In an economy defined by the looming threat of recession, spiralling cost of living, supply chain headaches, and geopolitical turmoil, data-driven decision making is increasingly making the difference between success and failure. By the end of 2026, worldwide spending on data and analytics is predicted to almost reach $30 billion.
A recent survey of CIOs found that data analysis was among the top five focus areas for 2024.
However, many organisations are realising that investment into data analytics tools does not automatically equate to positive results.
Adrift in a sea of data
A growing number of organisations in multiple fields are experiencing a gap between their data analytics investments and returns. New research conducted by The Drum and AAR (focused on the marketing sector) found that over half (52%) of CMOs have enormous amounts of data but don’t know what to do with it.
In 2022, a study found only 26.5% of Fortune 1000 executives felt they had successfully built a data-driven organisation. In the 2024 edition of the study, that figure rose to 48.1%. However, that still leaves over half of all companies investing, trying, and failing to make good use of their data.
Increasingly, it’s becoming apparent that the problem lies not with digital tools that analyse the data but the company cultures that make use of the results.
“The implementation of advanced tools and technologies alone will not realise the full potential of data-driven outcomes,” argues Forbes Technology Council member Emily Lewis-Pinnell. “Businesses must also build a culture that values data-driven decision-making and encourages continuous learning and adaptation.”
How to build a data-driven culture
In order to build a data-driven culture, organisations need to shift their perspective on data from a performance measurement tool to a strategic guide for making commercial decisions. Achieving this goal requires top-down accountability, with buy-in from senior stakeholders. Without buy-in, data remains an underutilised tool rather than a cultural mindset.
Additionally, siloed metrics lead to conflicting results, hindering effective decision-making and throwing even good data-driven results into doubt. Taking a unified data perspective enables organisations to trust their data, which makes people more likely to view analytics as a valuable resource when making decisions.
In the marketing sector, there’s a great deal of attention paid to the process of presenting data as a narrative rather than just statistics. Good storytelling around data insights helps various departments ingest and align with the results, in turn resulting in more stakeholder buy-in. This doesn’t happen as much outside of marketing and other soft-skill-forward industries, and it should. Finding ways to humanise data will make it easier to incorporate it into a company’s culture.
- Data & AI
- Digital Strategy
- People & Culture
