During the second half of 2022, respondents indicated that impacts from external forces would wane throughout 2023 (see the Research Insight “Data Leaders Need to Prepare for the Challenges That External Forces Will Pose”). Our latest data from the second half of 2023 confirm this across all external forces except staffing and recruitment. Most frequently, respondents cite economic uncertainty as the external force that hindered their organizations (60 percent reported significant or moderate negative impact).
Many organizations face a 2024 in which they first need to deal tactically with ongoing impact related to economic uncertainty while also preparing the organization to be positioned to execute and win as impacts from external forces likely continue to diminish throughout the year.
Data leaders should use the context of external forces to stress with executive leadership the need to invest in data and analytics and prioritize data-driven decision making. Solid proof exists in our most recent data. Regarding economic uncertainty, organizations with the highest level of success in their business intelligence (BI) initiatives least often report negative impact and most often report positive or no impact.
Successful BI initiatives provide strategic advantages just when many of their organizations need them the most. Therefore, data leaders not already doing so should build for their executive teams a narrative, grounded in the fundamentals of data management and advanced analytics, that emphasizes how successful application of BI mitigates negative impacts due to external forces—especially economic uncertainty—and provides organizations with a source of strategic advantage.
To make this possible, organizations need to invest more in BI and analytics, and not cut or freeze programs, to ensure they can successfully leverage data and analytics to offset and navigate uncertainties and impacts related to economic uncertainty in the short term, while also positioning themselves to grow as impacts from external forces likely lessen throughout 2024.
As such, organizations that need to mitigate negative impacts from economic uncertainty in the short term while also positioning themselves to grow as impacts from external forces likely continue to lessen throughout 2024 should invest in BI and analytics—and reinforce the need to make data-driven decisions—as a means of understanding the changing business landscape and improving operational execution.
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