Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 49 | Page 24

TRENDING “ A SMART APPROACH TO DATA AND A DATA LITERATE CULTURE WILL GUIDE THE WAY FOR SUCCESSFUL DIGITALISATION. departments across an organisation, the world of business is quickly becoming the world of analytics. A smart approach to data and a data literate culture will guide the way for successful digitalisation.” Abboud Ghanem, Senior Director – Middle East and Africa at Alteryx, said: “There is no doubt that data is key in driving business success in the minds of businesses across the UAE. Every data worker, regardless of technical acumen, wants to be able to easily find and understand what information is at their disposal; have the flexibility to prep, blend, enhance and analyse data from more sources; and easily operationalise analytic models through a collaborative and governed platform. “At Alteryx, we will continue to make the Alteryx Platform easier to use for all data workers, while extending its ability to handle more sophisticated data science outcomes for trained data statisticians in order to create an analytics-centric culture across almost every industry and functional areas of business.” Data is permeating every part of business and is key to success • With over three quarters of survey respondents (79%) agreeing that data is a critical corporate asset for driving the business forward it’s clear that businesses are taking advantage of what seems to be insurmountable data sources across industries and internal functions. • When it comes to where businesses are in their analytical journey, almost two thirds (62%) of UAE businesses class themselves in the advanced stages of their analytic journeys. • For those businesses leveraging data for insights over two fifths (41%) report the major business benefit as increased productivity, followed by over one third (36%) citing they gained better insight into customers, and over one third (34%) stating the ability to make savings and efficiencies for ‘my department or organisation’. • Businesses are also seeing soft benefits increase. Over three quarters (79%) agreed that using data analytics has helped break down internal silos. Respondents cited improved employee analytics and the key technology enablers to demonstrate how a smart approach to data guides the way to successful digitisation. Alan Jacobson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Alteryx, said: “The business case for data has truly been acknowledged. While many are still balancing data inefficiencies with the challenge of a shortage of skilled data workers, this latest research from Alteryx underscores that investing in data and analytics alone won’t deliver real business-altering results. “Whether performing precision marketing to improve sales or analysing data from various 24 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com