Hiring of analytical talent to rise in 2012: Accenture - SAS study

Investment in business analytics and analytical talent hiring will rise in 2012, but organisations still have their work cut out for them when it comes to making projects effective and instilling the right analytical culture and skills, reveals new research from consulting and technlogy servies firm Accenture and business analytics software firm SAS.
 
Of the 258 North American business leaders surveyed by the Accenture SAS Analytics Group, 72 per cent indicated they would 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 per cent)
  
• Improving decision making processes (63 per cent)
  
• Hiring analytical talent (52 per cent)

''In the past, investment in analytics has come in the form of traditional, tangible improvements from the latest technology, process improvements and changes to an organisation's structure,'' says Stacy Blanchard, talent and organisation lead for analytics at Accenture.

''But without parallel investment to align leadership, develop the necessary capabilities, ready the talent and build a culture where better and faster decisions, powered by analytics, are part of the DNA, businesses will inevitably hit a roadblock and miss the real opportunity that exists. It's encouraging to see that executives are beginning to realise this,'' Blanchard adds.
 
IDC's earlier 2011-2015 forecast showerd, ''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 organisations 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 per cent 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 organisations will look to increase investment in analytics talent and education in the near future.
 
''Organisations often struggle to build a culture that supports data-driven decisions and embed the right leadership and skills at all levels, despite the benefits of doing so,'' said Russ Cobb, SAS vice president of alliances and marketing. ''This research shows that companies are beginning to recognise the importance of instilling such an analytical culture, a key mission for the Accenture SAS Analytics Group.''
 
Just 22 per cent of respondents indicated that business analytics is integrated across their entire organisation, with 46 per cent noting that business analytics was used only in some business units and divisions.
 
Interestingly, 42 per cent of the companies who said they integrate analytics across their entire organization believe their analytics are ''very effective''.  In contrast, of the companies who only use analytics in certain business units or divisions, only 13 percent feel their analytics are ''very effective.''
 
The study revealed a direct correlation between perceived effectiveness of analytics and integration of analytics within the organisation.

To bridge this gap, Accenture SAS Analytics Group introduced at this week's Analytics 2011 conference a repository of resources for every level of customer organizations – from business leaders embedding analytics into the organization to analysts who execute the strategy and vision. These resources, including eLearning, facilitator-led sessions, highly-customized workshops, and knowledge capital and performance support, will help identify trouble spots and implement predictive analytics enterprise-wide.
 
The Accenture SAS Analytics Group combines Accenture's extensive industry and functional business knowledge with SAS' market-leading analytics solutions and capabilities, helping senior executives who want to gain practical insights from their data, make better decisions and improve their business outcomes.
 
The study was based on a survey among 258 business professionals in North America from a broad range of industries.  Sixty-three per cent of the respondents work for organisations with 10,000 or more employees. Detailed research findings will be available later this year.