A
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://venturebeat.com/2021/08/04/97-of-execs-say-data-science-is-crucial-to-maintaining-profitability/"
 target="_blank"
 >majority</a
 >
 of business leaders believe data insights are key to the success of their business
 in a digital environment. However, many companies
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://hbr.org/2022/02/why-becoming-a-data-driven-organization-is-so-hard"
 target="_blank"
 >struggle</a
 >
 to build a data-driven culture, with a key reason being the lack of a
 sound data democratization strategy.
 
 
 A survey by Google Cloud and Harvard Business Review shows
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://cloud.google.com/resources/hbr-turn-data-into-business-value-report"
 target="_blank"
 >97%</a
 >
 of companies recognize that democratizing data is critical to their
 success, but only
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://cloud.google.com/resources/hbr-turn-data-into-business-value-report"
 >60%</a
 >
 are "effectively" moving toward that goal.
 
 But what's data democratization?
 
 Democratizing data in an organization is much more than just giving employees
 access to data. It's a process that enables everyone in an organization,
 regardless of their technical skills, to be comfortable working with
 data, feel confident talking about it, and make data-driven decisions
 that can positively impact various aspects of the business. It's an
 ongoing process because it goes hand in hand with data literacy, which is also
 a continuous process.
 
 <h3>The rise of all-in-one data solutions</h3>
 
 Until recently, data was only used by a few technical specialists in
 organizations who would set up and operate the systems needed to make
 data available and accessible to the rest of the team. But as the data
 democratization trend grows, new tools are being developed for
 non-technical professionals to provide organization-wide access to data and
 analytics.
 
 
 Of the data software available on the market, all-in-one tools that offer a
 comprehensive range of solutions through a single platform are the most
 popular options for many organizations looking to extract more value from
 their data.
 
 
 There are two main challenges that all-in-one data tools are designed to
 address, namely the gap between data and commercial teams, and the
 expensive and time-consuming nature of the process of data
 maturity&mdash;a measurement of how capable an organization is at making
 the most of its data.
 
 <h3>The gap between data and commercial teams</h3>
 
 Data and commercial teams are often siloed functions within a company, and
 it's not uncommon for them to fail to communicate with each other and
 even get in each other's way. Different training backgrounds, different
 goals, or lack of context are just some of the reasons.
 
 
 This inevitably leads to inefficiencies as each department takes a different
 direction on a given project. In fact,
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://blog.bit.ai/collaboration-statistics/"
 target="_blank"
 >97%</a
 >
 of employees and executives believe lack of communication and alignment
 within an organization impacts the outcome of a task or project.
 
 
 Better collaboration and cross-functional coordination between different
 departments is therefore a key success factor, especially in today's
 world of remote work where a company's growth and survival depends more
 than ever on effective teamwork.
 
 <h3>Data maturity being an expensive and long process</h3>
 
 Data maturity can be a costly and lengthy process for many organizations. A
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/take-your-analytics-maturity-to-the-next-level#:~:text=Low%20maturity%20can%20be%20the,ability%20to%20exploit%20advanced%20analytics."
 >Gartner</a
 > <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/take-your-analytics-maturity-to-the-next-level#:~:text=Low%20maturity%20can%20be%20the,ability%20to%20exploit%20advanced%20analytics."
 >survey</a
 >
 reveals that 87.5% of companies have low levels of data and analytics
 maturity. This means that individual business units are pursuing their
 own data and analytics initiatives as stand-alone projects, and there's
 no common structure that would enable the enterprise to efficiently
 leverage advanced analytics.
 
 
 According to
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/take-your-analytics-maturity-to-the-next-level#:~:text=Low%20maturity%20can%20be%20the,ability%20to%20exploit%20advanced%20analytics."
 target="_blank"
 >Gartner</a
 >, low maturity can be the result of a lack of vision and skills, a lack of
 experience in strategic planning and execution, limited budgets, and primitive
 or outdated infrastructure. As a result, organizations suffer from
 incomplete or inconsistent data sets, poor data quality, duplicate data
 processes, data security issues, and poor coordination across the
 enterprise.
 
 
 For data democratization to reach its full potential, organizations must first
 improve their maturity, but they may not have enough time and financial,
 technological, and human resources to do so. It can also be difficult to
 bring on board skilled data experts&mdash;who are in high demand
 today&mdash;or to get buy-in from leadership and senior management to advance
 data initiatives.
 
 
 This is where all-in-one data tools can shine. They eliminate the need to
 invest in multiple external tools or in-house solutions, consolidate and
 centralize all data, and save teams the time and effort of searching
 multiple data sources.
 
 <h3>Benefits of all-in-one data tools</h3>
 
 Let's now take a closer look at how commercial teams, and companies in
 general, can access and benefit from all-in-one data tools.
 
 
 1. Improved marketing performance
 
 
 According to a study,
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://get.treasuredata.com/rs/714-XIJ-402/images/the-state-of-the-customer-journey-arm-treasure-data.pdf"
 target="_blank"
 >47%</a
 >
 of marketers say that data silos are their biggest challenge when it
 comes to gaining insights from data.
 
 
 A single data platform allows companies to create a journey map for customers
 that shows how they interact with the brand over time. This journey map
 helps marketers identify key touchpoints that can be improved or better
 leveraged. By being able to segment users by their behavior, location, or
 device, companies can better target them.
 
 
 2. Improved customer experience
 
 
 A Forrester report shows that 72% of companies find it challenging to manage
 multiple customer relationship management (CRM) tools across geographies
 and technology silos.
 
 
 An all-in-one data platform enables the collection of customer feedback from
 multiple channels, providing a holistic view of customer sentiment and
 satisfaction. This feedback helps commercial teams identify what
 customers want and find ways to improve the overall experience for their
 customers, while data teams get to reclaim their time and energy to
 in-depth, impactful work.
 
 
 This is especially important because
 <a
 style="color: #f66640"
 href="https://go.emplifi.io/us-uk-customer-expectations-report.html"
 target="_blank"
 >61%</a
 >
 of people are willing to pay at least 5% more if they know they'll have a
 good customer experience, and
 <a style="color: #f66640;" href="https://go.emplifi.io/us-uk-customer-expectations-report.html"
 >56%</a
 >
 say that the quality of customer service has a greater impact on how
 positively they view a brand than any other factor.
 
 
 3. Better customer lifetime value and retention
 
 
 The ability to identify key metrics in real time using a single data platform
 enables rapid decision making and helps increase customer loyalty and
 engagement. This also improves customer retention as companies can tailor
 their products or services to meet customers' needs.
 
 
 4. Reduced costs and time allocated to data operations
 
 
 As all-in-one data tools help companies identify their customers' needs in
 real time, they can help reduce costs, while increasing profits, and time
 spent on data operations. That's because they can become data-driven
 without a full team of specialists, and if and when they do hire a data
 expert or team, they&rsquo;ll be well equipped to dive right into the
 work. Additionally, companies can identify when the cost of customer
 acquisition outweighs the benefits, allowing for rapid growth or
 discontinuation of programs that aren't working.
 
 
 5. Higher efficiency and revenue
 
 
 When a company has access to information about customer needs through a
 single data platform, it can streamline its operations and achieve
 greater efficiency by delivering products or services in the shortest
 possible time. This, in turn, enables faster revenue growth.
 
 <h3>Future-proofing your company through Data</h3>
 
 All-in-one data solutions can facilitate the seismic shift to a data-driven
 culture. They can help organizations launch their data operations in a
 matter of hours instead of months or even years. They enable businesses
 to become data-driven without a full team of specialists, and even if
 they do hire a data expert or team, they're well-equipped to get started
 right away.
 
 
 Meanwhile, teams in each department can focus on important tasks instead of
 sifting through and pulling data from multiple data sources. Easy access
 to data-driven insights would lead to greater efficiency, productivity,
 and profits as well as higher data security. Customers will also have a
 much better experience. So it's a win-win situation.
 
 
 In today's borderless digital world where data is the lingua franca, data
 democratization is no longer a nice-to-have, but a necessity for
 organizations to achieve their goals and gain a competitive advantage.
 
 
 To succeed, executives should invest in all-in-one data platforms and take a
 coordinated and holistic approach to their efforts toward data
 democratization, which has triggered a seismic shift in the business
 world.

democratization

How All-in-One Tools Are Accelerating Data Democratization

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