Nine in ten businesses will be using data analytics by 2020

Analysis

The majority of organisations will have adopted data analytics by 2020, in an effort to obtain more valuable business insights and help them meet their objectives, a report by Forrester, commissioned by Atos, has revealed.

The company questioned 580 business and IT leaders from 11 verticals worldwide, discovering that 90% of companies will be using data-driven business insights over the next three years.

According to Atos' research, 40% of businesses are already using data analytics in their key business functions and by next year, this will increase to 70%.

However, there are still barriers preventing some companies from using data analytics to deliver better insights, the company said.

Four in ten respondents explained that because they anticipate their data will increasingly be unstructured they are unsure of the benefits, while 35% are concerned about traditional siloed data practices.

"The pace at which an organisation benefits from data analytics is determined as much by business issues as by technology," Ursula Morgenstern, Atos ESVP for business and platform solutions.

Business leaders said their priorities for the next year are to improve IT's relationship with the rest of the organisation and rearrange their IT departments to be better aligned with overall business objectives.

A quarter of companies said better leveraging big data and analytics in business decision making was a critical business priority, while 41% said it was a high priority. Improving the business' ability to innovate and growing revenues were still the top priorities though.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.