Naarden, December 15, 2022 – More than half of organisations (56%) in the Netherlands are not yet making effective use of available data. Among large organisations, with more than two hundred and fifty employees, this percentage is even slightly higher, at 61 per cent. While just under half of organisations (47%) indicate that the majority of decisions within their organisation are made based on available data. This is according to research by low-code specialist USoft. In particular, government bodies (73%) and companies in the financial sector (71%) indicate that they do not yet make full use of available data.

Use of multiple systems causes bottlenecks

From the survey, the inability to use data effectively seems particularly related to systems. Half (51%) of managers report that systems in the organisation process information in different ways, which does not contribute to clarity and consistency. Often, fragmented information within the organisation is collected and processed by different systems because there were unique information needs during the development of these systems. Interestingly, three quarters (73%) of managers at energy companies endorse this. In addition, more than two in five organisations (43%) struggle with outdated data. For this reason, this group incurs delays, makes preventable mistakes and cannot react adequately to current events.

End-users need to take steps

Delays and errors in decision-making (34%), process inefficiency (33%) and inability to meet customer expectations (29%) are the main problems organisations face when they do not have the right information at the right time. This is partly because it is not entirely clear who within organisations is responsible for information provision and quality. In a quarter of organisations (26%), this responsibility lies with the CIO. Others responsible are the CEO (18%), the COO (17%) and the Chief Digital Officer (8%). Remarkably, 16% of the surveyed managers did not know which person or department holds this responsibility. In order to make optimal use of the available data organisation-wide, those with final responsibility will therefore have to take steps.

Quality of information more important than ever

“Fragmentation and lack of unambiguous information are assassins when it comes to service delivery,” says Hans Canisius, CEO of USoft. “When, as an organisation, you cannot respond in time to changes in the market and society, it can have major consequences for business operations. At USoft, we call timely response to change the Act-Now principle. Agility and flexibility have become necessary to operate successfully in today’s market. This is achievable only when data is deployed effectively and is of high quality. We offer solutions for companies that run into these issues, by working closely together to create a clear IT environment in which data is optimally available and can be utilised.”

(This report is only available in Dutch)

USoft conducted research among 540 managers in the Netherlands, at organisations with more than 50 employees. Almost half came from organisations with more than 250 employees.