Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Breakthroughs and
Barriers on the
Journey to ROI
A Perspective from Accenture
Analytics, with Findings from a
Survey of Analytics Practitioners
Analytics Arising
Adoption is Up, and Leadership is On Board
Analytics users
tell us that
analytics has
arrived, is in
wide use and is
securely on the
c-suite agenda.
Predictive
12%
33%
2009
2012
31%
Retrospective
29%
Both Equally
50%
28%
Dont Know
1%
10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
33%
68%
2/3
Analytics
in Practice
Key Success Factors: Functional
Focus, Data Expertise, Sourcing
Strategy
Finance
59%
Customer Service
55%
Production/Operations
54%
Sales
49%
IT/Telecoms
46%
HR
42%
Procurement
40%
Other
21%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Data-Driven Insights
Customer retention
and acquisition
69%
66%
New product/service
development
66%
Competitor
performance/activity
65%
The customer
experience
60%
60%
Improve enterprise-wide
performance
59%
Marketing campaign
effectiveness
53%
51%
Moderate or
great extent
12% in 2009
To a great extent
25%
Not at
all really
13%
To only a
minor extent
18%
To a moderate extent
44%
2012
Data-Based Decision-Making
Changing attitudes on the role of data
in decision-making may still be a workin-progress for many executives, as seen
in Figure 5. In light of the continuing
importance of intangible factors such
as "intuition, personal experience and
consultation," a realist may conclude that
data-based approaches still lose out to the
instinctive style of decision-making. As a
US executive says, "Sometimes in business
theres that gut instincthow to take that
information and apply it to make business
strategies work is one of the biggest
challenges."
83%
58%
of respondents identify
"outcome from data" as a
key analytics challenge
2.74
3.03
Intuition
3.43
Personal experience
3.35
2.95
0.0
Senior management
decisionsmean
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
69%
Self
65%
Analysts within
the department/
unit/function
68%
Centralized analysts
(group resource)
60%
External analysts/
consultants
53%
62%
48%
59%
0%
10%
20%
2009
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
2012
Achieving ROI
on Analytics
From Insights and Actions
to Outcomes
The promise of analytics is expansive:
data-based decisions, leading to clear
business outcomes, yielding a measurable
return on investment. Even though the
business discipline is still developing, what
is the verdict? Positive, but cautiously
so, suggesting that some enterprises
are successfully leveraging the power
of analytics within functional areas and
across functions, while many others are still
struggling to see a meaningful Return on
Investment (ROI).
One respondent captures the provisional
nature of his verdict well when he says,
"There has been a sizable investment and
I believe that the early signs are extremely
positive. I think probably over the next six to
12 months, if we have a similar conversation,
you will be speaking to a very happy person."
Very satisfied
22%
Quite satisfied
35%
16%
18%
Dont know
9%
0%
5%
UK respondents
(41%) are more
satisfied than US
respondents
(29%)
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
10
Questions on
Key Metrics
Customer &
Marketing
Analytics
Insight
Generation
Operations
Analytics
Enterprise
Analytics
Root Cause
Analysis Tools
Execution
Statistical
Models
Optimization
tools
Insight
Validation
11
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About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with approximately
259,000 people serving clients in more
than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities
across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the worlds
most successful companies, Accenture
collaborates with clients to help them
become high-performance businesses and
governments. The company generated net
revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal
year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is
www.accenture.com.