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The global state of enterprise analytics 2018: How cloud, big data and AI are key to the future

  • 71% of enterprises globally predict their investments in data and analytics will accelerate in the next three years and beyond
  • 57% of enterprises globally have a Chief Data Officer, a leadership role that is pivotal in helping to democratise data and analytics across any organisation
  • 52% of enterprises are leveraging advanced and predictive analytics today to provide greater insights and contextual intelligence into operations
  • 41% of all enterprises are considering a move to cloud-based analytics in the next year
  • Cloud computing (24%), big data (20%), and AI/machine learning (18%) are the three technologies predicted to have the greatest impact on analytics over the next five years
  • Just 16% of enterprises have enabled at least 75% of their employees to have access to company data and analytics

These and many other fascinating insights are from MicroStrategy’s latest research study, 2018 Global State of Enterprise Analytics Report.  You can download a copy here (PDF, 44 pp., opt-in). The study is based on surveys completed in April 2018 with 500 globally-based enterprise analytics and business intelligence professionals on the state of their organisations’ analytics initiatives across 20 industries. Participants represented organisations with 250 to 20,000 employees worldwide from five nations including Brazil, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. For additional details on the methodology, please see the study here. The study’s results underscore how enterprises need to have a unified data strategy that reflects their growth strategies and new business models’ information needs.

Key takeaways from the study include the following:

Driving greater process and cost efficiencies (60%), strategy and change (57%) and monitoring and improving financial performance (52%) are the top three ways enterprises globally are using data and analytics today

The study found that enterprises are also relying on data and analytics to gain greater insights into how current products and services are used (51%), managing risk (50%) and attain customer growth and retention (49%). Across the five nations surveyed, Japan leads the world in the use of data and analytics to drive process and cost efficiencies (65%). UK-based enterprises lead all nations in their use of data and analytics to analyse how current products and services are being used.  The report provides graphical comparisons of the five nations’ results.

Cloud computing, big data, and AI/machine learning are the three technologies predicted to have the greatest global impact on analytics over the next five years

Japanese enterprises predict cloud computing will have the greatest impact on the future of analytics (28%) across the five nations’ enterprises interviewed. AI/Machine Learning is predicted to have the greatest impact on analytics in the U.K. (26%) globally as is Big Data in Germany (29%). Please see the study for country-specific prioritisation of technologies.

52% of enterprises are leveraging advanced and predictive analytics today to provide greater insights and contextual intelligence into operations

Additional leverage areas include distribution of analytics via e-mail and collaboration tools (49%), analytics embedded in other apps including Salesforce (44%) and mobile productivity apps (39%). Japanese enterprises lead the world in their adoption of advanced and predictive analytics (60%). German enterprises lead the world in the adoption of analytics for collaboration via e-mail and more real-time data and knowledge-sharing methods (50%).

59% of enterprises are using big data analytics, leading all categories of intelligence applications 

Enterprise reporting (47%), data discovery (47%), mobile productivity apps (44%) and embedded apps (42%) are the top five intelligence applications in use globally by enterprises today. Big Data’s dominance in the survey results can be attributed to the top five industries in the sampling frame is among the most prolific in data generation and use. Manufacturing (15%) is the most data-prolific industry on the planet. Additional industries that generate massive amounts of data dominate the survey’s demographics including software technology-based businesses (14%), banking (13%), retail (11%), and financial services/business services (6%).

27% of global enterprises prioritise security over any other factor when evaluating a new analytics vendor

The three core attributes of a scalable, comprehensive platform, ease of use, and a vendor’s products having an excellent reputation are all essential. Enterprises based in four of the five nations also prioritise security as the most critical success factor they evaluate potential analytics vendors to do business with. Enterprise scalability is most important in the U.S., with 26% of enterprises interviewed saying this is the most important priority in evaluating a new analytics vendor.

Data privacy and security concerns (49%) is the most formidable barrier enterprises face in gaining more effective use of their data and analytics

Enterprises from four of the five nations say data privacy and security are the most significant barrier they face in getting more value from analytics. In Japan, the greatest barrier is access limited to data across the organisation (40%).

41% of all enterprises globally are considering a move to the cloud in the next year

64% of U.S.-based enterprises are considering moving to a cloud-based analytics platform or solution in the next year. The U.S. leads enterprises from all five nations in planned cloud-based analytics cloud adoption as the graphic below illustrates.