A large majority of executives find it difficult to make decisions around data and analytics, even though almost all of them consider it to be important to their business.
This was one of the biggest findings from a recent KPMG Capital survey which reveals a stark disconnect between C-suite executives who realise the value of big data, but are unsure of how to effectively implement and manage their existing resources.
KPMG Capital interviewed 144 CFOs and CIOs from multinational companies with annual revenues of $1 billion or more. It discovered that 75% of executives find it difficult to make decisions around data and analytics though 99% consider it vital to their business.
"We live in an increasingly data-driven world where data and analytics have the potential to revolutionise the way we conduct and manage business operations across the entire enterprise," says Mark Toon, CEO of KPMG Capital.
"From CEOs, to CFOs, CIOs and CMOs, the challenge for today's executive is, understanding how to draw actionable insights from data and turn them into tangible, genuine results. This report demonstrates not only the hunger to harness new data and analytics capabilities, but also the greater level of support that's needed to operationalise these insights."
"Equally, in Africa, advances in technology and the accessibility to data, means that organisations can now do more," says Frank Rizzo, Africa lead for KPMG's data and analytics practice.
"The success of M-Pesa, a mobile payment solution in Kenya, is a great example of how technology can be used to unlock significant value for users and businesses alike. It is the same with 'big data'. Now that organisations have access to so much data, they must determine how to use it in a transformative way. Fortunately, in Africa, many organisations are not burdened by massive legacy systems like those in the developed nations which must now grapple with adapting their systems and processes to take advantage of the move to data and analytics," Rizzo explains.
New approaches
In November 2013, KPMG International unveiled KPMG Capital to accelerate innovation in data and analytics services and solutions. The company says with the vast majority of executives (85%) struggling to accurately analyse and interpret their existing data, it is time for business executives to consider new approaches to data and analytics.
Additional survey findings included: 80% of executives agree speed is a key benefit of using data and analytics; and 69% consider data and analytics to be crucially or very important to their current growth plans.
While the majority of respondents (56%) changed their business strategy to meet the challenges of big data, 42% of executives admit integrating data technology into existing systems and/or business models is their greatest challenge.
More than half of all respondents (54%) identified their greatest barrier to implementing a successful data and analytics strategy was an inability to identify what data to collect. Some 85% consider their biggest challenge with analytics to be implementing the right solution to analyse and interpret data.
"Similarly, in Africa, organisations are grappling with the issue of what data to collect and how to extract the value out of that data," says Rizzo. "But skills development is by far the biggest challenge facing organisations on the continent."
"In South Africa educational institutions have started to develop courses around data science but we will only see the benefit of this in years to come," explains Rizzo. "Right now decision-makers in boardrooms must come to terms with the value of data, particularly in light of privacy legislation.
"In most of the developed markets, privacy legislation has been in place for at least 20 years but on the continent there has been very little. South Africa recently enacted the Protection of Personal Information Act. Organisations will need to factor this legislation into their planning if they wish to harness the power of data effectively."
"From social media-based analytics to predictive modelling, the available solutions are endless. And so are the applications - from risk management and cost optimisation to identifying new revenue streams. KPMG Capital is at the forefront of bringing these new insights to businesses today," says Toon.
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