Data, its analysis and its benefits have increasingly become the focus of attention in recent years. According to Gartner, data analysis is one of the game-changer technologies to emerge stronger from the pandemic at 36% - well ahead of artificial intelligence at 24%. This is not just technology hype. Rather, this development illustrates the enormous potential of data. After many industries and companies had to cope with changing conditions last year, data promises more orientation in corporate strategy. In IT, data is paving the way for innovation, for example to better understand customers and their needs. However, working with data is not only influenced by the information itself and the analysis technologies, but also by certain trends and framework conditions:

1. the CDO is on the rise

While the CIO (Chief Information Officer) takes care of the technology assets, the CDO (Chief Data Officer) is responsible for the information assets. As the person responsible for data prioritization and orchestration, he or she advises the decision-makers in the company with the insights gained from data and ensures that these are also reflected in the corporate strategy and all business-relevant decisions.

2. more data competence in companies

Data literacy does not mean training every employee to become a data scientist. Rather, it is about a general understanding of data: What significance does it have for the company? What are the specific goals of data analysis? With comprehensive data literacy, a company ensures that all stakeholders have a common goal. This prevents individual departments from forming data silos and pursuing different, possibly competing data strategies.

3. data democratization: access for all

Along with data literacy, data democratization is also becoming increasingly important. If all departments in a company are to develop an understanding of data, it must be as easily accessible as possible for as many employees as possible. This also means that everyone always has access to the same up-to-date data. This is simplified by the cloud. Visualization software makes the data understandable even for non-data scientists and makes it easier to use.

4. learning to learn with data

Successful companies have become accustomed to making their decisions based on data. This can start quite simply on the company website: Processes such as A/B testing require a "positive failure", i.e. quick tests of what really resonates with customers and what does not. This supports continuous learning based on data: which variant of the check-out process generates more sales, which configuration tool is preferred?

5 Data privacy is more important than ever

Given the central role of data in a company's success, it is all the more important to protect it and the privacy of those who provide it, such as customers. Data leaks can not only damage a company's reputation, but also severely disrupt operations, for example if internal databases are exposed to external attacks and hacked. At the same time, breaches of privacy, which companies can easily undermine in view of complex framework conditions such as the GDPR, often lead to costly warnings. Against this backdrop, data privacy is a very complex and not an easy topic. Companies should therefore anchor it centrally in their strategy from the outset.

6. post-cookie: Own data gain in importance

Cookies are often used on company websites to record and analyze visitor data. However, due to stricter data protection guidelines and technological changes in web browsers, cookies will soon be history. This will fundamentally change the way companies advertise themselves and their portfolios. Self-generated data - i.e. data obtained outside of the major search engines and social media channels - as well as information provided by business partners, for example, will become increasingly important for a company's own communication and sales channels.

7. data scientists remain in demand

Even though data analysis software can help with handling data, data scientists are and will remain extremely valuable to companies. They are therefore highly sought after on the job market. Employees with skills in the field of data analytics are increasingly becoming a success and competitive factor for companies. In the future, managers in companies will increasingly base their decisions on the analysis and interpretation of existing data material, which ideally will also be correlated with available external market data.

Oliver Henrich, Vice President Product Engineering at Sage, comments: "We see this trend very clearly. Data will replace the proverbial gut feeling. This is not just about analyzing and forecasting developments on the financial markets. For manufacturing companies, for example, it will also make it possible to predict demand for certain products very accurately. Not only can material and personnel requirements be forecast accordingly, but market trends can also be accurately anticipated. The result: competitive advantages over market competitors. Intelligent software systems undoubtedly make an important contribution here. But it also requires the right specialists to draw the right conclusions for the strategic direction and operational processes of their company from the automatically generated analysis results."