Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 49 | Page 25

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// satisfaction (41%) as a benefit of using data. Overall two in five (40%) said that analytics improved work-life balance and are able to better balance their lives after embracing data in their role. Businesses can’t win in analytics without the human element • With digital skills classed as a major priority for businesses, over four in five (83%) agree that everything they are investing in data and analytics is useless without people who understand it. • Proving that businesses simply cannot proceed to tackle the technical challenges existing in a data-driven industry without the right workforce, more than two fifths (41%) reported that it was easier to access the talent needed to manage analytics than last year, while almost one in three (32%) have a team of dedicated data scientists for all their analytics work. • Only one in five businesses reported that a talent shortage prevented them from becoming a data-driven business. • Those who are leveraging data report several key factors that they still need to overcome in order to be more efficient. When allocating time to performing impactful data analysis, one in three (33%) cite data quality as a big TRENDING challenge to building a data pipeline for the business, followed by almost one third (30%) stating a lack of strong data governance is a major contributing factor to wasted time that could have been spent assembling insights. A culture of data and analytics is needed to transform data into actionable insights • When it comes to the building blocks for their Digital Transformation initiatives, over four in five (81%) agree that empowering people is the key to Digital Transformation. • Stressing that empowering employees to affect business-change with data will enable them to succeed in their Digital Transformation initiatives, over one third (35%) state a culture of data and analytics will be the biggest game changer for analytics success while two fifths (40%) state they need more focus on employee skills and talent to drive transformation. • Businesses are starting to build this culture to derive value out of their data, as almost one third (30%) have a clear enablement strategy based around community, training and tools that drives our data analytics usage and over one quarter (29%) hold regular data workshops to inspire data workers to Alan Jacobson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Alteryx generate insights as part of our data analytics strategy. • In an increasingly data-driven world, over two thirds (70%) of respondents agree that data is so valuable that it’s become a new currency, and the same number agree data progression is also key to career progression. Technology can be an enabler or constraint to data analytics success • Proving data will always be at the forefront and one of the most important drivers of success and true digital disruption, businesses across the UAE reported the top three technology enablers having the greatest impact on their business today as data and analytics (42%), Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (36%) and Blockchain (33%). • Technology can also be a constraint to a data-driven business. When asked which key technology enablers they are prioritising investment in within the next five years to support a variety of initiatives for data analytics success, almost one third cited data and analytics (32%), just ahead of Blockchain (28%) and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (27%). • UAE businesses anticipate the biggest technology game-changers for data analytics success within the next five years to include: self-service analytics (31%), augmented data discovery (27%) and explainable AI (27%). n www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 25