Organisations that used data as a strategic asset claim to have critical business advantages during the pandemic. The joint report by Tableau Software and Yougov concluded that data-driven companies are more resilient and confident during the pandemic, compared to non-data-driven companies.
What the data tells us
The survey revealed that being data-driven delivers multiple and vast benefits to businesses, including being able to make strategic business decisions faster (54%); more effective communication with stakeholders (54%); increased cross-team collaboration (51%) and making their business more agile (46%). Being data-driven is also fuelling optimism in uncertain times as more data-driven companies (63%) are optimistic about the future health of their business in the next six months than non-data-driven companies (37%).
In contrast, non-data-driven companies are slower to grasp the importance of data as they navigate through the pandemic, with only 39% of them seeing it as a critical advantage. This demonstrates that there remains a disconnect in how businesses value and use data, and the potential for organisations to benefit from a more data-driven approach.
JY Pook, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and Japan, Tableau, claimed the uncertainty of 2020 has proved the role of data, even heralding it as the start of the era of analytics ubiquity. He cautioned that “we still see a ‘data divide,’ where organisations in APJ differ in their ability to leverage data as a strategic asset.”
He also noted that the biggest hurdle for organisations is to create a change in mindset and get all hands-on data. “Going into 2021, the use of data is going to set companies further apart and a data culture is no longer a nice-to-have but rather a must-have for organisations to navigate the uncertainty and continue thriving,” he opined.
Across APJ, only 62% of business leaders classify themselves as being data-driven, while close to one third (34%) believe their businesses are not. Singapore companies take the lead with the highest proportion of data-driven organisations (67%), while Japan lags in the region (51%).
The results point to an opportunity for more businesses to harness data to support business resilience and decision-making, now and in the post-pandemic world.
Lessons learned
Across all survey respondents, the top lessons learnt from the pandemic include the need for better data quality (46%), data transparency (43%), followed by the need for agility (41%).
“At Zuellig Pharma, having a data culture means that our team collectively values, practices and encourages the use of data in the making of all key operational and strategic decisions. We have a critical mass of people who understand the importance of embedding data practices and assets into business processes. Our warehouse operators are mandated to jointly review real-time operational KPIs and dashboard driven statistics on how different warehouse processes are either negatively or positively impacting these KPIs,” said Tristan Tan, vice president, Data and Analytics, Zuellig Pharma.
Speaking to how Luxasia, a leading omnichannel partner for luxury beauty and lifestyle brands in Asia Pacific, uses data,
Reflecting on its use of sales and consumer data flow, Avis Eastel, regional head, Consumer at Luxasia, an omnichannel partner for luxury beauty and lifestyle brands, said, “We can easily see the revenue associated to ad-hoc campaigns, trigger and journey across countries, brands, stores, categories and channels. We use these insights to understand what consumers are responding to and to plan the next campaign.”
