Collibra, the Data Intelligence company, announced the findings of a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on its behalf, which surveyed more than 900 global business analysts about their use of data to drive decisions and achieve key business objectives. The study, "The Business Impact of Data Intelligent Management," found that organizations that put data at the center of their vision and strategy realize a differentiated competitive advantage by mitigating cost and risk, growing revenue and improving the customer experience.

Despite a majority of companies saying they valued using data to drive decisions, many organizations are not consistently executing. While 84% of respondents said that it is very important or critical to put data at the center of their crucial business decisions and strategy, nearly half (43%) admitted that their organizations fail to always or even routinely use data to guide business decisions.

Without a data management strategy, analysts often spend time on tasks that take away from their ability to perform analysis and provide value. This is a resounding issue for less data-mature organizations, which are 55% less likely to say their data management strategies positively contribute to optimal business decisions.

Those insights-driven decisions are also yielding more successful outcomes, giving data intelligent organizations a competitive edge in achieving their key business objectives. These organizations, which have the ability to connect the right data, insights and algorithms so people can drive business value, realized an 8% advantage in improving customer trust, an 81% advantage in growing revenue, and a 173% advantage in better complying with regulations and requirements. Those organizations adopting Data Intelligence were also 58% more likely to exceed their revenue goals than non-data intelligent organizations.

"To lead with data, companies need to advance how they discover, organize, collaborate with, and execute on the data they have," said Felix Van de Maele, co-founder and CEO of Collibra. "Companies also must optimize how data analysts spend their time and automate rote tasks with data management technology. By freeing analysts up to spend more time on value-added tasks, organizations can decrease time to insight and accelerate trusted business outcomes."

Gene Leganza, Vice President and Research Director for Forrester Research, will detail the findings of this study as a featured speaker in a Data Citizens '20 Digital Experience session on Thursday, June 4: "How Data Intelligence can drive success and mitigate risk." Register for this complimentary event and session.