All posts by Erin Haselkorn
Organizations everywhere are looking to do more with their data assets, as well as better leverage open data and third party data sources for additional consumer insight. The good news is that there is no shortage of information available. The bad news is that wrangling and making sense of all that information can be very challenging. That is why we see 61 percent of U.S. companies stating inaccurate data is undermining their ability to provide an excellent customer experience. However, there is a new breed of data professionals trying to change all that. New talent is coming into organizations looking to unlock the power of data to transform business operations and better serve clients. Businesses everywhere are eager to bring on these data professionals; to the point it is creating a frenzy around data staffing. If you are looking to hire new data professionals, you are certainly not alone. According to a new Experian Data Quality report, Investing in Digital Transformation: This Year’s Most Sought-After Data Roles, businesses are hiring a mix of business- and regulation-focused data positions. Below is a chart showing the top roles being hired according to U.S. respondents and also c-level executives specifically: There are a few key roles I want to highlight. First, data analysts. They are the most sought-after data role by U.S. organizations, mainly because they are so versatile. They are individuals placed across departments to analyze data in such a way that it can be used for business intelligence. 57% percent of businesses spend a majority of their time analyzing data, and this role is key to ensuring they’re getting the right results. The most important role for c-level executives is the chief data officer (CDO). The CDO has seen a lot of hype in the past few years and at this point we are seeing more general adoption of the role. This individual is responsible for developing and implementing an information strategy, which includes disciplines like data security, governance, quality, and management. They also will oversee a team of data professionals who bridge the gap between the business and IT. We have more research on this role in particular coming out next month, but they will often shape cross-functional data organizations and how well businesses can achieve the data insight they desire. In general, with all of these roles, talent shortages are a problem. Relative to demand, very few experienced individuals exist on the market. This means organizations need to come up with creative ways to attract and maintain this talent to keep up with the changing business landscape. For more information on these and other data roles, download a copy of our new report: Investing in digital transformation: This year’s most sought-after data roles. Download the complete \"The Year\'s Most Sought-After Data Roles\" report.
Today we are living in a world of data. It is everywhere, affecting many aspects of not only how our businesses are run, but our individual lives. It is growing in value and becoming more significant with each year. When used correctly, it has the potential to make positive changes. The challenge is that while data is everywhere, we don’t always trust it. While many businesses today say that data is driving new opportunities around increasing revenue and better serving their clients, the level of accuracy within their data is lacking. According to new Experian Data Quality research, less than half of organizations globally trust their data to make important business decisions. That level of doubt is causing 52% of organizations to rely on educated guesses or gut feelings to make decisions based on their data. That lack of clarity is causing businesses to not only operate with less efficiency, but 73% of c-level executives indicate that inaccurate data is undermining their ability to provide an excellent customer experience. While many are making strides to try to improve the quality of data and the trust level, they are often hindered by departmental silos and a lack of consistency across data sources. Much of that comes down to basic communication and an ability to talk about data. Departments lack understanding of how information is used across an organization or what the true impact is of poor data. In my discussions across the industry, it is clear that data lacks a consistent, meaningful language. We tend to focus on the level of pure accuracy levels, rather than the effect to the business or the customer. Data strategies need to more closely relate to defined business goals, outcomes and use cases, rather than just a data policy that sits within a vacuum. In the year ahead, we expect that many businesses will make strides within their data management programs and improve the quality of data. However, for those programs to be successful, they need to tie to broader business objectives. In those instances, developing more trusted data will certainly pay off. To learn more, check out the new global data management benchmark report.
As many organizations look to turn data into actionable insight, a high degree of inaccurate information is limiting data insight and negatively impacting the bottom line. This is according to a new Experian Data Quality released today.
On average, U.S. organizations believe 32 percent of their data is inaccurate, a 28 percent increase over last year’s figure of 25 percent. This high degree of inaccurate information causes 91 percent of respondents to believe revenue is affected by inaccurate data in terms of wasted resources, lost productivity, or wasted marketing and communications spend.