2017 state of data

2017StateofDataReportNationalSurveyResultsPreparedbySquareRoot®

Confidential.Copyright©2016,SquareRoot,Inc.

Introduction


Companiesspendmillionsondata-relatedinitiativeseveryyear,andtheinvestmentskeepgrowing.Butis

thebigspendpayingoff?

Wesurveyedover500peoplewhousedataatworktolookatthestateofdatainbusinesstoday.Fromtoolsandtechnologytoactionandcommunication,thissurveyexaminesthechallengesandopportunitiesin

dataacrossindustries.

Methodology


Industry


35%

21%

14%

10%

10%

6%4%

INDUSTRYTechnology Retail Healthcare

Government Financial Hospitality

Auto

Of504peoplesurveyed,morethanhalfworkintechnologyandretail.

CompanySize


22%

16%

10%10%

16%

26%

COMPANYSIZE0-49 50-99 100-149

150-249 250-999 1000+

Nearlyathirdofallrespondentsworkinacompanywith1000ormoreemployees.

JobTitle


54%38%

4% 4%

JOBTITLEAssociate Manager Director ExecutiveThemajorityof

respondentsholdrolesasindividualcontributorsandmanagers.

JobFunction


Jobfunctionsrepresentedinthesurveywewide-ranging.

18%

17%

17%12%

10%

9%

13%

4%

JOBFUNCTION

Operations IT CustService

Sales Finance Marketing

Eng/Product HR

KeyFindings


MostFailtoActonData,DespiteItsImportance


•Nearly40%ofcompaniestodaystruggletotakeactionondata•32%ofrespondentssaidtheystrugglepersonallytounderstandhowtoconvertdataintoactionableimprovement

WorkersSpendUpTo23Hours/WeekonDataEfforts


Onaverage,employeesspendthefollowingnumberofhoursoneachdataactivity:

• 9hoursperweeksearchingforandcollectingdata• 8hoursperweekanalyzingdata• 6hoursperweekreportingdata

WhatDrivesTheTimeInvestmentInDataEfforts?


•Morethan1in5employeessaidtheycollectandcompiledatasimplybecause“someonetoldmeto”•41%doittobetterunderstandwhat’shappeningintheirbusiness•37%doittomakemoreinformeddecisionsaboutthebusiness

ManyFeelDataEffortsAreWasted


•25%saidalotoftimeiswastedondataefforts•37%saidthetimetheyspendondataeffortscouldbebetterspentelsewhere•Amongthefactorscausingwastedtime:•29%:toomanydatarequestsfrommymanager•28%:poordatacollectionrequirescleanup•30%:toomanydatasources•44%:outdateddatatools•43%:mycompanyrequiresdatatomakedecisionsthatcouldlikelybemadewithoutit

DataWorkIsConductedUsingOutdatedTools


•Companiesstillrelyonmanualtools(spreadsheets,wordprocessors,PowerPointdecks,etc.)astheprimarytoolforeverydatafunction.Infact:•59%usethemforcollectingandcompilingdata•52%usethemforanalyzingdata•53%usethemforreportingdata

ImprovedToolsCouldHelp


•75%saidimproveddatatoolswouldallowthemtodotheirjobbetter•46%saidoutdatedtoolslimitimpacttoday•42%saidsiloed datatoolslimitimpact•45% saidcurrenttoolsaren’teasilyunderstoodbynon-technicalusers•44%saidoutdateddatatoolswastealotoftimeattheircompany

PeopleGetIntheWayofData-DrivenDecisions


•Whenpresentedwithdata,respondentssaidtheirmanagershave:•41%- madeadecisioncountertothedata•21%- ignoredthedata•12%- manipulatedthedatatoworkintheirfavor

BetterCommunicationandDataTransparencyIsKey


•72%saidhavingoneorganization-wideviewofdatawouldallowthemtodotheirjobbetter•Nearly30%saiddataisNOTsharedeffectivelyacrosstheircompanytoday•50%citedhavinglimitedvisibilityintocompanydataoutsideoftheirdepartment

ImprovedToolsandTrainingWouldHelpDataEffectiveness


•Whatwouldmakeyourcompanymoreeffectivewithitsdataefforts?•52%betterdatatraining•49%moreuser-friendlydatatools•49%updateddatatools•39%fewerdatatools•37%oneconsistentviewofdataacrosstheentireorganization•34%bettertoolstoconnectdatatoactionplans

[email protected]


2017 state of data

Data & Analytics