Business leaders: Anticipating future tech trends is not in our job description

Business leaders understand the importance of data analytics, and will do what it takes to make sure their company’s data needs are met. However, they don’t think they should be anticipating future trends in order to take full advantage of any upcoming opportunities.

Those are the results of a new study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and sponsored by Microsoft Cloud. The study is entitled Transforming Business, and says that 67 percent of survey respondents (including IT leaders, HR leaders, finance and sales & marketing people), are "somewhat" or "very" confident about their department’s ability to use data.

Almost three quarters (71 percent) are also quite confident in their own ability to make sure their department gets all the information it needs. However, just over a third (35 percent) believe understanding the impact of technology trends is their responsibility. Moreover, 31 percent have said the same about devising and implementing a technology strategy for their department.

"Business leaders clearly understand how important data and analytics will be in the near future", said Pete Swabey, senior editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit. "However, technology trends that are now emerging -- from cloud computing to the Internet of things -- will have a considerable impact on the data available for analysis, and the capabilities companies will need in order to extract valuable insight from it".

The EIU study is part of Transforming Business, a research and content program sponsored by Microsoft Cloud. It is looking to find out what kind of business impact technology trends can have in the future.

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