Data Could Paradoxically Become the Top Barrier to Transformation in SG

Data is now the lifeblood of a digital organization. Disruptions over the past two years have only served to accelerate the need for data for most organizations globally, and Singapore is no exception. However, businesses are increasingly experiencing data overload and are unable to transform data into insights.

Singapore results from a recent commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting show most businesses in Singapore are struggling with the proliferation of data. Instead of offering a competitive advantage, data has become a burden to businesses due to an array of barriers.

The Forrester study seeks to urgently uncover what’s preventing businesses from turning data into actionable insights, gauge businesses’ readiness for a data deluge and help businesses navigate a “data paradox”: businesses cannot cope with the data they have, but at the same time they need more of it.

Barriers seem to be internally focused

Forrester found some of the key barriers that businesses in Singapore face when it comes to capturing, analyzing and acting on data include resistance to change from internal teams (71% versus 24% in APJ); network delays (61% versus 23% in APJ) and outdated IT infrastructure (55% versus 37% in APJ). Compared to the rest of APJ, these issues tend to be more prevalent among Singapore companies, contributing to this data paradox.

Additionally, about half of Singapore businesses are also experiencing data (55%) and business silos (52%), which means that they do not harmonize their data meaningfully and struggle to share useful data with those who need it. From a capability perspective, 71% of businesses in Singapore reported having insufficient in-house data science skills – which could also contribute to their inability to manage their data effectively. Despite the consensus that data is a business’ greatest asset – data could paradoxically become businesses’ number one barrier to transformation.

Moving Singapore’s Data Readiness Score – from Data Novices to Data Champions

In Singapore, only 17% of businesses were defined as Data Champions: companies that are actively engaged in both areas (technology/process and culture/skills). Although this is 5% higher than the global and APJ averages, 40% of local businesses classify themselves as Data Novices. Yet within the APJ region, Singapore seems to be leading the way in terms of data stewardship and readiness. The study reveals that 55% of Singapore respondents have appointed a chief data officer to the Board – 23% higher than the APJ average. In addition, 38% of respondents in Singapore are establishing cross-functional teams and stronger quality assurance processes to ensure data transparency.

The future of Data could look more promising

While economies around the world have suffered during the pandemic, the as-a-Service sector rapidly expanded, igniting a new wave of data-first, data-anywhere businesses – from online streaming home exercise to virtual doctors’ appointments and remote learning. Singapore companies need the right end-to-end technology and services to steward data from silos, across many environments and networks. They also need to deploy machine learning to automate anomaly detection to make meaningful discoveries and equip their workforce with the right skills and data-driven culture to work with real-time data to predict future outcomes. Combined, these elements will enable organizations to achieve better business outcomes, faster.

The study also found that the top action Singapore businesses plan to take in the future to develop a data-ready culture and workforce is to treat data as a capital and prioritize its use across business roles (72.4%). Second, 71.26% of businesses plan on incentivizing employees to innovate with data and analytics processes. And third, 68.97% plan to actively recruit data engineers, data scientists and software developers.

More Singapore businesses need to make the transition to an aaS model

Specifically, Singapore companies can adopt a data as-a-service (aaS) management strategy to address the barriers they currently face. With an aaS model, 53% of Singapore businesses believe that they would no longer be held back by outdated IT infrastructure. More than 70% also believe that aaS would enable their business to be more agile and 60% perceive that it would give them the ability to scale to changing data demands and volume without being restricted by capacity constraints.

The research by Forrester revealed that these are the top 5 organizational goals for businesses looking to deploy an aaS data management strategy. With the right interventions and course corrections, it is very possible that 69% of businesses that have a plan to monetize their data will find success.

Ultimately, as we transit towards a data-powered economy, all businesses will have to adapt. By gauging business readiness for a data deluge, we can see that businesses need a new way to deal with the imminent arrival of massive amounts of data. The acceleration of data and processing gains is already creating a divide. Companies with traditional mindsets and manual processes are falling behind, while data-ready, as-a-Service companies gain advantage.

This is the reality of competing in the digital era, where technology is the great leveler, and any business can maneuver into pole position. The future is in the hands of those who know how to harness emerging technologies to innovate with data and create new value.

This post was written by Andy Sim, the vice president and managing director for Dell Technologies Singapore. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends.

Image credit: iStockphoto/peshkov