A cultural shift in attitudes to analytics will be essential for businesses to compete in the age of digital transformation,…

A cultural shift in attitudes to analytics will be essential for businesses to compete in the age of digital transformation, *research has revealed. 

A quarter of the 500 professionals surveyed by MHR Analytics said resistance from senior management was preventing their company from adopting analytics, suggesting that many could be left behind as their forward-thinking competitors advance.

A further 23 percent said their company’s traditional reliance on manual spreadsheets was holding them back from taking advantage of widely available technology.

The survey of finance and technology professionals working in large UK organisations was conducted by MHR Analytics and Censuswide to understand the barriers some companies face in progressing their analytics capabilities, and their technological aspirations for the coming decade. 

Internationally acclaimed AI expert Bernard Marr and MHR Analytics have released a guide entitled “Advancing with Analytics: Spreadsheets to AI,” to help break down these barriers.

It includes practical tips and examples from a range of organisations that have managed to move away from error-prone spreadsheets and adopt more sophisticated analytics, and even artificial intelligence (AI).

“For me, the examples in the guide demonstrate how the data maturity journey is about taking manageable steps, rather than huge leaps,” said Marr.

“From better planning and decision making, to smoother operations and automated processes, data analytics fuels business improvements. Yet, for the average business, adopting advanced analytics techniques like AI is never going to be an overnight shift,” he said.

“Adopting more advanced analytics can seem like a mammoth, unachievable task. That’s why I prefer to think of analytics as a journey, with analytics techniques gradually becoming more advanced as you progress further along the road.”

“A business advances on this journey one stage at a time, gradually meeting more and more business needs through data analytics.”

“Progressing to planning analytics – stage three of the data maturity journey – tends to be a key milestone for most businesses, since this is the stage that bridges the gap between basic reporting and more exciting, forward-looking technologies. Therefore, I have placed more emphasis on planning analytics in the guide than the other four phases,” he added.

Other barriers to advancing analytics revealed in the MHR Analytics survey included a perceived lack of skills within organisations, siloed working practices and concerns about data quality, data protection and security.

In addition to Marr’s Spreadsheets to AI guide, MHR Analytics has also provided a data maturity quiz to help organisations find out where they are on the data journey and receive free tailored advice about how to progress with analytics to remain competitive.

Ranked by LinkedIn as one of the world’s top five business influencers, Bernard Marr regularly contributes to the World Economic Forum and is a strategic business and technology advisor to businesses and companies around the globe.

Ends.

*The survey of 500 UK finance and technology professionals employed by large UK companies was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of MHR Analytics in August 2019.

About MHR Analytics

MHR Analytics is a specialist provider of business intelligence, analytics and financial performance management.

The MHR Analytics team enables businesses to capitalise on the data available to them, to identify opportunities and prepare for the future – whatever stage of the data journey they are on.

With an end-to end-suite of quality solutions from IBM, SAP, Tagetik and Microsoft, MHR Analytics supports customers to go beyond intuition and act based on real evidence.

The growing business has been established for 10 years and has a presence in eight countries and more than 20 different private and public sectors, with a proven track record of over 750 successful implementations. Customers include Admiral Group, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Edinburgh Napier University and Loughborough University.

mhranalytics.com    

Related Stories

We believe in a personal approach

By working closely with our customers at every step of the way we ensure that we capture the dedication, enthusiasm and passion which has driven change within their organisations and inspire others with motivational real-life stories.