‘Three in four manufacturers held back by disconnected data’
4 Apr 2022
An independent survey of 1,030 UK-based industrial firms reveals a total of 74% of respondents employ “often out-of-date, disconnected data” to support corporate decision making because they are dependent on legacy systems and spreadsheets.
Digital workflow experts Intoware, who commissioned the research by Surveygoo between the 28h February and the 3 March this year found that despite this reliance, a large majority of manufacturers (86%) who answered claimed to be data-informed.
Intoware CEO Keith Tilley said: “The survey shows that manufacturers believe they are data-driven, when in reality they could be relying on old, out-of-date data. This disconnected data acts like a ball and chain, tying down your staff as they spend a huge amount of time trying to unlock data trapped in spreadsheets and legacy systems to meet the demands of businesses, customers and regulators.
Encouragingly, 77% of senior decision makers hade access to data and a substantial majority regarded good data as an asset. Yet fewer than half of respondents (47%) used data only occasionally.
Close to three-quarters said they were interested in using digital software tools to support their role, yet 45% admitted they were at best only slightly confident or ‘overwhelmed’ when dealing with data to back decision making.
Tilley added that the result was that available data was too often available only in siloes, which limited overall access and proper exploitation of data resources.
“A reliance on siloed data severely hinders business operations with accountability and visibility issues, as each department has their own interpretation of data, which is a problem for businesses that are increasingly under pressure to evolve how they manage resources and communicate data insights,” he explained.
Many firms adopt a resolutely unscientific approach relying on ‘gut feeling’ for decisions. More than one in four admitted doing so at some point, with 16% saying they did so weekly.
Said Tilley: “This can have serious implications, such as when managers need to introduce engineering changes without assessing the impact on current works or raw materials for example – which are all factors that are detrimental to business performance."
Photo: While the likes of Siemens' Congleton factory are leading the way in UK digital and data development, Intoware's report warns many firms are lagging behind or too piecemeal in their approach
