BARC Study Reveals Top Challenges to Becoming a Data-Driven Enterprise

Redwood City, Calif. – June 22, 2020 – Alation Inc., the data intelligence company, today announced the results of a global study, Leverage Your Data, A Data Strategy Checklist for the Journey to the Data-Driven Enterprise, which found that while nearly every company wants to be data-driven, the lack of documentation and knowledge about data inhibits that goal. The study, sponsored by Alation and carried out by Business Application Research Center (BARC), reveals that a key enabler to becoming a data-driven enterprise is the implementation of a successful data catalog that drives active contribution and collaboration from the business user.

According to the study, 90% of respondents indicate that data has a high priority in enterprise decision-making yet only 25% state that decisions are predominantly or purely made based on data. Several roadblocks inhibit the business user from embracing data and therefore prevent organizations from becoming data-driven. Participants report a lack of information and documentation on data, insight into who is using what data and for what purpose, and inconsistent meanings and interpretations of data as blockers. They also cite that data access is too complicated and that significant time is wasted asking the same questions about data or repeating work, further preventing business users from making data-driven decisions.

To overcome these obstacles, the report says that enterprises need to foster a data culture that empowers the business users. The data catalog drives data democratization by providing widespread access to data and encouraging a collaborative information exchange where data users – from business users to data analysts – can engage in an iterative process that ensures data quality and the proper use of data. The catalog tackles the challenges associated with data documentation by providing a business glossary that facilitates cross-departmental access to approved data definitions, ensuring that the meaning and interpretations of key figures in the organization are consistent. By removing these hurdles and empowering business users with a collaborative platform, organizations are able to unlock the true value of their data. This is why 77% of respondents currently use or are planning to use a data catalog.

For four consecutive years, Alation has been named the top-ranked data catalog in Dresner Advisory Services’ 2020 Wisdom of Crowds® Data Catalog Market Study. Alation has also been recognized as a leader in the Forrester Wave for Machine Learning Data Catalogs, a three-time leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions, and selected as a Gartner Peer Insights Customer’s Choice for Metadata Management Solutions.