SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), provider of the Data-to-Everything Platform, today announced the results of new research which explores the correlation between an organization’s use of data and its business success. The global study, “What Is Your Data Really Worth?”, quantifies the economic impact and value of data across organizations. The study found that by making better use of data, leading organizations surveyed had materially increased revenue and reduced operational costs, boosting profitability by an average of 12.5% of their total gross profit. To download the full report and the executive summary, visit the Splunk website.
The joint research study between Splunk and Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) surveyed 1,350 senior business and IT decision-makers across eight industries in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. Results found that a more advanced data strategy was tied to improved outcomes including revenue growth, operational cost reduction, increased innovation, faster time to market, higher customer satisfaction and retention, and better, faster decision making across all industries and in all countries.
The Data-to-Everything Journey: Different Stages of Data Maturity Impacts the Scale of Data Value
In addition to analyzing how organizations are saving money and growing revenue with data, the study assessed respondents’ different stages of data-maturity based on criteria such as the prevalence of modern analytics tools and skill sets and the effectiveness of the organization at operationalizing its data. Respondents were grouped into three data maturity categories:
- Stage 1: Data Deliberator- Organizations that are in the early phase of their data strategy implementation.
- Stage 2: Data Adopter- Organizations that are making good use of their data, but still have room for improvement.
- Stage 3: Data Innovator- Organizations which place the strongest strategic emphasis on data and have an advanced strategy in place to extract business value.
The study found that an organization’s stage of data use impacts its ability to not only glean insights from its data, but to convert these insights into concrete, data-driven decision-making and real-time action. All organizations reported benefits from better data use, but Data Innovators achieved considerably higher key business and economic benefits.
Relative to the Data Deliberators surveyed, Data Innovators have added 83% more revenue to their topline and 66% more profit to their bottom line in the past 12 months. The study found Data Innovators to be more likely to have a data-obsessed company culture and employ AI technologies for data analysis by acting on their data more frequently.
In addition, the study found that 97% of Data Innovators meet or exceed their customer retention targets, with the majority (60%) having actually outstripped their goals. Meanwhile, 93% feel they tend to make better, faster decisions than competitors; while 91% believe that their organization is in a strong position to compete and succeed in its markets over the next few years. However, across industries and countries, less than 11% of organizations have reached the stage of Data Innovator, demonstrating that nearly 90% still have room for improvement.
“Until now, it has been difficult for business leaders to put hard numbers around the monetary value of data,” said Doug Merritt, President and CEO, Splunk. “This first-of-its-kind study proves that a holistic and sophisticated approach to data can help any organization become a Data Innovator, outpace their competition and become business and market leaders. Splunk is proud to help our 19,000+ customers bring data to everything and re-imagine business outcomes with the data that’s already at their fingertips.”
Organizations Embracing Data Are Primed to Lead the Next Generation of Business
The study quantifies the economic impact resulting from an organization’s better data use, with significant findings across eight major industries, including:
- 89% of financial firms agree that the intelligent use of data and analytics is increasingly becoming the only source of differentiation in the financial industry.
- 65% of technology firms have increased revenue through better use of their data assets.
- 60% of retail firms have increased revenue through better use of their data assets.
- 88% of healthcare and life sciences firms agree that advancements in data analysis and correlation of different data sets will have as big an impact on health outcomes as other medical advancements.
- 55% of manufacturing and resources firms have increased revenue through better use of their data assets.
- 93% of traditional communications and media companies agree that they must use data to reinvent their services or be disrupted by alternative entertainment offerings.
- 52% of public sector agencies have reduced their cost of operations through better use of their data assets.
- 51% of higher education institutions used data to provide better and more proactive protection from cyber threats.
Organizations Who Utilize Data Outperform Their Global Peers
The study also surfaced trends related to data utilization maturity by country across APAC.
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Chinese companies demonstrate the highest level of data maturity across the region:
- 48% of Chinese companies being Data Adaptors and Data Innovators, while 45% of Australian companies and 26% of Japanese companies falling within the same categorizations.
- 74% of Japanese companies surveyed fell within the Data Deliberator category, presenting opportunity for growth across APAC.
- Companies in APAC are seeking to demystify dark data through investing in expertise in the field of Data Analytics.
- Both Chinese (59%) and Australian (64%) companies surveyed have hired Chief Data Officers/equivalents in charge of all data analytics initiatives, higher than the global average (56%).
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Across APAC, there is a strong emphasis on customer experience, with the region outperforming global respondents in terms of data and analytics being an enabler of improving customer experience (CX).
- 67% of Chinese organizations believe that CX has been improved by better data utilization, Japanese respondents shared similar sentiments with 66% responding that they were able to improve CX through better data utilization.
- Chinese companies place the highest importance on creating stellar customer experience, describing their company culture as “customer-obsessed” than ”data-obsessed.”
- 33% of Japanese companies say they bring data and analytics to all executive decision support processes – the highest percentage of respondents amongst the countries surveyed. In the region, Japan also has the highest number of businesses that require all business decisions to be validated by quantitative data, with 8% of Japanese business respondents affirming the statement.
- Chinese companies have acknowledged the importance of deciphering dark data to discover previously untapped insights, with 31% of respondents stating that uncovering and better utilizing dark data is their most important business and IT priority over the next 24 months.
- This surpasses the global average of 25% of respondents concurring with the statement.
- 74% of Australian organizations have reduced their volume of dark data over the past 12 months. This is more than any other country, showing a willingness for Australians to harness that potential and do something meaningful with it. Among companies that attribute an operational cost reduction to better data utilization, Australian organizations (3.81%) also reported the largest average decrease in costs over the past year.
These findings showcase the immense opportunity present for firms in APAC should they tap into the insights derived from dark data.
Splunk Unveils Data Maturity Calculator
To help organizations assess their stage of data use, Splunk today launched its new Data Maturity Calculator. The free, web-based assessment tool allows companies to discover how well their organization is maximizing the value of its data for desired business outcomes.
The Splunk Data Maturity Calculator is a quick and easy way for organizations to assess their own stage of data use, and then find the right tools to help them make the most of their data. To find out how data mature your organization is, access the Splunk Data Maturity Calculator on the Splunk website.
About Splunk Inc.
Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) turns data into doing with the Data-to-Everything Platform. Splunk technology is designed to investigate, monitor, analyze and act on data at any scale.
Splunk, Splunk>, Data-to-Everything, D2E and Turn Data Into Doing are trademarks and registered trademarks of Splunk Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective owners. © 2020 Splunk Inc. All rights reserved.
About Enterprise Strategy Group
Enterprise Strategy Group is a technology analyst, research, validation, and strategy firm that provides market intelligence and actionable insight to the global technology community.
About the Study
“What Is Your Data Worth?” is based on a survey of 1,350 senior IT and business decision-makers about how their organizations collect, manage, and use data. The respondents, employed at organizations with at least 500 employees, represent the Technology, Financial, Retail, Manufacturing & Resources, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Communications & Media, Higher Education and Public Sector industries. The study covers North America (U.S.), Western Europe (U.K., France, Germany), and Asia-Pacific (Japan, China, Australia) and data was collected between 7/25/19 and 8/22/19.