Johannesburg, 03 Oct 2022
Big data is big business. According to the latest data, the global big data and analytics market is worth an eye-watering $274 billion, a 62% increase since 2018. Another study found that investments in big data cost savings have quadrupled since 2019.
The explosion in data sources over the past decade has contributed to a big data market where an estimated 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created daily.
Harnessing this data can bring huge benefits to organisations of all sizes. Effective use of data and analytics can lead to improved productivity, greater efficiency, better and faster decision-making and stronger financial performance.
Data leaders utilise large data sets and powerful analytics and processing capabilities to develop new products and services, meet customer needs and drive innovation.
Just take Netflix: its recommendation algorithm influences 80% of all content watched on its platform, leading to a claimed saving of $1 billion.
However, not every business is enjoying the benefits of the golden age of data. A lack of data literacy is undermining the delivery of benefits and efficiency gains to organisations.
Data literacy gap undermining data outcomes
An Accenture study found that three-quarters of C-level executives believed all or most of their employees are proficient at using data. The same study revealed only 21% of employees felt the same.
The data literacy gap can lead to new data tools and capabilities going unused or under-utilised, reducing the ROI of data activities and leaving the organisation with less agility and impaired decision-making.
Data literacy levels are persistently low. Studies have shown that data-literate employees account for only 21% of the global workforce. In the US, it's 28%, 17% in the UK and 20% in Australia.
Organisations striving to acquire data-driven decision-making capabilities must therefore focus on data literacy as an enabler of wider adoption of new data tools and a means to ensure value is realised from data initiatives.
Five ways to boost data literacy
How can organisations improve data literacy among employees and support the success of data initiatives? Data-driven organisations use the following methods to ensure end-users can harness the power of data tools to improve their job functions and make better decisions:
1. Empower your data champions
Some employees will naturally adopt data tools and try to maximise their use in their day-to-day jobs. These data champions can make invaluable contributions to data strategies and help drive data literacy among other employees.
Identify the strong data leaders in your organisation – preferably from a cross-section of departments and roles – and empower them to drive data literacy throughout the organisation.
2. Drive data literacy from the top down
When seeking data champions, don't forget the C-suite. Organisational change efforts are far more likely to succeed when supported from the top down.
Secure the support of an executive sponsor for any new data initiative and utilise their influence to power the implementation of new data tools. If there is clear ownership of various data literacy programmes, it is far more likely that such programmes will enjoy the support and momentum needed to make lasting positive change within the organisation.
3. Build a data-first culture
No amount of shiny new data tools will power change in the business if employees and decision-makers still rely on outdated tools – or 'gut instinct' – to make important choices regarding the future of the business. Building a culture of data-centricity will help put data literacy front and centre for all layers of the organisation.
One way to encourage this is to make data a compulsory part of decision-making. For example, when a business case is put forward for a new project or initiative, ask: "What data is available to support this?" Then interrogate the sources, stress-test assumptions and identify further data needed to confidently make the best possible decision.
4. Invest in ongoing training
Too many digital transformation and data initiatives fail because of insufficient or lacking change management. Ensuring employees have access to regular, ongoing training opportunities on how to use data tools will provide a huge boost to the success of data initiatives.
Establish an internal centre of excellence that promotes learning and drives collaboration between departments and teams. Utilise third-party resources – for example, from data solutions providers or vendors – and ensure regular and effective skills transfer between the more experienced data users and their less experienced peers.
5. Measure, adapt, improve
It seems an obvious point to make, but too many data initiatives fail simply because it's hard to measure how successful they are. Guessing how well employees are adopting and utilising data tools is not a smart strategy.
The old adage: "If you can measure it, you can manage it" applies. Carefully vet your data sources to ensure relevance and accuracy. Ensure data is accurate and complete, and that data covers all the business processes where you need to drive improvements.
Then use regular check-ins and employee experience tools to measure how employees perceive the data tools, which aspects they struggle with and where they're finding the most success. This can guide ongoing training efforts and help ensure every user can develop their data literacy based on their own levels of understanding and adoption.
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