Companies that know how to handle the power of analysis and expand it become the leaders in the digital world. However, digital transformation initiatives are held back by a lack of data literacy. Data literacy is the ability to read, analyze, argue, and work with data. It's a skill that empowers everyone to ask the right questions, build knowledge, make decisions, and convey the right meaning to others.
Data Literacy - Challenges for business leaders
There are many factors that can hinder the correct handling of data in an organization. When building a data-driven culture, there are some things to consider, most notably addressing workforce resistance, finding a suitable data specialist, and developing the skills of younger workers.
1. Dealing with resistance among staff
Organizations and cultures are built on the basis of many years of traditions - and most changes often arise through resistance from the staff. There are those who want to continue the way it has always been done and often rely on their gut feeling, as 45% of our respondents claimed they often do. Awareness is crucial in this group.
2. Finding the data specialist
Organizations can also encounter resistance from those at the top. It's imperative that data specialists sit down to help those on the executive side of the business recognize the importance of data and provide support, especially since only 32% of the c-suite is data literate.
3. Opening up new datasets in a new era of leadership
Enterprise organizations are experiencing a whole new world of data production and consumption. New datasets generate new ideas and offer new insights to make better decisions. When organizations take on the democratization of data and analysis, management from the leadership must be of great importance to ensure that the answers and insight are accurate.
4. Overcome a lack of new skills
When looking at the data literacy skills among 16-24 year olds (21%), this age group is below average. This may suggest that schools and universities are failing to prepare students for the skills they need to enter a business after college. An example is that young people grew up in the digital world, but they do not always use data wisely.
5. Breaking organizational silos
Most companies have individuals who have better data literacy skills, but this talent likely resides in IT or Business Intelligence teams, which may be isolated from the rest of the business. To improve the skills of employees, forums could be set up for data providers to answer possible questions and share their knowledge with others.
If you want to read the full report on data literacy, download it here.