Harnessing the Value of Data

Business leaders across industries know that maximizing their data investments and overcoming barriers is key to unlocking value from their data.

A new KPMG survey, which gathered responses from 250 executives across a wide range of sectors, including consumer and retail, financial services and healthcare and life sciences, highlights the universal agreement on the importance of data products and the challenges in achieving business value.

However, the survey also found that that only 35% of respondents have achieved extensive value from their data product initiatives and that success often correlates to industry. The consumer & retail sector is the frontrunner in leveraging data products to realize significant business value. The C&R, financial services, healthcare & life sciences and technology, media and telecommunications industries are more likely to have implemented data products, conducted proof-of-concept tests, and established successful use cases.

“Companies that see the best returns from their data product investments are those that use them for more than just increasing efficiency. They are using them to transform their business so they can win in their markets,” said Matteo Colombo, Principal, Advisory, KPMG U.S. Data Modernization Leader. “Businesses today understand that data is golden. Our survey found that an overwhelming 92% of respondents across industries believe that well-constructed data products are critical to their organization’s success.”

Leaders in data product initiatives are prioritizing revenue growth as a key performance indicator, with 53% of leaders measuring value through revenue growth.

Other findings include:

• 96% of respondents are moving from legacy data assets to modern data products.
• Executives said their top strategies are: Internal data monetization (52%), data-as-a-service (44%), and monetizing insights and analytics (38%).
• The top three functions utilizing data products are IT/Tech (86%), Operations (76%), and Finance/Accounting (72%). 

“The data modernization journey is no longer just about upgrading technology; it's about instilling a data-first mentality throughout the organization,” said Danielle Beringer, KPMG U.S. Principal, Data Strategy and Value. "Our survey found that 90% of respondents are planning to increase their data investments in the coming years, and more than a third said they already achieved extensive value from their data product initiatives. Our clients are on a data modernization journey, and I’m passionate about working with them to identify the right strategy and implementation path to drive value."

Industry insights:

Leaders in the consumer & retail, financial services, and healthcare & life sciences industries are more likely to report being fully ready in preparing their data and infrastructure for the use of data products. Laggards, on the other hand, are more likely to cite concerns around data quality, accessibility, and data understanding.

Challenges remain

Despite the clear importance of data to an organization’s success, ambiguous ownership, slow data acquisition, and low data quality are the most significant obstacles to realizing value from data product investments. These challenges are common across industries and are hindering many companies from achieving their full potential. Many organizations still centralize data product ownership within IT, missing crucial business context and collaboration.

About KPMG LLP
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