Overwhelmed by the relentless deluge of information, business leaders have relinquished to the relentless waves of data that engulfs them, finds study.
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” — Sherlock Holmes
Despite Sherlock Holmes’ social detachment and addiction to cocaine, we admire him for his uncanny ability to keenly observe details, connect them, and derive accurate insights.
Sadly, businesses don’t have Holmes.
They have data, and this data never sleeps.
And in many cases, the amount of data is leaving them lost—drowning in a sea of petabytes, and they don’t know how to make sense of it, finds a new study.
According to a recent report by Oracle, a staggering 82% of business leaders confess to being paralyzed in their decision-making process due to the sheer magnitude of available data and their lack of trust in its accuracy. This has hindered their ability to make any decisions with data.
The study titled ‘The Decision Dilemma,’ by Oracle and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, New York Times bestselling author, found that people are struggling to make decisions in their personal and professional lives at a time when they are being forced to make more decisions than ever before.
According to the study findings, an additional 90% of business leaders in India experience decision distress, characterised by feelings of regret, guilt, or doubt regarding decisions they made within the past year.
The survey findings demonstrate the global impact of the escalating data struggle on businesses and how it is reshaping the decision-making process for C-suite leaders worldwide. The study was conducted with over 14,000 employees and business leaders across 17 countries, including 1000 in India.
The case of analysis paralysis
Business leaders find themselves adrift in a sea of uncertainty, unsure of which data or sources to place their trust in.
The report states that 80% of people have given up on making a decision as the data was overwhelming, and 26% don’t know which data or sources to trust.
“Our study reveals that while data overload is overwhelming for business leaders, at the same time, they also want data to help in the organisation’s success. 99% of Indian business leaders believe having the right type of decision intelligence can make or break the success of an organisation. 94% of business leaders do believe that having multiple sources is beneficial to collecting a cohesive set of data, but the growing number of sources is prohibiting the success of their overall organisation,” says Deepa Param Singhal, Vice President, Cloud Applications, Oracle India.
Over the past three years, 91% of people have reported a tenfold increase in the number of decisions they make daily. As they grapple with this surge in decision-making, 90% find themselves bombarded with an overwhelming volume of data from a multitude of sources, as per the report.
The sheer volume of data makes decisions in their personal and professional lives much more complicated. 69% of people have confessed to facing a decision dilemma, where they are uncertain about what choice to make using the data, multiple times each day, states the findings.
“Considering the rising data overload and the decision-making responsibilities of business leaders including CFOs, data management will ultimately become a key business function. As CFOs face the new challenge of making higher-level decisions while extensively analyzing data entering systems, the goal is to find the optimal balance between human intelligence and data management,” says Kaushik Mitra, Senior Director, Cloud ERP, Oracle India.
The study also found that 98% of business leaders have changed the way they make decisions over the last three years. About 51% now only listen to sources they trust and 37% rely solely on gut feelings.
While Holmes could piece together the puzzle to solve a captivating mystery, businesses seem to be struggling to uncover hidden insights and make informed decisions that drive success in today’s dynamic business landscape.
