Opens a new window
Becoming data-driven in today’s business environment requires more than just lip service and a few static reports. Users are taking a more active role in exploring data and creating their own insights, and companies are responding by investing in their data infrastructure to support that activity. To this end, many are deploying data catalog technology to help organize, oversee, and bring clarity to their data, promoting a more mature analytics environment.
Data Growth and Disparity Necessitates a Modern Environment
According to Aberdeen’s research, today’s companies deal with data environments that are growing in excess of 30% year over year, some much higher than that. However, data volume is far from the only problem plaguing these organizations. Source disparity is a major challenge as companies deal with data warehouses, applications, data lakes, cloud data stores, and the ubiquitous spreadsheet. Making sense of what is there and how it can be used is a problem for companies, and achieving some measure of clarity is the top driver of investment in data catalog technology (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Top Drivers of Investment in a Data Catalog
Aberdeen’s research demonstrates that the typical enterprise struggles to manage an average of 35 unique data sources. Given this expansion in volume and disparity, companies want to make better strategic use of that data, and having the ability to democratize access to it is of paramount importance. Data governance and oversight is also an important driver, as companies need a strong degree of trust in their data as it grows and diversifies. With data catalog technology in place, companies are able to organize and characterize data much more efficiently, allowing them to identify which data is more sensitive and which is fit for broader access. Thisultimately supports  better oversight and governance of data.
Empowering the Organization with Better Intelligence
Even the most sophisticated and technically inclined companies recognize that efforts and investments made in the data infrastructure are a means to an end — the enablement of a wider variety of business users with better analytics capabilities. In other words, clean, clear, and consumable data is not the endgame. The most data-savvy companies leverage a data catalog to set in motion a virtuous cycle that promotes greater analytics maturity.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this maturity is timeliness. As the pace of business accelerates and more data is created, people simply need answers faster. Where once a decision by the end of the day was adequate, managers find themselves in a position where they need to act faster, sometimes within less than a day, an hour, or even in real time. This shrinking decision window seems to be affecting all companies, but Best-in-Class companies in particular are seeing this period of time skew more and more toward real time. According to the research, that Best-in-Class decision window breaks down as follows (% of respondents):
Despite this more challenging environment and greater time urgency for information, these Best-in-Class companies are more than twice as likely as All Others to have critical information delivered on time, within that decision window. Moreover, the research demonstrates that 89% of the Best-in-Class are currently using a data catalog, compared with 55% of All Others, a fact that helps these top performers deliver critical information on time.
With a specific focus on companies using a data catalog, we see that in addition to sharing several common characteristics, these organizations are also more likely to enhance the productivity of their employees. Having the technology backbone to organize and catalog new data sources reduces the time spent searching for the right data and accelerates the flow of information across the company (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Companies with a Data Catalog Boost Employee Productivity
Another important side effect of using a data catalog is its ability to support broader use of analytics. As more users in more job roles become more active in exploring data and creating their own analyses, the ease-of-use of their data systems takes on an elevated level of importance. Data catalog users are much more likely to report a high degree of satisfaction with the ease-of-use of their data systems, a fact that also helps promote self-sufficiency for these users. Companies with a data catalog are twice as likely to be satisfied with the self-service nature of their data environment.
Business Impact with Analytical Maturity
In addition to elevated employee productivity, Aberdeen’s research demonstrates that data catalog users are leveraging a broader variety of data and empowering more users with analytical ability. This elevated analytical maturity drives business performance. On the customer side, those with a data catalog report both an increase in the total customer base and an improvement in satisfaction among existing customers (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Data Catalog Users Drive Enhanced Business Execution
Perhaps even more compelling are the line-item financial metrics that these companies are able to impact. Following the transformation of data from its disparity of sources to its cataloging, organization, oversight, and distribution to its eventual use to support critical decisions, one can see the downstream impact of an intelligent data catalog. These companies are able to better manage the volume of data in their organization as well as the disparity of source data. This allows for a richer foundation of data available for the analytics process, and ultimately supports more salient insights. The research proves this virtuous cycle in demonstrating how data catalog users saw significantly higher growth in operating profit, and almost twice the increase in organic revenue, as compared to their peers.
Key Takeaways
The rapid evolution in the technology landscape can be overwhelming for the many organizations now waking up to the need to become more data-driven. Ultimately, efforts to shore up data infrastructures and deploy data catalogs amount to downstream investment in the efficiency of analytics and the data-driven intelligence that informs a company’s key decisions. The following key takeaways sum up the most important findings from the research as they relate to data catalog technology and analytics maturity.
-
- Data presents a strategic opportunity. Organizations are dealing with significant data growth and increasing source disparity. As a result, many are clamoring for ways to make better use of their data as it grows and becomes more challenging.
- Data catalog advances analytics maturity. As a foundation for better questions and clearer answers, use of a data catalog supports a clarified data environment, promotes broader distribution of trustworthy data, and drives an elevated level of analytics.
- Performance impact is real and attainable. Those companies that have successfully woven data catalog technology into their analytical strategy are reaping substantial benefits. These companies produce greater employee productivity with faster and more relevant data, and ultimately enjoy more rapid revenue growth and profitability.
Â
Opens a new window
Aberdeen Strategy & ResearchOpens a new window , a division of Spiceworks Ziff DavisOpens a new window , with over three decades of experience in independent, credible market research, helps illuminate market realities and inform business strategies. Our fact-based, unbiased, and outcome-centric research approach provides insights on technology, customer management, and business operations, to inspire critical thinking and ignite data-driven business actions.