with underlying data sources. Data platforms that can better enable business users to explore and interact with data on their terms with built-in intelligence improves data literacy and collaboration with peers to improve the business.”

The research shows currently, only 7% of organisations say over half of their employees have access to a data analytics platform. However, to modernise, 47% plan to invest in augmented analytics, which is expected to see an 88% growth in uptake. Sometimes referred to as AutoML, augmented analytics uses machine learning and natural language processing to automate analysis normally conducted by a specialist or data scientist.

For data leaders already using analytics tools embedded into their platforms, more than half of organisations (56%) report improved technology and employee performance. Fifty-one percent see improvements in the productivity of their employees who use embedded analytics and 49% say it has boosted the output of their data teams. Almost half (48%) say they see greater responsiveness to data insights within the business from deploying embedded analytics.

Other key survey findings include:

• 50% of organisations expect to add new features and functionalities to their data analytics platforms in the next year

• 48% also plan to expose more people within their organisation to their data analytics platform to broaden further adoption and making access to analytics easier

• Organisations also expect to invest in data visualisation (44%), data integration (42%) and interactive dashboards and reporting (37%).

“What these survey results prove is that embedded analytics and the outputs from it will enable employees to do their jobs more effectively, whatever their role,” added Gnau. “Those data leaders are already realising the return from their existing analytics investments and see the continued opportunity for more people to use more data to help make the right decisions at the right time for the business.”