Businesses fail to take full advantage of data science

The benefits of data science are widely recognised according to a new survey, but 22 percent of users are failing to take full advantage of the data available.

The study by Continuum Analytics, the company behind the Anaconda open source data platform, surveyed 200 data science and analytics decision makers at US organizations of all sizes and industries, as well as more than 500 data scientists to uncover similarities and disparities between the two groups.

Among the findings are that 73 percent of respondents rank data science as one of the top three most valuable technologies they use. However, a disparity exists between understanding the impact of data science and actually executing it in the enterprise. 62 percent say data science is used at least on a weekly basis, but just 31 percent of that group are using it daily.

When comparing the beliefs of executives and IT managers with data scientists, nearly all respondents from both groups agree on the critical impact of data science in the enterprise. But there is a divide over where companies are in the data science lifecycle. Just 24 percent of data scientists feel their companies have reached the "teen" stage -- developed enough to hold its own with room to mature -- as opposed to the 40 percent of executives who feel confident they have arrived at this stage of development.

In addition to the 22 percent of of enterprise respondents who report that their teams are failing to use the data to its potential, 14 percent use data science very minimally or not at all. This is down to three primary adoption barriers: executive teams that are satisfied with the status quo (38 percent), a struggle to calculate ROI (27 percent) and budgetary restrictions (24 percent).

"Over 94 percent of the enterprises in the survey rely on open source for data science. Open Data Science is the Rosetta Stone to unlocking the value locked away in data, especially Big Data," says Michele Chambers, EVP Anaconda Business Unit at Continuum Analytics. "Our research shows that data science is no longer just for competitive advantage; it needs to be infused into day-to-day operations to maximize the value of data. Data science is business and the best run businesses run Open Data Science."

You can read more in the full report which is available to download from the company's website.

Image Credit: alphaspirit / Shutterstock