Data Is Very Valuable, Just Don't Ask Us To Measure It, Leaders Say

The Register's Lindsay Clark reports: Fifteen years of big data hype, and guess what? Less than one in four of those in charge of analytics projects actually measure the value of the activity to the organization they work for. The result from Gartner -- a staggering one considering the attention heaped on big data and its various hype-oriented successors -- found that in a survey of chief data and analytics (D&A) officers, only 22 percent had defined, tracked, and communicated business impact metrics for the bulk of their data and analytics use cases.

It wasn't for lack of interest though. For more than 90 percent of the 504 respondents, value-focused and outcome-focused areas of the D&A leader's role have gained dominance over the past 12 to 18 months, and will continue to be a concern in the future. It is difficult, though: 30 percent of respondents say their top challenge is the inability to measure data, analytics and AI impact on business outcomes.

'There is a massive value vibe around data, where many organizations talk about the value of data, desire to be data-driven, but there are few who can substantiate it,' said Michael Gabbard, senior director analyst at Gartner. He added that while most chief data and analytics officers were responsible for data strategy, a third do not see putting in place an operating model as a primary responsibility. 'There is a perennial gap between planning and execution for D&A leaders,' he said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.