Sybase Analytics

Sybase has just released the second part of a three part ground-breaking study that attempts to measure the direct correlation between a company’s IT investments and its business performance.  The study was commissioned by Sybase and conducted by researchers from the University of Texas in conjunction with the Indian School of Business.  In a previous blog post, I discussed the insights derived from part one –impacts of data effectiveness on general corporate financial performance.  Here is a link to that blog post:

http://blogs.sybase.com/sybaseiq/2010/09/the-benefits-of-improved-data-%e2%80%93-quantified-at-last/

The second part of the study has just been released, and focuses on the relationship between better data, and a company’s ability to innovate and grow revenue from new products and services.  This is important, because new business – an increasing customer base and variety of products – is a key indicator of a firm’s competitiveness and ability to thrive.

Part two of the documented study includes some thoughts from Mark Deck, lead director of product development practice at PRTM, a management consulting firm in Waltham, MA, who describes why there is a relationship between better data and innovation.  Mr. Deck says “…increased data accessibility enables different groups such as product development in an organization to obtain data from functions like sales and services, which provide important information on customer preferences and demand patterns”.  Accurate data and correct analysis is critical for the creation and marketing of new products and services.

The study focuses on two aspects of data effectiveness – accessibility (availability by remote users) and intelligence (trends and patterns) – and how a 10% improvement in these attributes leads to increased revenue from both new products and services, and new customers.  These results were generated based on a detailed survey of over 150 Fortune 1000 companies.  Here are the key findings:

• An increase of 10% in data accessibility and intelligence leads to a .81% increase in revenue due to new products: $17 million additional revenue for the median firm in the study’s sample
• An increase of 10% in data accessibility and intelligence leads to a .7% increase in revenue due to new customers: $14.7 million additional revenue for the median firm in the study’s sample

The results demonstrate the often dramatic impacts from even marginal improvements in data quality and usability.  The third and final part of the report will explore customer-focused and operational impacts.  You can find the published report here:

http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1082805