Data and Analytics Progress During the Last Four Years

In the last few years, there has been an increase in the usage, volume and importance of data and analytics. This dynamic brings new opportunities and risk to organizations. Part of ISACA’s mission is to help its members mitigate risk through risk management frameworks (e.g., COBIT), certifications and training programs. One ISACA chapter created an opportunity to look into data and analytics more deeply to gain insights from practitioners and organizations.

In March 2018, the ISACA London (United Kingdom) Chapter organized an event in London to discuss data and analytics. The intent was to summarize members’ views on data and analytics, risk and benefits realized, and progress made during the last several years. The event was attended by more than 100 attendees, most of them members of the ISACA London Chapter, providing a diverse range of industry knowledge, backgrounds and professional experience.

During the event, 10 questions were put to the audience about how organizations are using data and analytics and concerns about the possible changes that may arise. These same 10 questions were asked of respondents four years ago at a similar event. While it was acknowledged that some of those questions may be outdated, organizers decided to ask the same questions to accurately assess progress.

It is worthwhile to summarize the answers the audience provided, comparing any similarities or differences between the results of the survey in 2014 and 2018 noting any key comments and thoughts raised by the audience, and summarizing predictions and practical steps for organizations in the next years.

Question 1

Is there anything new about big data (figure 1)? The response options were:

• No, there is nothing new.
• It is a fad and it will all disappear when people realize nothing has changed.
• It is new, but it is not going to change the world.
• It is going to change the world.

Result
In 2014, more than 61 percent of the audience believed that the changes brought about by big data would be significant, and drastic, short-term change would occur in organizations’ operations. In 2018, this view has not changed, as the majority of the audience still believes that big data is going to change the world. However, the size of that audience has decreased to 53 percent. Comments raised during the event indicated that changes expected in organizations are taking longer than they anticipated four years ago, and some members of the audience did not feel that their organizations had implemented specific examples or programs. Some comments from the audience indicated that the main reason for the lack of changes during the last four years is that senior management does not understand big data and how it can help the organization.

Question 2

Is big data changing your business (figure 2)? The response options were:

• No changes so far; no changes soon.
• No changes so far; there will be changes soon.
• Some changes so far, but they are minor.
• Big changes so far; more in the near future.

Result
Interestingly, the responses to this question when asked in 2018 were quite similar to those provided in 2014. Most of the people in the audience believed that there have been changes and they will continue during the coming years. Some of the comments indicated that the speed of the changes varies depending on the sector and size of the organization. The audience noted that the industry with the most changes has been financial services, in which there have been larger investments in team and infrastructure. Some members of the audience pointed out that a number of organizations or teams claim to make data-driven decisions, but, in reality, nothing has changed.

Question 3

What will stop you from embracing big data (figure 3)? The response options were:

• Skills
• Technology
• Management’s disinclination to embrace it
• Do not know where to start

Result
Skills continue to be one of the key challenges to embracing big data; however, during the last four years, organizations have partially addressed this through effective training and hiring strategies. This is evident as enterprises now have roles such as chief data officer (CDO) or chief data strategist (CDS), both roles that did not exist four years ago. The responses also identified that management disinclination is an increasingly big challenge when implementing data analytics programs. The percentage of respondents indicating so has increased drastically during the last four years.

Question 4

What do you believe is the main risk of not embracing big data (figure 4)? The response options were:

• Regulatory noncompliance
• Lose advantages against competitors
• Do not react to potential issues on time
• Miss potential opportunities

Result
It was broadly recognized that the loss of competitive advantage and missed opportunities constituted the main risk scenarios of not implementing data and analytics programs. However, when compared to 2014, the 2018 audience was more concerned with competitor risk than with missing an opportunity.

Question 5

Does your organization use data analytics tools (figure 5)? The response options were:

• No.
• Does Excel count?
• Well, we bought them, but we have not used them.
• Yes, and we use them to analyze our data.

Result
As expected, there has been an increase in the usage of data analytics tools. More than half of the audience affirmed using data analytics tools to analyze data. Some comments from the audience recognized that this is mainly due to the fact that tools and processing have become cheaper and more accessible, and open-source tools are available in the marketplace. However, in a number of cases, there were comments that these tools are managed by IT and not embedded in business processes.

Question 6

Does your organization collect social media data (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) (figure 6)? The response options were:

• No.
• Minor social media analysis. Our marketing people look at Twitter and Facebook.
• We have done some analysis of social media data.
• We regularly capture, analyze and act on social media data.

Result
The majority of the audience recognized that unstructured data (e.g., social media) are not collected or used properly for further analysis. Despite this, there has been an increase in the usage of external data sources from four years ago. Some comments from the audience reflected that their organizations are making and have made some progress, but are in the early stages of the journey.

Question 7

How do your customers feel about data issues (figure 7)? The response options were:

• They have no interest in data issues.
• They care only about privacy and security.
• They are interested in how we use and profile our data.
• I have no idea.

Result
Customer data privacy and security were key issues for the audience. The topic of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was prominent, particularly as the enforcement of the regulation began only two months after the meeting at which this survey was conducted. The main difference between 2014 and 2018 responses is the increase in customer interest around data profiling. Some examples were raised such as Netflix or Amazon, organizations that are using machine learning techniques to profile accounts to proactively suggest movies or products, minimizing customer effort and improving the user experience.

Question 8

Do you have the data you need (figure 8)? The response options were:

• No.
• Yes, but the quality is poor.
• Yes, we have a good set of data.
• Yes, we have a good set of data and we enrich it with external sources.

Result
The general consensus was that organizations are collecting more data from more sources. However, there were some concerns among the audience about the quality of the data and the impact on the results. Alongside this, respondents stated that data collected from customers differs depending on the industry. Telecommunications and financial services were identified as being the sectors that collected the most data.

Question 9

What do you think is the biggest advantage of big data (figure 9)? The response options were:

• Greater confidence in decisions
• Faster decision-making
• Richer engagement with customers
• Better regulatory compliance

Result
There has been a change in the perception within the group regarding the biggest advantage of big data. Richer engagement with customers was again identified as the most important aspect; however, respondents assigned more significant to confidence in decisions in 2018 when compared to 2014. Some examples of richer customer engagement were specifically highlighted. These included the Netflix and Amazon examples previously mentioned and some use cases from financial services.

Question 10

Where in your business do you believe that big data is going to have the biggest impact (figure 10)? The response options were:

• Finance
• Customer management/relations
• Operations
• IT management

Result
The survey respondents indicated no changes in this area during the last four years. Customer management is the area identified by the audience where analytics can have the biggest impact. Some comments from the audience indicated that depending on the nature of the division, the usage may be different (e.g., usage in technology or operations departments would be different than in marketing), but it was recognized that benefits in customer relationships would dominate.

Conclusion

Generally speaking, the audience recognized that most organizations have started their journey toward building a data analytics capability. Organizations have built stand-alone data analytics teams, and the role of CDO has been created in most large organizations. However, the speed of change is slower than expected four years ago.

The survey showed that the commercial side of the organizations is the area where these technologies have had a bigger impact. Customer management and the identification of new business opportunities have been the areas where these technologies have been implemented. This is due to the presence of a clear business need, which makes it easier to convince stakeholders.

On the other hand, the biggest concern about data and analytics programs’ implementation was customers’ data privacy. There has been a large change in data privacy regulation during the last four years. GDPR was identified as a significant piece of legislation, and it raised several concerns from senior stakeholders regarding noncompliance.

Another concern identified was that the lack of experience and skills implementing these technologies could cause data quality issues, which may lead to inaccurate analysis. To help mitigate these issues, organizations should implement controls such as reconciliations or validation tests to ensure the validity and security of information. These concerns were prevalent in both surveys.

It was also recognized that the impact of data and analytics is dependent on the nature of the organization. Larger organizations with retail customers tend to have larger databases and the value of these techniques is higher.

During the event, it was broadly recognized that the speed of building data analytics and science capabilities will be faster during the coming years, compared to previous years. Organizations have access to tools, data and processing (e.g., cloud solutions) that they did not have previously, which can provide advantages over competitors.

Some of basic practical steps mentioned during the event to successfully implement data analytics and capabilities were:

• Data quality and governance—Get the foundations right and ensure that the data quality on source systems is adequate and fulfills business expectations.
• Data warehouse/lake solutions—Value from data is maximized when enriched with other data.
• Get external help if needed—Organizations may not have the expertise needed in-house. Bringing in external help may be beneficial to set up the infrastructure and upskill employees.
• Walk before running—Prove the value of the solution on a small scale before implementing the final solution.
• Business cases for everything—Identify areas where these solutions can provide value to the business and prioritize them.

The audience recognized that even if key changes have been made, most of the changes will take place in the next few years.