76% Say Their Companies Are Data-Driven—But 39% Don't Know What That Actually Means

A significant disconnect exists between data experts and business domain experts regarding what it means to be data-driven, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for companies. While 76% of professionals claim their companies are data-driven, 39% of business domain experts are uncertain about its meaning, compared to only 6% of data experts. This gap results in communication challenges, with data experts struggling to meet business needs, as evidenced by the 45% of data experts who have difficulty interpreting business questions and the 20% of domain experts who feel their data needs are rarely met. The average turnaround time for data requests is 1-4 weeks, creating bottlenecks and frustration. Domain experts often lack confidence and data literacy, with 34% not confident in articulating their data needs and 30% feeling embarrassed about their data knowledge. Despite these challenges, both groups express a desire to collaborate more effectively, with modern cloud analytics tools like Sigma offering a solution by providing a common platform for real-time data exploration. These tools help bridge the gap, allowing both data and domain experts to leverage each other's expertise and generate valuable insights.