Most US businesses say business analytics a future goal, not present reality

Two-thirds of large US companies believe they need to improve their analytical capabilities and only half believe they are spending enough on business analytics, according to findings of an Accenture survey released today. 

To gauge the challenges related to business analytics adoption and the anticipated future investments in information management systems to garner advanced data analysis capabilities, Accenture conducted a quantitative online survey in July of 2008 of 254 executives with the title of manager or higher at companies with reported revenue of more than $500 million in calendar year 2007. 

Respondents were from a variety of industries, with those working in education, government, or non-profit or trade associations excluded.  The survey was part of the ongoing work of Accenture Information Management Services, which is focused on integrating and managing all the diverse information assets necessary to plan and run a high-performance organization.

The survey  is the basis of a report, ''Competing Through Business Analytics,'' which studied companies' use of and investment in analytics to remain competitive.
 
While more than half (57 per cent) of companies surveyed said they don't have a beneficial, consistently updated enterprise-wide analytical capability, nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) said they are working to increase their company's business analytics usage.   

''These findings show that business analytics prowess will be a high priority in the boardroom in 2009 and beyond,'' said Royce Bell, chief executive officer of Accenture Information Management Services.

Bell says, ''While executives understand that companies with enterprise-wide business analytics have an advantage over those still relying on nebulous sources to make decisions, they face institutional challenges to reforming their processes across the board.  Leading organisations are moving from a siloed approach to more inclusive information management programs that work across the entire company.''