In this excerpt from the 2023 State of Data and Analytics Australia and New Zealand report, we look at some sentiments from data leaders regarding their strategies, investment and architecture
In October last year, Corinium released the State of Data and Analytics, Australia and New Zealand, 2023 report. The document comprised a survey of over 150 data and analytics leaders from the region, and insights from a select few data professionals.
In this short excerpt from the full report, we briefly look at data leader sentiments around their own data strategies, and whether they feel their organisations are investing in data.
We also hear from News Corp Australia Chief Technology Officer, Data and Digital, Julian Delany, on his organisation's data journey
Organisations looking to manage and derive value from data and analytics undoubtedly need to cultivate a certain degree of maturity. Data leaders and their teams need to be equipped with well-developed data strategies and enjoy support from their organisations to rise to the occasion of delivering quality insights at scale.
It is positive then, that 80% of surveyed data and analytics leaders agree that their organisation has a ‘well-defined data strategy’. Of those, 19% ‘Strongly Agree’, while 61% simply ‘Agree’ with the proposition. This leaves 17% of respondents ‘Uncertain’ while 3% ‘Disagree’ that their organisation’s data strategy is well-defined.
In order to arrive at a strong and defined data strategy, News Corp Australia Chief Technology Officer, Data and Digital, Julian Delany recounts how his team built maturity as they progressed from reacting to existing business challenges, to delivering proactive solutions.
“When we really started to have a purposeful data strategy, not just a business intelligence strategy, we approached it with use-cases in mind,” he says. “We went out to the business and asked, ‘What would you like to know?’.”
“We were reacting to demand as opposed to being proactive in demand, initially. We are now at the point where we can be proactive. I wanted to solve known business challenges with our data strategy as soon as possible, knowing that it would provide a great baseline of a data strategy to then become proactive.
“You have to be patient with that, because it can take a couple of years. To that end, you need support and understanding from the CEO, which we’ve thankfully had.”
When it comes to resources, the survey results also show some positive signs. We asked data leaders to rank their agreeance with the statement ‘My organisation is investing in data and analytics’, to which a majority (69%) agreed.
A 22% portion of respondents ‘Strongly Agree’ that their organisation is investing in data and analytics, while 47% simply ‘Agree’. A quarter, 25%, of surveyed data leaders are ‘Uncertain’ on investment, while 6% ‘Disagree’ with the statement.
The influence data leaders and their strategies can have on business decisions, as well as the strength of the infrastructure they control and the level of adoption across an organisation are other important pillars in a mature and data-driven business.
When presented with the following statement: “We effectively utilise data and analytics to drive business decisions”, 82% of surveyed data and analytics leaders agree. In this confident majority, 65% ‘Agree’ and 17% ‘Strongly Agree’.
Only 15% of respondents were ‘Uncertain’ about data’s influence on business decisions here, while 3% ‘Disagree’.
Some confidence among survey respondents also extended to perceptions around their organisation’s data infrastructure.
When asked if they believe their data architecture to be ‘modern and scalable’, 59% of respondents agree. However, 28% are ‘Uncertain’ and 13% ‘Disagree’ with such a proposition.
Read the entire State of Data and Analytics Australia and New Zealand, 2023 report in full by clicking this link.
