14 surprising facts about data maturity

At the heart of the data discussion, is the topic of data maturity.

Data maturity is the measure used to understand the extent to which organisations actually use the data they create to get the most out of it.

We’ve put together a list of surprising facts to show you why if you’re not already thinking about maturing on your data journey, you should be…

1. Generating insights from data supercharges business growth

Research shows that insights-driven businesses… i.e. those who use analytics to unlock insights from their data, are growing at an average of more than 30% each year. These same organisations are also predicted to take $1.8 trillion annually from their less-informed peers by 2021. —Forrester Insights-Driven Businesses Set the Pace for Global Growth Report

2. Investing in analytics generates a high ROI

Did you know that for every pound a business spends on analytics, they get paid back £13.01? Studies suggest that organisations that invest in analytics end up far better financially in the long run, showing that the value of analytics spans beyond simply generating insights… — Nucleus Research, Analytics pays back $13.01 for every dollar spent

3. Data maturity is key for digital transformation

A survey by MicroStrategy found that 90% of enterprise analytics and business professionals say data and analytics are key to their organisation’s digital transformation initiatives. Digital transformation leads to business transformation, so becoming more data mature is an essential step that businesses need to take to achieve their goals. —MicroStrategy, 2018 Global State of Enterprise Analytics Report

4. Data maturity makes for better success with customers

Having greater analytics capabilities allows businesses to better understand their customers. Research by McKinsey Global Institute has revealed that data-driven organisations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain customers, and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result.

5. Data-driven marketing is still lacking

When it comes to the marketing department, only 7% of marketers surveyed report that they are currently effectively able to deliver real-time, data-driven marketing engagements across both physical and digital touchpoints. In other words, data maturity is lacking in the department. — CMO Council, Empowering the Data-Driven Customer Strategy

6. Adoption of analytics leads to higher sales

A survey by MIT and IBM also reported that organisations with a high level of analytics had 8% higher sales growth, 24% higher operating income and 58% higher sales per employee. Not too bad at all. MIT Sloan Management Review, Analytics: The New Path to Value

7. Use of people analytics results in a more profitable business

The High-Impact People Analytics industry study carried out by Bersin by Deloitte has found that organisations that use people analytics to support business decisions see 82% higher three-year average profits than their low-maturity counterparts.

8. Most businesses are in still in the infant stages of the data maturity journey

Results from our Data Maturity quiz indicate that 66% of participants fall at the planning stage or earlier in the data journey. This suggests that most organisations are still very early on in the data journey and have not yet unlocked capabilities found in the latter stages such as predictive analytics and AI.

9. An increase in data accessibility makes business income soar

According to Forrester, less than 0.5% of data is ever used, but just a 10% increase in data accessibility can result in $65 million additional net income for a typical Fortune 1000 company. But that doesn’t mean that rest of us are left out. Other studies show that better use of data generally leads to increased income across businesses of many different shapes and sizes.

10. Big Data seen as critical for the future

A clear majority of business decision-makers we polled in our report “The Data Surge”, reported that they saw big data as critical to their company’s future. Areas that they pointed out as being particularly “critical” was in their ability to successfully manage their company data, their decision-making, product development, better understanding their business information and increasing their profits.

11. Data management and access to talent are the biggest barriers to data maturity

Data management and access to talent are considered to be the biggest barriers to capitalising on the potential of analytics. This means that when organisations are thinking about their journey to data maturity, these two areas may need to be given particularly special attention -  Deloitte, The Analytics Advantage

12. High performing organisations are more data mature

Research by Accenture shows that today’s high performing companies are three times as likely as low performing companies to invest a substantial portion of their technology spend on analytics. This correlation suggests that those who are more data mature can expect to perform better than those who are still in the early stages of the data maturity journey. Accenture, Winning with Analytics

13. Less than a third of businesses carry out big data projects

Only 30% of business decision-makers reported regularly conducting big data projects. In other words, the majority of organisations are not tapping into the potential of their data. —MHR Anaytics, The Data Surge.

14. The majority of organisations lack technology to support analytics

Statistics show that nearly half of business users are stuck relying on basic reporting tools with limited predictive capabilities, whilst 18% were relying on spreadsheets. This suggests that many organisations still lack the technology needed to fully take advantage of their data.— Deloitte, The Analytics Advantage