Foundry’s 2022 Data & Analytics Study shows improving business process automation and customer engagement as top goals for IT decision-makers

Boston, Mass. – June 2, 2022 – Foundry (formerly IDG Communications), the global leader in media, martech and data for the tech community, released the 2022 Foundry Data & Analytics Study, which gives insights into organizations’ data-driven initiatives, investments, results and strategies. Data and analytics have been instrumental to helping organizations successfully solve problems and IT decision-makers (ITDMs) have taken notice as 84% of organizations have either already deployed or have data-driven projects on their roadmaps.

Data-Driven Projects Continue Moving Forward

Data-driven projects continue to accelerate as 34% of organizations stated that they have already deployed or implemented data-driven projects compared to 28% of organizations stating the same in 2021. However, enterprises are further along in their data-driven plans compared to SMBs as 92% of enterprise organizations have already deployed or are considering data-driven projects compared to 79% of SMBs.

For businesses moving data-driven initiatives forward, top goals and objectives include:

  • Improving and automating internal business process (50%)
  • Improving customer insight and engagement (46%)
  • Improving customer service and support (43%)
  • Improving and automating IT operations (43%)
  • Improving existing products (36%)
  • Improving information security and cybersecurity (36%)

“Data and analytics tools continue to improve and the clear demand for these types of projects will continue to efficiently move these initiatives forward,” said Stacey Raap, Marketing & Research Manager, Foundry. “These tools are providing businesses with invaluable insights, allowing them to increase performance and growth. We will likely see data and analytics tools in all parts of the business as they continue to advance.”

Challenges Still Need To Be Overcome

Although more organizations are deploying data-driven initiatives, there are still many challenges that ITDMs look to overcome. When asked which areas within their data-driven initiatives are causing the most pain for their organization, the majority of respondents stated data quality (41%), followed by data security and governance (38%), data analysis (31%), and data preparation/transformation (29%).

Challenges go deeper than technical limitations as 44% of ITDMs declare a lack of appropriate skills as a challenge getting in the way of their organization making further progress on their data-driven initiatives. Because of this, 41% of respondents state their organization is in need of analytical training to support their data and analytics initiatives.

“As with any part of an organization’s growing technology stack, there are always challenges to overcome and IT teams and end users need to be given the correct resources to continue moving in a forward trajectory,” added Raap. “Organizations must invest to alleviate the pain points associated with data-driven tools and provide employees with the needed resources to refine their skillset.”

Data & Analytics Investments and Vendor Criteria

Over three quarters (77%) of organizations are making necessary investments in data and analytics technologies to compete in the marketplace. The average spend on data-driven initiatives over the next 12 months is $12.3M, and 55% of ITDMs expect their IT budget allocated to data-driven initiatives to increase in the next year, up from 44% in 2021. However, 33% of respondents expect the budget to remain the same and only 4% expect it to decrease.

When evaluating data & analytics vendors, organizations cite data reporting and visualization capabilities (36%) as the most important criteria, followed by security and governance capabilities (31%), integration into existing infrastructure (31%), self-service analytics for non-technical users (26%) and data integration and transformation pipeline (26%). 

About the 2022 Foundry Data & Analytics Study

Released under the IDG Communications, Inc. brand for past iterations, Foundry conducted its 2022 Data & Analytics survey online between the months of February and April 2022 to gain a better understanding of organizations’ data-driven initiatives, challenges, goals, investments, and vendor expectations. A total of 1,039 respondents participated in the survey and results in the report are based on 872 respondents from North America, APAC, and EMEA who reported their organizations are currently implementing, planning or considering data-driven projects. This is the 6th time Foundry has conducted a data & analytics study, with the most recent year prior being the 2021 IDG Data & Analytics Study.

To learn more about this study, download the full executive summary.

About Foundry, formerly IDG Communications, Inc.

Foundry has played a key role in every major milestone, announcement, and development in modern technology since 1964. Today, Foundry continues to lead the world by helping companies bring their visions to reality through a combination of media, marketing technologies and proprietary data. Our technology platforms of Triblio, Selling Simplified, KickFire and LeadSift are powered by data from an owned and operated ecosystem of global editorial brands, awards, and events, all engineered and integrated to drive marketing campaigns for technology companies. Foundry is dedicated to generating and innovating with data, driving demand for technology marketers with 38 offices in markets around the globe. Foundry is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group, Inc. (IDG), the world’s leading tech media, data, research and marketing services company.

To learn more about Foundry, visit foundryco.com.