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The Premier Business Leadership Series, ORLANDO (Oct. 26, 2011) - Investment in business analytics and analytical talent will rise in 2012, but organizations still have their work cut out for them when it comes to making projects effective and instilling the right analytical culture and skills, according to new research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and
SAS.
Of the 258 North American business leaders surveyed by the Accenture SAS Analytics Group, 72 percent indicated they will increase spending on business analytics in 2012 as compared to 2011.
According to the survey, the top three priorities for investment are:
- Improving analytical skills of current employees (70 percent)
- Improving decision making processes (63 percent)
- Hiring analytical talent (52 percent)
"Vendors and users will have to devote more resources to business analytics services. These will include internal services provided by IT and analytics staff, business analytics strategy development and project management, and training of all relevant end users. As more organizations with less business analytics experience are becoming interested in this technology, vendors will need to provide more guidance to these users beyond simply selling them technology."
This recommendation is underscored by the 60 percent of respondents saying they are missing the right analytical business skills, technical skills or both. Furthermore, with inadequate analytical skills cited as the main reason more than a quarter of respondents described their analytical projects as underperforming, it is not surprising that organizations will look to increase investment in analytics talent and education in the near future.
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