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October 2012
Demographics
22%
19%
13%
24% 15%
IT and technology
Four areas of interest: 1: 2: 3: 4: The The The The importance of decision-making importance of data to decision-making need to improve IT infrastructures impact of market maturity
95%
95%
65% 35% 5%
63%
25% ...a year ago ...three years ago ...five years ago
Exactly the same speed as ever Decisions being MADE quicker compared to...
Figure 1: Analysis of percentage of decision-makers who say there is a need to make faster decisions against those who say that decisions are being made faster
Only 5% say there is no need to make faster decisions... ...yet 35% say that decisions are being made at the same speed as ever! Looking at each timespan, fewer companies are making quicker decisions than say that quicker decision-making is required. Clearly, there is a need to make quicker decisions that organisations are struggling to meet
Strategic decisions not made instantly are being made too slowly
Instantly
(No responses at this time range)
Only a minority of respondents say that decisions are always fast enough for their purposes The majority say that decisions are not always fast enough for purpose, regardless of how long they take Therefore, C-level decision-makers need to be making strategic decisions as soon as possible... ...yet the research shows that 0% make decisions instantly, with 74% taking longer than a day!
11%
89%
Within a day 6%
53%
41%
31%
56%
13%
68%
26%
6%
Within a fortnight
14%
43%
43%
Within a month
50%
50%
Rarely
Never
Figure 2: Analysis of whether decisions are made fast enough versus how quickly they are made
48% 45% 44% 35% 33% 32% 31% 26% 18% 14%
Figure 3: What have been the results of your organisation not always making these types of decision quickly enough in the past?
If decisions have been made too slowly in the past, C-level decision-makers point to multiple consequences an average of ~3 of these problems Significantly, the top answers show that, in the past, slow decisions have resulted in lost revenue, an impression of being behind other competitors and a loss of existing customers
Technological advances are the main reason why decisions need to be made quicker
Almost nine in ten C-level decision-makers say that technology is a reason why decisions need to be made quicker Technology might be able to assist quicker decision-making, but it is evidently the cause for this pressure being put on executives to make decisions faster than ever However, it is not the only reason. The majority also say that increased competition and an increasingly hostile business climate are also contributing
Recent advances in technology 88%
Increased competition
86%
71%
37%
Figure 4: Why do you think that decisions need to be made more quickly than before?
Almost half of decision-makers appreciate that data is very valuable. 49% rate data as critical or very significantly important to the decision-making process No respondents reported that data from corporate sources is unimportant during the decision making process
4% 16%
Critical
13%
Very significantly important Significantly important Somewhat important Helpful, but unimportant
34%
33%
Unimportant
Figure 5: On average, how important is data from corporate sources to the decision-making process?
When asked, two thirds of decision-makers rate data as more important than instinct Only 4% of executives say that decisions are all about or are mostly instinct, highlighting just how valuable data is to the decision-making process Given this, shouldnt all decisions be made having considered supporting data?
The majority of organisations have made strategic decisions without consulting data
Despite recognising the value of data to the decision-making process, only 26% have never made a decision without consulting supporting data 30% either always or often make decisions without consulting data! This appears to be a contradiction if data is so valuable to the process, why is it so often ignored?
2%
26% 28% Yes - always Yes - often
44%
Figure 7: Does your executive team ever make strategic decisions without consulting data?
Executives rarely have access to the right data in order to make decisions
Less than a quarter of senior decision-makers feel that their organisation lacks data that could be consulted when making strategic decisions... ...instead, more than three quarters feel that it is too slow to get the data they need to make decisions Almost six in ten say that it is difficult for them to access data and more than half say it is difficult to find the right data
Do they not have the right tools to support their decision-making?
Figure 8: Why does the executive team not always consult data when making business-critical decisions?
76%
59%
51%
24%
16%
1%
25%
One of my employees prepares it for me to analyse My office requests it from the relevant department My office requests it from the relevant department, and that department consults other departments Data engineers have to mine the data, before passing it back up the chain I don't know
27% 30%
Figure 9: When needing data for board-level decisions, typically how many stages does it go through before it reaches you?
A quarter of those interviewed say that they access data required to make decisions themselves The rest rely on subordinates to compile and look at the data on their behalf This means that, for most, the data is filtered before it reaches them, resulting in decisions not necessarily being made with the most relevant, most complete, or most accurate data for the task at hand
Just over a quarter of executives are totally satisfied with the data that they use to make decisions at present The rest have multiple concerns, primarily around the speed of delivery and the completeness and usefulness of the data Is the fact that so few access the data directly partly to blame for these problems?
No it is often incomplete No it does not contain what I need No it lacks detail or context
42%
33%
27%
22%
20%
26%
Figure 10: Are you satisfied that the right data is available to you in order to make decisions at present?
It is automatically updated several times a week It is automatically updated once a week It is automatically updated once a fortnight or less frequently Whenever I find the time to update it myself At regular intervals by a member of my team Whenever I request an update from one of my colleagues
Figure 11: How often is the data that you access as a board member and use to make high-level decisions 'refreshed' or updated?
Figure 12: Do you believe that your current IT infrastructure is agile and responsive enough to support fast decision-making at an executive level?
Only around one in six of executives feel that the IT infrastructure always supports their decision-making needs This means that for around five in six executives, their infrastructure must have let them down, either occasionally or frequently That so few reported being happy with their infrastructure reveals just how important it is at supporting decision-making, and just how poorly it is faring
60%
60%
46%
Individual departments/business units commissioning their own cloud computing services Employees using their own devices, resulting in data being held on equipment we do not control Isolated IT systems that do not allow full insight into business metrics
42%
37%
26%
0%
Figure 13: Do you consider any of the following to be barriers to executives being able to make decisions in your organisation?
38%
No, and we have no plans to adopt new technology to help us with this
Figure 14: Is your organisation adopting new technologies in order to help the board make decisions more quickly?
Nine in ten executives report that their organisations either have or plan to adopt new technologies in order to help them make decisions more quickly Almost four in ten have not only adopted new technologies but plan to adopt more
This implies that it is not a one-time upgrade for many its a continual, evolutionary process
The fact that so many companies are upgrading to help decision-making illustrates that existing infrastructures must be lacking
38%
There are plans to deliver more appropriate data There are plans to give me visibility into data that I cannot see at present There are plans to deliver greater volumes of data
26%
18%
18%
8%
Figure 15: Is your organisation looking at improving the data that it delivers to you?
63%
57%
53%
Note that cloud and mobile working solutions score lower than data mining tools
Additional tools to sift through data are more valuable than the ability to work from anywhere
52%
41%
Social media platforms within the company for better collaboration and communication
29%
Figure 16: Which advances in technology is your organisation adopting in order to enable the board to make decisions more quickly than before?
23%
54%
23%
Not at all
Slightly
Somewhat
Significantly
Very significantly
Figure 17: Analysis of how the adoptions of new technologies have reduced the time and increased how informed decisions are being made
Amongst those who have adopted new technologies to aid the decision-making process, 0% say that there has not been a reduction in time and 0% say they have not led to more informed decisions being made On the contrary, around half to three-quarters say that improvements to time and informity have been significant or very significant These new technologies are having a significant impact
51%
46%
44%
39%
33%
24%
11%
Figure 18: Has technology caused any of the following changes in the board-level decision-making process?
The research took place in nine countries: Five major European economies Four smaller economies (including the Netherlands)
200 interviews 200 interviews 200 interviews 200 interviews 200 interviews
100 interviews
100 interviews
100 interviews
100 interviews
UK
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Netherlands
Israel
Switzerland
Austria
Throughout the survey results, the five major economies answered more positively and optimistically than the four smaller economies A few examples:
81%
71% 45% 53% 43% 30%
2% 16% 2% 19% 10% 43% 34% 43% 12% 13% 14% 25%
Main reason or one of the main reasons It is a reason, but many others are more prominent It is not a reason why we need to make faster decisions at all
Netherlands
Israel Switzerland Austria
44%
Figure 19: How central are recent advances in technology to the need to Figure 20: Do you make quicker decisions at present compared to... make decisions more quickly than before?
Businesses in smaller economies are more likely to have infrastructures that let them down
80% 70%
Too slow to access data Too difficult to find the right data
Figure 21: Why does the executive team not always consult data when making business-critical decisions? selected responses
Between six in ten and three quarters of those in the Netherlands said that that their systems result in data being slow to access and difficult to find Compare this to the five larger economies, where the minority report problems with these to factors Evidently, the IT infrastructures of businesses in the Netherlands are not as agile as those in larger economies... ...and therefore, having a robust infrastructure results in quicker decisions being made
Businesses in smaller economies are freeing up their IT department to help address this problem
70% 60%
Cloud computing solutions
50%
40% 30% 20% 10%
Use of virtualisation, cloud, and 'as-aService' offerings, freeing up our IT department to allow them to investigate new opportunities
0%
UK
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Netherlands
Israel
Switzerland
Austria
Figure 22: Which advances in technology is your organisation adopting in order to enable the board to make decisions more quickly than before? selected responses
In the four smaller economies, businesses are focusing on adopting technologies to free up the IT department to investigate new opportunities In the five bigger economies, most are adopting cloud instead Does this suggest a progression?
Its likely that few businesses in the bigger economies are adopting tech to free up their IT department because they have already done so in the past... ...and therefore, that cloud is the next step; that adoption is indicative being further along a technological timeline
N+K NetApp
Decision-making with data Research results for France
October 2012