In brief
- We are entering a new era of data centricity, with over half of senior executives now identifying data and analytics as their top investment priority.
- This shift is enabled by a sophisticated new tech stack of cloud, AI and the Internet of Things – the top technology priorities for transformation leaders.
- The most successful technology transformations put humans – committed leadership and empowered employees – at its center.
Supercharged by emerging technologies, the world is entering an entirely new generation of data and analytics. Not tomorrow, right now – fifty-three percent of senior executives have identified data and analytics as their top investment priority in the next two years. This is an increase of 50% since 2020.
These next generation analytics won’t just appear out of the ether. They will be built on a flexible, agile and fast-evolving combination of technology, ecosystems and talent.
Data is emerging as the strategic currency of the digital age. It will be generated based on the success of how humans work together across an enterprise including functions, data and analytics teams and technology, to drive a cultural shift.
Our bi-annual Tech Horizon research, which was completed in Q4 of 2021, is part of the CIO Imperative Series that provides critical answers and actions to help CIOs reframe the future of their organizations. The study shows that successful companies are leaping upward to create a data-centric organization to improve every decision, process and interaction. It learns as it goes. It anticipates. It collaborates. It outthinks the competition. Humans are at its center.
In this edition of Tech Horizon, we present a vision of data centricity as an insight engine that unlocks the value of operational, customer and market data. We then present a pragmatic approach to deploying the technology foundation that will support the new data world.
This is happening right now with your peers and competitors – tech-enabled transformations that exceed expectations are forecasting an average annual revenue growth of 5.7% vs. 4.0% for transformations falling short of expectations. Where are you on the strategic journey to the next generation of data and analytics?
The destination: what data centricity will mean to your enterprise
In a few short years, data and analytics will drive and predict the most important decisions, processes and interactions of the enterprise. What will this data centricity mean to the company?
Instead of siloed, restricted sets of facts, a data fabric will be integrated across the enterprise. Data expertise will expand from the IT department into business group, internal operations, and customer relationships. Employees across the entire enterprise will manage, routinely access and use the data necessary to improve their decisions and processes. This is a migration from data management to data centricity.
Mundane tasks will be automated, allowing executives and workers to focus on value. Rather than fall back on hunches and spreadsheets, your enterprise will be empowered to query, correlate and analyze in real time. Customer feedback will be instantaneous and highly accurate.
Employees will make more informed decisions on the spot – a customer better analyzed, or a supply chain problem unraveled. These tactical decisions will aggregate up into insightful predictive analytics – a more accurate market entry plan, or a complete supply chain overhaul. Data will no longer look backward – it will predict the future.
That is the data-centric organization, and it is not far away.
The challenge: not a step forward, but a leap upward
How does the enterprise get there?
The first stage is adoption of a visionary core data strategy – a transformation plan that sets a bold vision of the enterprise’s future. This is not about a single functional responsibility. It is about a growth mindset of technology and business leaders, placing data as a critical asset that can be a differentiator for an enterprise. This is built on a foundation of relevant data skills, both domain-specific and tech-specific.
This is a time to be bold – companies that are exceeding their own expectations are twice as likely (68% to 33%) to focus on bold new products or experiences (so-called “greenfield” solutions) compared to transformations that are falling short (Figure 1). “In the past, I would consider our company to be risk-averse,” says Sempra Infrastructure’s CIO, Chantale Rondeau. “Now, there’s been a mindset change, and there’s more of an appetite to explore innovative technology.”
A data strategy should clearly connect how data will inform, support and drive the realization of the organization’s short-and long-term strategic business plans, reduce threats identified in their enterprise risk management plan, and ultimately help to capitalize on top opportunities. Organizations need to empower a dedicated data team with the leadership, resources, and the executive support it needs to achieve this strategy.
By Jim Little & Savi Thethi
Read the full article at https://www.ey.com/en_us/consulting/tech-horizon-survey and is republished with permission.
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