This fact has been recognised none more so than amongst the C-Suite, who are investing more time and money into their data and analytics initiatives than ever before, as they attempt to re-orientate towards a more data-driven approach, in support of their digitalisation.
In fact, recent research from Gartner shows that 82% of CEOs are taking steps to transition toward digital operations and 77% are planning to increase their investments into digital capabilities.
Tie Your Data and Analytics Initiatives to Stakeholders and Their Business Goals. Gartner, 2020
Despite this, many SMBs are still struggling with what we constitute as low-data and analytics maturity. To put it bluntly, if you’re still still using spreadsheets for analysis and arguing about data quality in the boardroom every week, then it’s highly unlikely you will be able to succeed with your digital transformation initiatives.
Gartner predict that through 2025, 80% of organisations seeking to scale digital business will fail because they do not take a modern approach to data and analytics.1
It is imperative, therefore that business leaders recognise the success of digitalisation is highly-dependent on maturing their approach to data and analytics.
What do we mean exactly?
Well, a low-level of maturity implies that an organisation is struggling to harness the value of their data assets, and to construct a strategy that directly connects their data and analytics initiatives to business goals and objectives.
There are many causes for low-levels of maturity, which go way beyond simply investing in the right tools and technologies — for example, limited budgets, lack of vision and skills, inexperience in strategic planning and deployment, and primitive or legacy infrastructure.