SG Companies Not Utilizing Employee Analytics Skills Enough
Analytics is now more than just a buzzword but a critical tool for businesses across various industries. However, like other business software, analytics is only as effective as those using it.
A recent Alteryx-commissioned IDC survey of companies in Singapore has found that 73% expect analytics spending will outpace other software investments in the next 12-18 months.
This is a significant finding, as it shows businesses are starting to see the value in investing in analytics tools and solutions. With the right analytics, companies can make better decisions based on data and evidence rather than guesswork.
Despite this, there is still a long way to go. The same survey found that almost 90% of companies in Singapore are not fully utilizing their employees' analytics skills. And regarding advanced analytics, less than 30% of decisions across all organizations are informed by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Spreadsheets seem to be the go-to software for analytics, with 9 out of 10 respondents saying that less than half of their knowledge workers are active users of analytics software other than spreadsheets. This means that many businesses still rely on manual data entry and analysis, which is time-consuming and prone to errors.
Furthermore, only 63% of organizations are using the full breadth of available data types, which means they could be missing out on valuable insights. And finally, 82% of organizations indicate data access policies are only moderately effective or worse, which suggests that data is not being shared as effectively as it could be.
It's up to the companies
These numbers are not surprising, given that many businesses still struggle to catch up with digital transformation. Business processes are often still running on paper and outdated spreadsheets, which creates a widening analytics gap.
But when companies do invest in a low-code/no-code analytics automation platform and follow specific strategies, IDC observed that they improved their financial, customer, and operational metrics. IDC found that, for example, companies:
- Deployed easy-to-use cloud-based or hybrid AI-infused analytics technology to support cross-functional use cases
- Broke down data and analytics silos by emphasizing enterprise-wide analytics
- Developed a data culture that aligned technology spend with upskilling on data literacy
- Ensured alignment on analytics initiatives between IT and line of business to eliminate shadow IT
“It’s no surprise that so few organizations are ahead of the curve when it comes to analytic maturity, considering they leave out a key component: people. What we’re seeing is that organizations that provide analytics tools that are easy to use and easy to access, while upskilling their talent, achieve more ROI from their respective analytics investment than organizations who do not,” said Dan Vesset, group vice president, analytics and information management, IDC.
“As their operating business environments increase in complexity, organizations need powerful and unified, end-to-end analytics automation solutions that enable business leaders to make critical data-led decisions anytime, anywhere,” said Gari Johnson, senior vice president of Asia Pacific and Japan, Alteryx. “Analytics automation provides the organizational agility needed to advance digitally and empower the workforce across all levels to turn data into actionable insights.”
