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SA businesses sit on untapped BI

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 24 Nov 2014
Information is the DNA of every organisation, says Wayne Dick, business development manager for sub-Saharan Africa at HDS.
Information is the DNA of every organisation, says Wayne Dick, business development manager for sub-Saharan Africa at HDS.

South African organisations are sitting on untapped business intelligence (BI).

That is one of the biggest takeaways from Hitachi Data Systems' (HDS) inaugural Information Innovation Index, which interviewed a sample of South African CIOs. The results highlight nearly half (48%) of the surveyed organisations are struggling to extract value from information due to current approaches to IT.

The survey of 50 IT decision-makers from South African organisations with over 1 000 employees, revealed 90% of CIOs agree to some extent that IT's traditional approach to storing and managing information is preventing businesses from leveraging data insights to drive growth.

"What HDS has seen through our interactions with clients, and also confirmed from the research, is, although IT has been the custodians of organisations' data, IT departments have been too controlling in the management of the data, thereby making it difficult for business users to fully leverage this value to fuel further growth," says Wayne Dick, business development manager for sub-Saharan Africa at HDS.

"South African organisations can accelerate business growth and competitive advantage by aligning IT with the business strategy," he adds. "'IT-accelerated' businesses use technology as a strategic asset, helping them derive intelligence and mobilise information, enabling them to be more competitive. Organisations that take a 'business-defined IT' approach to information, leveraging it beyond its primary and intended use, and connecting it with other datasets, will lead the way with innovation, and benefit from the creation of new revenue streams."

The survey discovered 54% of South African businesses are not actively mining untapped intelligence and, of those not doing so, 44% have no intention to start, and 60% of CIOs wish their organisation was investing in big data analytics to identify insights that could fuel business growth.

It also emerged 98% of CIOs believe, to some extent, IT could be doing more to support business leaders in their goals of leveraging data to fuel growth.

"Simply put, information is the DNA of every organisation, and will one day have its place on the balance sheet," says Dick. "South African organisations need to look at how they can transform their information infrastructure by exploring a journey towards public, hybrid or private cloud environments, or a combination based on application needs, to make data a true company asset."

The study also discovered 36% are not confident people in the business have the necessary skills to act on insights garnered from untapped BI. Only 20% strongly feel they have enough access to business leaders within their organisation to develop and execute an effective IT strategy that drives growth. Just 14% strongly agree their organisation is doing enough to innovate with information.

The vast majority of CIOs surveyed (88%) feel their organisation is currently drowning in data to some extent, while 86% agree failing to address their untapped BI will lead to compliance and regulation issues. Some 68% believe serious risk lies in data that is saved and discoverable.

According to the study, 82% of CIOs are also concerned about whether existing data protection policies are capable of handling big data analytics.

"Information can be a transformative force in business if decision-makers are able to shape what it does. By realigning the relationship between business management and IT, and tapping into the vast troves of company intelligence, organisations can quickly accelerate beyond their nearest competitors," says Dick. "Organisations that view IT holistically can enable greater productivity, drive new revenue opportunities and unleash growth potential," he concludes.

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