Strong corporate data literacy linked to higher company performance

Organisations with strong corporate data literacy have been associated with a 3-5% higher enterprise value, according to a new research study called the Data Literacy Index.

The study was commissioned by Qlik and produced by Wharton School academics and IHS Markit.

It was also found that businesses are not helping employees better use data. Just 34% of firms currently provide data literacy training, while only 36% are willing to pay higher salaries to employees who are data literate.

Further, while 92% of business decision makers believe it is crucial for employees to be data literate, only 17% are encouraging employees to do so.

The data gap in decision making  

Large enterprises that have higher corporate data literacy have been shown to experience $320-$534 million in higher enterprise value.

Even as most business leaders acknowledge the importance of data skills to their industry (93%) and how their company currently makes decisions (98%), just eight percent of firms have made major changes in the way the data is used in the last five years.

Mixed results in Asia Pacific

Singapore emerged as the most data literate nation globally, with the highest Corporate Data Literacy score of 84.1 compared to 81.3 in the UK and 72.6 in the US.

Overall, Asia Pacific recorded the highest increase in the importance of data in the last five years, moving faster than the US and Middle East:

• India had a score of 76.2;
• Australia 72.4;
• Japan 54.9.

Reflecting on the findings, Jordan Morrow, Global Head of Data Literacy at Qlik said: “With the greater presence of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, the fourth industrial revolution is looming. Data will be its universal language and those companies that master it will reap the rewards.”