First Look: The Second Annual New Intelligent Enterprise Survey
How are organizations using analytics? Can people access the data they need? Here are a few highlights from our newest survey.
Topics
Competing With Data & Analytics
This is the second year that MIT Sloan Management Review has teamed up with the IBM Institute for Business Value in a project we call The New Intelligent Enterprise. Our inquiry into how organizations are turning analytics into competitive advantage comprised conducting a survey of more than 4,000 executives, managers and analysts from around the world and from a wide range of industries. The results of our second annual survey are now in and we’ve begun analyzing the data.
The charts in this preview represent the answers to just eight of the survey’s 27 questions, presented as simple raw data. By the time the full report on the survey is published this fall, the information these charts hold will be combined and refined, and, in many cases, compared with last year’s responses to give you a snapshot of what’s changed since our 2010 survey. But even without that, these initial charts will allow you to do some immediate benchmarking — and see how your organization is doing in relation to your peers.
A few things stand out on these pages. While last year’s respondents said their top business objective was “innovating to achieve competitive differentiation,” this year it’s “growing revenue.” Organizations are also looking at analytics as a tool for strategic decision making, not just for tactical choices and activities. That could affect every part of the organization in some very interesting — and unexpected — ways.
Access to Data Needs Improvement
Only about four in 10 respondents have access to the information they want either to a great extent or completely. The majority are less satisfied with their information access — and almost one-fifth either have limited or no access to the data they need to succeed in their jobs.
Analytics Used for Strategic Decision Making
The top three objectives organizations cited for using analytics are difficult to measure, but they align with organizations’ primary business objectives, suggesting that people are starting to recognize the value of using analytics for strategic decision making.
Consistency Is Key
Organizations are concerned that the quality of the data they use in decision making is consistent. It may be more important to have uniformly consistent data quality across the organization, rather than perfect data from one business unit and poor quality data from another.
Must Leaders Walk the Talk?
Survey respondents want leaders to practice what they preach. If the organization’s leaders make fact-based decisions themselves, in service of the organization’s long-term vision, and demonstrate a willingness to share data across silos, will the rest of the organization be more willing to do the same?
Organizations Unsure How to Use Analytics
Organizations continue to struggle to understand how to use analytics to improve the business and to find the time to figure it out. Many of the challenges relate to organizational politics such as who owns the data and who has access to it.
It’s Not Easy Integrating Data
The top two challenges that organizations have in using analytics effectively are reminiscent of the challenges that companies have always cited for using business information. Integration is never an easy task, and as organizations take on bigger, bolder goals, the complexity can be overwhelming.
Primary Business Objectives Have Not Changed
While the top three business objectives remain the same this year compared with last, their order has changed. In 2010, innovating to achieve competitive differentiation was number one; this year it’s growing revenue. There also seems to be a new focus on expansion: Penetrating new markets and acquiring new customers are getting more attention than squeezing more out of what you already have (such as workforce performance or operating speed).
Technology Is Not the Problem
Respondents believe that organizational or cultural challenges are almost twice as hard to solve as technological issues. That suggests that leaders have their work cut out for them — and underscores the need for leaders to practice what they preach before the organization is able to use analytics most effectively.
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