A new study from The Economist Intelligence Unit reveals that most business executives (77%) want to give their employees greater access to big data and data analysis capabilities in order to help them make more informed decisions.
Moreover, 63% of executives say they believe that if big data and data analysis capabilities are expanded to more employees, the most important outcome would be better decisions made faster.
We’d like to think that at least a subset of the executives in the study recognize the value of leveraging big data and data discovery techniques from their own experiences with dashboards and other tools.
We’d also like to think that they acknowledge that employees’ uses of this information and capabilities can help drive more efficient and effective decision making throughout all corners of the organization.
There are several benefits to providing employees of varying levels and responsibilities with access to the big data and data analysis tools they need to make informed decisions. First and foremost, they and the company will be more productive.
Organizations that adopt “data-driven decision making” achieve productivity gains that are 5% to 6% higher than other factors can explain, according to an article in Mobiledia that cites a study of 179 large companies done by several MIT professors. The Mobiledia article points out another critical trend that should provide incentive for more senior executives to empower employees with big data and data analysis capabilities – the shortage of skilled workers.
US companies and government agencies will need 140,000 to 190,000 new workers with “deep analytical expertise” and 1.5 million more “data literate managers,” according to the McKinsey Global Institute. University and college graduates will help fill part of this demand but there are only a finite number of data scientists currently in and coming into the market. And that means more companies will seek to fill the void by arming more of their own employees with data discovery and data analysis capabilities.
Big data and data analysis not only help employees make better decisions, but they help employees be more productive. In fact, federal agencies are increasingly using data analysis to identify opportunities for improving employee performance and productivity, notes Tom Fox of the Partnership for Public Service in a recent blog post.
For instance, Fox says the Transportation Security Administration is using these techniques to assess the performances of airport screeners conducting security activities, then using the information they glean to identify training opportunities for employees.
