97% of Data Leaders Have Multiple BI and Reporting Apps

BOULDER, Colo. — A new report on data sprawl shows that nearly every data leader is using multiple business intelligence (BI) and reporting apps.

The report, “The State of Data and High Costs of Data Sprawl” by Hakkoda, indicates that data sprawl is a compounding and costly issue and likely to worsen with today’s proliferation of tools and scarcity of talent, according to the company.

Hakkoda, a cloud data company specializing in Snowflake, released the report last week. 

“According to McKinsey data, a mid-sized company with $5 billion of operating costs might spend $250 million on data management,” said Ha Hoang, co-founder and chief operating officer of Hakkoda. 

“Those are just the hard costs. When you factor in the impact of inefficient and duplicate processes, bad data and the inability to innovate — which this research shows are fundamental issues — the business costs are much greater.”

See more: Data Analytics Market Review

Key findings in “The State of Data and High Costs of Data Sprawl” 

Data sprawl is a real issue in larger enterprises

• 97% of data leaders have multiple business intelligence (BI) and reporting apps; 1 in 4 have more than 10 apps
• 35% use five or more data warehouses
• 25% had over 500 data analysts in the organization 
• Nearly a quarter rely on 10 or more service providers 

Data sprawl is costly to business, but the true costs are hard to pin down

• When asked where the cost of data analytics was highest, the top answers were BI and reporting (54%), data architecture (52%), and governance (49%)
• Only 3% of respondents said they understand the full cost of their data analytics programs; 6% said they don’t even bother

Talent scarcity is adding to data costs and preventing innovation

• 97% of respondents report problems finding talent 
• Organizations struggled the most finding data scientists trained in machine learning (ML) (48%) and data architects (34%)
• 94% of respondents reported barriers to innovation in their data programs
• When asked what prevented leaders from innovating or creating new offerings, the number one answer was insufficient internal expertise. Internal bureaucracy and inability to tap into existing resources was a close second. 

See more: Data Analytics Market Trends

“Data sprawl is clearly an issue, and leaders tend to use data sprawl as an argument for tighter controls,” said Erik Duffield, co-founder and CEO, Hakkoda.

“However, tighter controls are not the way to unlock the value of data. Data derives its value from utility, so it’s setting up a false choice.”

Duffield added that modern governance practices and platforms can increase control, while providing greater speed, quality, and access.

Report methodology 

For “The State of Data and High Costs of Data Sprawl,” Hakkoda commissioned Dimensional Research to survey 312 IT and line-of-business leaders responsible for data and analytics initiatives at mid-to-large companies about th  state of their analytics environments. 

Responses were captured between Sept. 17-24, 2021.

Funding round

Hakkoda, which specializes in helping companies get their “data house in order,” also announced last week it received $5.6 million in funding from Tercera, a growth-focused investment and advisory firm specializing in cloud professional services, and other individual investors.

The funds will be used to increase Hakkoda’s presence in North America and Costa Rica, expand its team of data engineers in Latin America, and build vertical specific solutions on the Snowflake platform, according to the company.

See more: Top Data Analytics Tools & Software