UK CEOs ignore IT data when making big decisions

2 weeks ago 6

According to new data from Confluent, the majority of UK business leaders (86%) find themselves having to make decisions “faster than ever before,” but they’re overlooking key data.

Despite increased pressure, more than half (57%) of the 200 high-level executives included in the survey claim to have less time than they used to.

With nine in 10 agreeing that real-time decision-making has become imperative, around three in five (58%) admit to relying on intuition or gut feel rather than actual data.

C-suite decisions are often made on gut feel

Furthermore, three in five (61%) reported making frequent snap decisions without thoroughly reviewing data, with areas like people management (73%), expanding the workforce (56%), market expansion (53%), new products (52%), budgets and investments (45%) and new processes and technologies (42%) all highly affected.

Even though C-suite leaders are making uninformed decisions, many would prefer to rely on accurate data (84%) or have real-time data accessible to them (85%).

Consequentially, almost all (97%) of the leaders that participated in the ‘Quick Thinking’ survey plan to invest in real-time dashboards and data streaming technologies, with 96% saying this is ‘important’ or ‘essential.’

Richard Timperlake, SVP of EMEA at Confluent, commented, “Across the UK, businesses are having to choose between fast decisions and informed decisions. That shouldn’t be the case. Today’s leaders and CEOs need to know that they can access a full, accurate picture of their organisations in real-time. The move to data streaming is an essential part of that shift.”

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Timperlake added: “How data is processed and distributed is no longer just a technical or IT issue, it’s a business-wide decision that can impact everything from profitability to the customer experience.”