Find out What Businesses Around the World are Doing to Turn Data into Capital

DATA MASTERY: THE DRIVER OF GLOBAL REVENUE Businesses around the world are trying to figure out how to turn data into capital

IN COLLABORATION WITH

GAINING THE DIGITAL ADVANTAGE

©2015 WSJ. Custom Studios, a unit of The Wall Street Journal Advertising Department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.


Introduction & Methodology Data is now a form of capital. Organizations can use the massive amounts of business information they collect to raise revenue with new products, services and ways to work. But they need help. And they know it.

WSJ. Custom Studios in collaboration with Oracle set out to understand the unique challenges several key industries face when dealing with data. In an Ipsos North America Market Research survey, we queried 742 executives around the world about the opportunities big data presents and the journey companies are taking to benefit from them.

Respondent Profile Corporate Titles › 7% Owner/Partner

› 4% President/CEO/COO

› 20% CIO/CTO/CFO

› 46% General Manager/Managing Director/VP

Company Size › Average $372MM in annual revenue

› Average 3.915 employees

Respondent’s Employment by Industry

Man

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Car

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Sci

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harm

aceu

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Fina

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Tele

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Whether it’s from clinical drug trials, social media conversations or customer purchase records, organizations have evermore data to manage and translate into insights.

Key Findings

96% have seen an increase in data in the past two years. Close to a quarter have seen the data volume double during that period.

86% consider the ability to garner insight from business a top three priority. For 32%, it’s the #1 item.

81% plan to expand their business analyst team. That means more staff to parse data and put it to good use.


The Bottom Line

> Lack of preparation costs money.

98%of industry executives believe they are losing revenue as a result of not effectively managing and leveraging business information.

> Industry-specific applications are a key element to improving the ability to translate data into insight.


Several years into the data explosion, companies continue to be overwhelmed. Only 6% of senior management across all industries feel completely prepared for continued data growth — data that will come from a variety of sources.

Predicted Data Growth

WHERE DATA WILL COME FROM THE NEXT 2 YEARS (EST.)External

Data Sources

Internal Data Sources

Social

Media

Market

Data

Customer

Information

Sales/

Marketing

Operations Finance Service/

Support

Research &

Development

Regulatory

Management

Manufacturing/

Supply Chain

27% 25%

32%29%

27%

21% 21% 20% 18%15%

Q: In what areas have you seen biggest increases in variety and volume in the last two years? In the next two years?


Biggest Challenges

Our systems are not designed to

meet the specific needs of our

industry.

Information is no longer timely when our business

managers receive it.

Business managers need

to rely on IT to compile

and analyze information.

Don’t have the right systems in place to gather the information

we need.

Can’t make sense of the data we

have, or translate into actionable

insights.

37% 32% 31% 28% 28%

85% of industry executives use software built for their specific needs. Still, inefficient systems and lack of timeliness pose significant obstacles. (It’s difficult to make good decisions with out-of-date and incomplete information.)

Q: What are your biggest gripes in terms of your organization’s current ability to manage and draw operational insight from information?


Industry-Specific Software Is Essential

84% rank these applications as essential or important to their operations.

85% of industry executives use software built for their specific needs.

ManufacturingRetail Health Care/ Life Sciences/

Pharmaceuticals

Financial Services/ Insurance

72%91% 91% 90% 88% 78%Utilities Telecommunications

Q: Does your organization use industry-specific applications/software to help you to run your business and leverage your business? Q: How important are these applications to your operations? Ranked 4 or 5 out of 5 where 5 is critical.


More Investment ProjectedAlmost all (98%) of the industry executives surveyed plan investments to improve information optimization over the next two years. They’re investing in:

Technology infrastructure

(e.g., databases, middleware)

Business intelligence

tools/analyticsBusiness

applicationsIndustry-specific

applicationsHardware (e.g., servers, storage)

53% 48% 44% 43% 43%

Q: Looking ahead, what IT infrastructure, systems or solutions will your organization invest in to help improve information optimization over the next two years?


Data Mining Is Mission Critical

Garnering insight from data is a top three priority for 87% of manufacturing executives.

Sales and marketing data jumped 43% over the last two years, more than any other industry. Unsurprisingly, social media (25%) is gaining ground.

MANUFACTURING

40%

of manufacturing executives say that garnering

insight from data is their #1 priority,

the highest of measured industries.

Q: Where does the ability to draw intelligence from data rank in terms of your organization’s priorities? Q: In what areas have you seen biggest increases in variety and volume in the last two years? In the next two years?


48%Nearly half complain that their systems are not designed to meet their specific needs, higher than any other industry.

26%Can’t find data once its collected, a bigger gripe for retail than other industries.

Although more than three-quarters of retail executives say they are planning to expand their analyst team, this is well below average.

78%

Data on the RiseRETAIL

Retailers expect data growth in the next two years to come primarily from:

Highestvs.

otherindustries

Social Media 42%

Sales and Marketing 41%

Customer Information 38%

Q: In what areas have you seen biggest increases in variety and volume in the last two years? In the next two years? Q: For the coming year, which of the following best describes your organization’s plans regarding your business analyst team? Q: What are your biggest gripes in terms of your organization’s current ability to manage and draw operational insight from information?


Data WarriorsTelecommunications executives rate their organizations highly effective in nearly every aspect of data management. They also place a high priority on drawing intelligence from data.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

rank analyzing data their #1

priority, second to manufacturing

at 40%

39%

feel that data doesn’t reach

business managers promptly, the

highest percentage of any industry

43%

plan to expand business analyst

teams, tied for first with

manufacturing

89%

Q: Where does the ability to draw intelligence from data rank in terms of your organization’s priorities? Q: What are your biggest gripes in terms of your organization’s current ability to manage and draw operational insight from information? Q. For the coming year, which of the following best describes your organization’s plans regarding your business analyst team?


Trying to Make Sense of Data

This sector isn’t satisfied with its ability to translate information into actionable insights. Executives also say they lack the right systems to gather the information they need.

use industry-specific applications — above-average (the average is 85%), yet utilities rank last in rating these apps business-critical.

plan to expand their business analyst team over the coming year, less than manufacturing and telecommunications but more than the other industries.

use an outside organization to host and manage business-critical information, second only to financial services/insurance.

88%

83%

64%

UTILITIES

Q: Does your organization use industry-specific applications/software to help you to run your business and leverage your business? Q: How important are these applications to your operations? Ranked 4 or 5 out of 5 where 5 is critical. Q: For the coming year, which of the following best describes your organization’s plans regarding your business analyst team? Q: Please think about your organization’s use of outside organizations to manage your business critical information (such as cloud services), which statement most closely fits with your organization’s use?


Least Likely to Succeed?HEALTH CARE/LIFE SCIENCES/ PHARMACEUTICALS

Respondents in health care, life sciences and pharmaceuticals have few “gripes” compared with other industries, which might explain why they’re least likely to be aggressive about data.

Lowerthanother

industries

Compared to 41% for telecoms

73% plan to expand their analyst team

72%use industry-specific applications

62%have seen dataflow more than double in the last two years

Q: From your perspective, how much more business information is your organization collecting and managing today than it did two years ago, across all business areas? Q: For the coming year, which of the following best describes your organization’s plans regarding your business analyst team? Q: Does your organization use industry-specific applications/software to help you to run your business and leverage your business?


Data Doubles DownFINANCIAL SERVICES/INSURANCE

Financial services and insurance executives have a high propensity to use industry-specific applications to leverage business information.

Highestvs.

otherindustries

Use outside services such as the cloud to host and manage at least some business-critical information.

66%

Can’t give business managers access to the information they need; they rely on IT to compile and analyze information.

Systems aren’t designed to meet the specific needs of their industry.

33%

31%Lowest

vs.other

industries

Highestvs.

otherindustries

Q: Please think about your organization’s use of outside organizations to manage your business critical information (such as cloud services), which statement most closely fits with your organization’s use? Q: What are your biggest gripes in terms of your organization’s current ability to manage and draw operational insight from information?


Around the World: APAC

83% of executives in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region put the ability to garner insight from business data on their list of priorities. Helps explain why nearly all (99%) plan to make additional technology investments over the next two years, primarily in:

Tech infrastructure

55%

Business intelligence tools

and analytics

53%

Industry-specific applications

51%

Hardware investments

49%

Q: Looking ahead, what IT infrastructure, systems or solutions will your organization invest in to help improve information optimization over the next two years?


Around the World: EMEA

Nearly half (43%) of executives in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region say the volume of business information acquired has grown by more than half relative to two years ago. Some believe they are prepared to handle more data; others have doubts.

55% of organizations feel their companies are relatively well-prepared for a data doubling

44% believe they are not

Another gap:

39% feel confident in safeguarding data

19% feel their organization is highly effective in translating business information into actionable intelligence

Q: Say the amount of information your organization collects suddenly doubled, how prepared is your organization to manage this kind of potential information deluge? Q: On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is poor and 10 is excellent, how would you rate your organization’s effectiveness in the following areas? — Securing/safeguarding data. Translating information into actionable intelligence.


Around the World: North America

Executives are concerned about how well their organizations manage and draw operational insight from the data they already have.

The biggest areas of concern:

38% existing systems are not designed to meet their industry’s specific requirements

29% lack the right systems to gather information they need

Still, 61% have increased their usage of industry-specific tools in the past two years, and 37% plan to invest in these tools over the next two years.

Q: What are your biggest gripes in terms of your organization’s current ability to manage and draw operational insight from information?


Around the World: Latin America

99% of executives in the region consider the ability to garner insights from business data a top three priority — 100% have seen an increase in business information in the past two years, especially in:

When asked where they expect to see the biggest growth in information in the next two years, they cited financial information (43%) and operations (37%), particularly in health care where operations data is projected to grow by 48%.

Financial data

64%Operations

58%

Regulatory management

24%

Q: Where does the ability to draw intelligence from data rank in terms of your organization’s priorities? Q: In what areas have you seen biggest increases in variety and volume in the last two years? In the next two years?


Turn Data Into CapitalInvesting in data solutions, industry-specific applications, analyst teams and different types of analytics can help businesses overcome common challenges.

From Australia to the U.S., in factories and high-rise offices, competitive businesses know they need to gather, analyze and leverage data effectively to stay ahead of rivals. That’s how you turn data into capital.