The Analytics Gap
Importance is Understood, but Enterprises Fall Short Putting
Analytics to Work.
This is confirmed in a recent survey by IDG Research
Services, where at least seven out of 10 respondents
said better planning and forecasting (77 percent),
improving customer loyalty/retention (75 percent),
and identifying cost drivers (71 percent) are very, if
not critically, important business outcomes. Also, 68
percent of respondents report they rely heavily on
analytics and reporting capabilities to improve planning and forecasting for their business.
Assessing the Environment
While IT leaders clearly understand the benefits associated with an analytics-based business environment,
the survey also highlights a disconnect between
understanding the importance and actual practice.
“People have no problem utilizing analytics on a small
scale, but they are not sure how you go about doing
it or what level of resource investment is required
to make it a success on a large scale,” says David
Wiseman, director of business development with
Sybase, an SAP Company and a leading provider of
specialty analytic database solutions. “There are also
concerns around whether or not the organization has
the correct skillset, which is understandable since no
one wants to sign up for something they are not sure
they can deliver on. The third is the cultural implication upon the organization. Decision-making has a
traditional or historical component, so saying that you
are going to change can cause waves.”
As with any opportunity, organizations face challenges when making an investment in this area.
According to the research, cost as well as inadequate
staffing and skills for big data analytics systems are
the biggest hurdles for current analytics and reporting
approaches. Budget restrictions also surfaced as a
challenge.
Meeting Expectations
Regardless of the obstacles, the key to achieving anticipated results is to start with an architecture capable
of meeting all of these needs and requirements vs.
something that is specialized to meet each individual
need. This is where a well-designed specialty analytics
database excels, explains Wiseman.
“It will allow you to embed predictive modeling and
analytics into the database vs. setting up a separate
system. It will also allow you to bring in unstructured
information including documents, text and Web information into one repository,” he says. “You can have
the best front-end system available, but without a
dependable engine you won’t go anywhere.”
Bottom Line: Although a disconnect between understanding and reality exists today, there is hope. With
a well-planned approach and a willingness to grow
with support from proven leaders, an analytics-fuelled
environment can become a reality in most any organization. “This can seem like a very complicated process
using very advanced technologies,” he says. “However,
systems have evolved to a point where it is actually
something manageable where all types of organizations across all industries can achieve success.”
To learn more about proven best practices needed to
close the gap, more research results as well as the benefits of pairing a well-designed, specialty analytic database
with your frontend tools, download the whitepaper at
www.computerworld.com/sapsybase.
