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Big Data: Senior-Level Sponsorship Critical for Data Project Successes
Ninety percent of businesses have high to medium levels of investment in Big Data with a third calling their investment “very significant”, according to a report from Forbes/McKinsey and sponsored by Teradata of 316 C-level executives of $500+ million companies.
The report found that the biggest factor in ensuring success with the program was securing backing from senior-level members of the business:
- In businesses that believe big data can lead to competitive advantage, more than half of the CEOs are personally involved in the big data projects
- In businesses that view big data as a top-five issue, twenty percent have sponsors that are one level below top leadership
Matt Ariker, Chief Operating Officer of Consumer Marketing at McKinsey, said that “despite the progress we see reported, as companies make the most of big data resources, there remains plenty of room for improvement. The cultural challenges can handicap every facet of a big data initiative. But the good news is that the reverse is true as well: improving how a company fosters a culture and mindset that rewards the use of data experimentation can help a data and analytics initiative gain momentum and impact.”
One interesting question in the survey had to do with how effectively the company was using data. Overall, 53 percent of respondents felt that their approach to data was above par and best of breed, but when those responses were looked at based on how much the respondent actively worked with big data, there was a big difference. Among data scientists, for example, only eight percent felt that their company had an approach to big data that was best of breed.