The Future of Data and Analytics Is Now

Published: 1 March 2019 ID: G00385145

Analyst(s): Andrew White

Data and analytics leaders are driving digital transformation, creating

monetization opportunities, radically improving customer experience and
reshaping industries. The time is right for them to exploit data in order to
inform smarter actions that drive better, consistent organizational outcomes.

Opportunities and Challenges

■ Determining how to get started with a data literacy campaign is a new challenge for senior data
and analytics (D&A) leaders committed to creating a data-driven culture across the workforce.
■ D&A initiatives were based on a qualitative understanding of value. But with D&A at the core of
the digital platform, a more concrete articulation of value is now required.
■ System architectures have historically been based on localized applications, with the
application considered the asset and the data merely an input and a byproduct. In the era of
digital transformation, this mindset must change from “data as a byproduct” to “data as an
asset.”
■ Data (and analytics) governance programs have often failed, because they attempted the
impossible and focused on data and data standards rather than outcomes.
■ Understanding how artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities drive business value is an increasing
challenge for all, yet it is clearly a critical success factor for such initiatives.

What You Need to Know

■ Champion data literacy awareness and craft a clear case for change before pursuing
widespread tactical implementations.
■ Know how to describe your D&A value proposition upfront and sell it directly to all stakeholders.
Every team member and stakeholder should be able to articulate this D&A value instantly.
■ Identify and communicate data and analytics business value by championing the tangible and
intangible value of the organization’s information assets. Provide specific examples.
■ Modern D&A governance programs are adaptive and seek to govern the least amount of data
for the maximum business impact.
 ■ Align your AI capabilities to your organizational ambitions by annually matching the maturity
stages to your own activities for AI-powered applications and projects.

Insight From the Analyst

Lead With Purpose to Achieve Clarity in a World of Ambiguity

Andrew White — Distinguished VP Analyst

In this world of ambiguity — characterized by uncertainty, risk, doubt and fake news — now is the
time to lead with purpose and bring clarity through data and analytics (D&A) you can rely on and,
most importantly, trust.

D&A leaders serve in many forms. Whether you are the chief data officer (CDO), a department head
focused on the numbers, or simply the go-to “data guru” in your workgroup — your organization is
counting on you. So you need to find your purpose. Perhaps you want to put artificial intelligence
(AI) at the center of your business model, create a data-literate workforce or ensure the ethical use
of data. Regardless of your initiatives, you will lead them in a world of continuous change where it is
not always easy to do the right thing. Are we building a data-driven organization or creating a
tyranny of metrics? Are we optimizing business outcomes with analytical insights or violating
personal privacy?

In this collection of research, we’ll share new strategies, guidance and best practices to help you
realize your future. That is, a future based on data you can trust, agile analytics you can rely on, and
the clarity needed to empower you with the continuous intelligence and pervasive insights
necessary to excel in the digital economy.

Kind regards,

Andrew White

Executive Overview
Definition
D&A is increasingly being put into the heart, the center, of every organization’s digital business
strategy.

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 D&A is the linchpin in embedding insight and intelligence into
every decision, every opportunity and every outcome.

That’s the good news. Now the bad news — you have to deliver value, now, amid a high degree of
complexity and ambiguity.

To help you lead with purpose — achieving clarity in a world of ambiguity — we have put together a
range of assets. These will equip you with all the critical knowledge and capabilities you need to
start adding business value to your organization, now! We have pulled together research notes to
set up the arguments; Toolkits to help you build models and deliverables; and templates to kick-
start your programs, projects and products.

Our research suggests that data literacy will be the single biggest determinant of a successful
deployment of data, analytics and AI. That is why organizations need to organize effectively, train
their people with the right skills, and then deploy the most appropriate technology. All this needs to
happen at the same time as avoiding pitfalls and sidestepping the market hype; it is the perfect time
to excel in data and analytics (see Figure 1).

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 Figure 1. Data and Analytics Strategies Driving the Future

Source: Gartner (March 2019)

Research Highlights
Leadership and Organization — Lead With Purpose

CEOs in all industries are turning to CDOs and chief analytics

officers (CAOs) to build the digital organization of the future and
achieve business objectives.

As a consequence, D&A leaders must lead with purpose. Insight is provided on topics that are high
on the agenda for strategically minded CDOs and CAOs: skills development, closing talent gaps,
building the right teams, formalizing the right roles, data literacy, diversity and ethics.

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 Related Research
■ “Leadership Vision for 2019: Data and Analytics Leader”
■ “The Chief Data Officer’s First 100 Days”
■ “Staffing the Office of the CDO”
■ “Data-Driven Decision Making: The Role of Emotional Intelligence”
■ “Data & Analytics Organizational Models, Roles, and Responsibilities”
■ “Where to Organize the Work of Data and Analytics”
■ “Artificial Intelligence in Digital Business: What the Board Needs to Know”
■ “Success Patterns of CDOs Driving Business Impact”

Analytic Insight and Enabling Better Decision Making

Businesses across all industries continue to struggle with the

ambiguity of determining the value of data and analytics.

What are the business outcomes you need to achieve? What are the best ways to justify the
investments you need to make? To address the ambiguity faced, organizations must form
partnerships between business and D&A teams to collectively drive strategies. Our research
provides insights into how to build a successful D&A strategy that is directly linked to the key
business outcomes of growth, customer experience, monetization of D&A, risk mitigation and
innovation.

Related Research
■ “Start Your Data and Analytics Strategy With a Clear Value Proposition”
■ “Data and Analytics Strategies Need More-Concrete Metrics of Success”
■ “Ignition Guide to Strategic Planning for Data & Analytics”
■ “Four Steps to Improve Data and Analytics Capabilities When Business Intelligence Maturity Is
Low”
■ “Create a Chief Data Officer Dashboard to Measure Your Business Impact”
■ “Build a Data-Driven Enterprise”
■ “‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Data Quality Cleanup (Citizens Bank)”
■ “Decision-Focused Data Maps (General Mills)”
■ “Data & Analytics Strategy Workbook”

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 ■ “Data & Analytics Sample Strategy Presentation”

Data Literacy, Culture and Society

Delivering better business outcomes requires a data-literate

organizational culture that values information as an asset.

D&A leaders must show leadership in three key areas: data’s business value, data-related cultural
change, and the ethics of data management and its use.

Related Research
■ “How Chief Data Officers Show Leadership in Improving Data Literacy and Fostering a Data-
Driven Culture”
■ “How to Foster a Data-Driven Culture and Stakeholder Relationships That Last”
■ “How Data and Analytics Leaders Can Create Effective Influence and Communication
Strategies”
■ “Information as a Second Language: Enabling Data Literacy for Digital Society”
■ “Analytics Presentation Engagement Framework (NGA)”
■ “Choose the Right Center of Excellence for Your Artificial Intelligence Strategy”
■ “Fostering Data Literacy and Information as a Second Language: A Gartner Trend Insight
Report”
■ “How to Use Data for Good to Impact Society”
■ “Data Ethics Enables Business Value”
■ “Harnessing the Pervasive Nature of Domain Data and Analytics”
■ “Analytics Champions Recruitment Guide”
■ “Overcoming the Insight Deficit: Big Judgment in an Era of Big Data”

Data and Analytics Governance — Next-Best Practices

Traditional approaches to D&A governance are inadequate for

delivering the value and scale that digital business demands.

An adaptive approach enables D&A leaders to apply different governance styles to suit the context
of the business scenarios they face. The emergence of bimodal IT provides organizations with the
opportunity to allow greater flexibility and agility in their operations.

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 Related Research
■ “The Role of Technology in Data and Analytics Governance”
■ “Ignition Guide to Building a Data Governance Program”
■ “Data Governance Step-by-Step Guide”
■ “Adopt a Data Governance Strategy for Long-Term Digital Twin Success”
■ “How to Use Semantics to Drive the Business Value of Your Data”
■ “Use Smart Contracts and AI to Drive Value From Data Investments”
■ “Design an Effective Information Governance Strategy”
■ “Applying Effective Data Governance to Secure Your Data Lake”
■ “MDM Is Critical to Maximizing CRM and Customer Experience”
■ “Data Quality Score (TE Connectivity)”
■ “Data & Analytics Operational, Data Quality, and Data Management Metrics”

Innovation: Data and Analytics — The Way Ahead

Harnessing innovative technologies to change the business and

how we serve customers is the only choice for forward-looking
leaders who want to see their organization become a disruptor.
Standing still is not an option.

This research reveals the more visionary and pioneering trends and aspects of D&A. We look at the
growing convergence of augmented analytics (or augmented intelligence), which suggests the most
advantageous approach is combing human intelligence with machine or artificial intelligence. This
research is designed to deliver innovative approaches that will change your perspective by offering
insights on the future of D&A in your organization.

Related Research
■ “The Future of Data and Analytics: Tales and Trends From the Center to the Edge”
■ “Build Your Digital Business Platform Around Data and Analytics”
■ “Predicts 2019: Data Management Solutions”
■ “Predicts 2019: Data and Analytics Strategy”
■ “Predicts 2019: AI Disrupts Human Judgment and Vigilance as Default Standards”

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 ■ “100 Data and Analytics Predictions Through 2022”
■ “Decision Intelligence Is the Near Future of Decision Making: A Gartner Trend Insight Report”
■ “Combine Predictive and Prescriptive Techniques to Solve Business Problem”
■ “Augmented Analytics Is the Future of Data and Analytics”
■ “How Citizen Data Science Can Maximize Self-Service Analytics and Extend Data Science”
■ “Use the Data and Analytics Infrastructure Model to Classify Digital Business Capabilities”
■ “Pursue Citizen Data Science to Expand Analytics Use Cases”
■ “Artificial Intelligence Maturity Model”
■ “Make Your Customer Engagement Hub Real Time With Continuous Intelligence”
■ “Implementing the Data Hub: Architecture and Technology Choices”
■ “Applied Infonomics: Seven Steps to Monetize Available Information Assets”

Emerging Technologies and Trends

■ “Cool Vendors in IoT Data Exchanges and Brokers”

■ “Cool Vendors in Data Science and Machine Learning”
■ “Hype Cycle for Data Science and Machine Learning, 2018”
■ “Hype Cycle for Data Management, 2018”
■ “Hype Cycle for Information Governance and Master Data Management, 2018”
■ “Hype Cycle for Analytics and Business Intelligence, 2018”

Peer Perspective

Learn from your peers to help support decision making and

leverage best practices.

These peer perspectives provide a complementary view alongside Gartner’s expert research.

This content, which provides opinions and points of view expressed by users, does not represent
the views of Gartner; Gartner neither endorses it nor makes any warranties about its accuracy or
completeness.

■ “Peer Lessons Learned: Implementing Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms”

■ “Peer Lessons Learned: Implementing Operational Database Management Systems”
■ “Peer Lessons Learned: Implementing Data Management Solutions for Analytics”

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 ■ “Peer Lessons Learned: Implementing a Data Science and Machine Learning Platform”
■ “Peer Connect Perspectives: BI Implementations Should Start With the Business”
■ “Peer Connect Perspectives: Modernizing Self-Service Business Intelligence and Analytics
Capabilities”

Key Initiatives for Continuous Insight

All your initiatives are important, but some are mission-critical.

Key Initiatives organize the vast Gartner resources around the projects and programs at the top of
your list, helping you achieve demonstrable business results efficiently and cost-effectively. Key
Initiatives represent how we deliver ongoing insight throughout the year to help you tackle your top
priorities. Be sure to track all Key Initiatives that relate to your top priorities (as a first step, see
Analyst Picks for Data and Analytics).

■ “Analytics and BI Solutions Primer for 2019” describes how traditional, IT-driven approaches to
analytics and business intelligence can’t deliver the value and benefits required by digital
business today. Gartner’s research in 2019 will help D&A leaders take a business-driven
approach to analytics technology decisions and investment.
■ “Data and Analytics Strategies Primer for 2019” looks at how digital business success is fueled
by D&A strategies that scale with business ambitions. As a result, D&A leaders are the drivers
behind applying D&A to the market-making and market-differentiating strategies that create and
sustain new business value.
■ “Data Management Solutions Primer for 2019” explores how, as organizations expand, they
create and use data and how D&A leaders must transform how they use, control and manage
increasingly distributed data assets. Modern data management solutions must become
expansive, flexible and outcome-focused.

Other Important Initiatives for D&A

■ “Artificial Intelligence Primer for 2019” reviews how organizations now employ AI in data-rich
aspects of their operations. Based on the 2019 Gartner CIO Survey, 14% of organizations
employ AI and nearly 50% intend to do so in 2020. CIOs should shift to operational use of this
technology in 2019.
■ “Building and Expanding a Digital Business Primer for 2019” describes how a digital business is
based on a product set and business model that is only made possible by the use of
information and digital technology. Gartner research enables CIOs and other leaders to scale
digital business so it measurably improves the organization’s financial performance.

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 Related Priorities
Table 1. Related Priorities

Priority Focus

Customer Experience Customer experience management is the practice of designing and reacting to customer
Design and Execution interactions to meet or exceed their expectations, leading to greater customer
satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.

Analytics and BI Analytics and business intelligence (BI) solutions entail systematic, sustained action to
Solutions plan, select, deploy and manage analytics technologies that will deliver business
outcomes and business value.

Digital Workplace A digital workplace program is a business strategy to boost workforce digital dexterity
Program through an engaging and intuitive work environment.

Data Management The data management solutions initiative tracks, explains and advises on architectures,
Solutions practices, technology trends and vendor solutions that help organizations manage data.

Source: Gartner

Related Resources
Webinars
Get actionable advice in 60 minutes from the world’s most respected experts. Keep pace with the
latest issues that impact your business.

■ “Top 10 Data and Analytics Trends That Will Change Your Business”
■ “Data and Analytics Governance: What’s Broken, and What We Need to Do to Fix It”
■ “Why Chief Data Officers Should Lead Digital Transformation”
■ “How Augmented Analytics Is Transforming Data and Analytics”
■ “Build Blockchain Into Your Data and Analytics Program”
■ “Data and Analytics Key Roles, Responsibilities, and Organization”
■ “Best Practices to Negotiate With Data and Analytics Vendors”
■ “What the Internet of Things Means for Your Data and Analytics Capabilities”
■ “Effective Data and Analytics Governance — Finally!”
■ “How to Put Data and Analytics at the Heart of Your Digital Platform”
■ “Digital Platforms: The Role Data and Analytics Plays in Their Success”
■ “Data Literacy: Foster Information as a Second Language”

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 Conferences
Discover the future of D&A at one our many Gartner conferences across the globe.

D&A leaders are driving digital transformation, creating monetization opportunities, improving the
customer experience and reshaping industries. We’ll share new strategies, guidance and best
practices to help you realize your future. A future that is based on data you can trust, agile analytics
you can rely on, and the clarity needed to empower you with the continuous intelligence and
pervasive insights necessary to excel in the digital economy.

■ Gartner Video: The Future of Data and Analytics

Articles
■ “Use Data and Analytics to Tell a Story”
■ “First 100 Days of a Chief Data Officer”
■ “CDOs Must Take the Lead to Improve Data Literacy”
■ “Build a Data-Driven Organization”
■ “Analyst Answers: How IT Leaders Should Invest in Data and Analytics”

Peer Insights
Gartner Peer Insights is a free peer review and ratings platform designed for enterprise software and
services decision makers. Reviews go through a strict validation and moderation process in an
effort to ensure they are authentic. Choose enterprise IT software and services with confidence.
Read verified reviews from the IT community.

■ Browse Vendors
■ Browse Markets
■ Write a Review

Peer Connect
Peer Connect is a private community in which Gartner clients can exchange insight and advice on
their mission-critical priorities.

■ Join the discussions occurring in the Data and Analytics forum, to ask questions and share
answers on Key Initiatives.
■ Join the Gartner Research Circle — Help shape the future of the industry.

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