Australia and Singapore most ‘data ready’ in APAC

Organisations in Singapore and Australia are leading the way in making data central to their business operations, while India is lagging behind, according to a report from Tableau Software and market intelligence firm IDC.

The report, Asia Pacific Data Readiness Index (DRI), ranks markets across APAC on the volume of organisations that are ‘data ready’. Data readiness refers to an organisation’s capability to make data central to their business through widespread adoption of analytics.

The results are based on interviews with executives from over 700 organisations in seven markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea). The execs were surveyed on key dimensions of data-readiness: people-related factors (skills and organisation), process, technology and governance. Based on the results, organisations were classified across three bands of data-readiness: leading, developing and lagging.

Leading data-ready organisations produced an average of 90% better business outcomes than laggards, but only 20% of businesses across APAC are in the leading band with a majority in the developing (66%) and lagging (14%) bands, the survey found.

Singapore is one of the most data-ready markets in the region with the highest number of organisations in the leading band (52%). Organizations in Singapore also come up as leaders on the dimensions of people skills and governance.

Overall, Singapore (52%) and Australia (49.5%) have the largest number of organizations leading the way. India has the most organizations that are lagging behind (30%).

APAC markets rank as follows on the index, based on their average DRI score:

1. Australia 3.54
2. Singapore 3.52
3. Japan 2.74
4. South Korea 2.69
5. Hong Kong 2.67
6. China 2.64
7. India 2.51

“Organisations in APAC are at an inflection point of their digital transformation," said JY Pook, Tableau's APAC SVP. "While many recognise the critical role data plays in this strategy, they are struggling to become truly data-driven.

“In order to remain competitive and realise the business benefits, organisations need to adopt a holistic and tailored approach to drive data readiness in their organisation.”

The report lays bare the differences in data-readiness across functions and industries throughout Asia, said Chris Marshall, IDC associate VP of analytics, big data and AI. 

"The factors that drive DRI, like skills, leadership, technology, governance, and process also vary widely," he added. "These reveal some valuable lessons for business leaders about the initiatives to prioritise in particular circumstances."