There’s never been a better time to be an analyst. While historically analytics was consigned to the metaphorical fireplace in an organisation, to be acknowledged and occasionally fed but largely ignored, today the story is much evolved. The vast amounts of data being produced in ever greater amounts has led to a renewed interest in making sense of this information treasure trove, and successfully unlocking its secrets can be a tremendous boon to businesses. But the discipline is not without its challenges. Many organisations have not yet worked out how to store and organise the data they are generating, let alone analyse it. IT infrastructure is evolving, but not always in the right direction, and certainly not always fast enough in Asia.

1. There’s never been a better time to be an analyst.
While historically analytics was consigned to the
metaphorical fireplace in an organisation, to be
acknowledged and occasionally fed but largely ignored,
today the story is much evolved. The vast amounts of
data being produced in ever greater amounts has led
to a renewed interest in making sense of this information
treasure trove, and successfully unlocking its secrets
can be a tremendous boon to businesses.
But the discipline is not without its challenges. Many
organisations have not yet worked out how to store and
organise the data they are generating, let alone analyse
it. IT infrastructure is evolving, but not always in the right
direction, and certainly not always fast enough in Asia.
And then there’s the more fundamental problem of a
lack of skilled talent to actually execute the analysis
that so many companies desperately need.
So has the hype outpaced reality once again, and
is analytics simply the latest in a chain of Big Tech
promises that has yet to yield the anticipated results?
Yes and No.
Like e-commerce in the late 1990s, digital marketing
at the turn of the century, and cloud computing of
late, analytics – while momentarily overshadowed
by the so-called Internet of Everything – remains
the blue-eyed child of the Internet era.
Analytics, as defined by the Tech giants, refers to the
capabilities that enable an organisation to consume
data faster by moving from raw data to insight-driven
actions in order to generate key differentiators that
in turn, create value.
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I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Based on IBM’s annual analytics survey, 63% of
organisations that have deployed analytics solutions
claim a positive return on investment within one year.
More than two-thirds (69%) say a “speed-driven” analytics
organisation created “a significant positive impact on
business outcomes.” And 74% of survey respondents
said that “data-driven insights will continue to accelerate.”1
While this all sounds very promising, realising the dream
has not always proven easy. “The avenues are littered with
failed attempts to successfully deploy analytics projects,”
says one management consultant who has seen
first-hand his share of analytics investment failures.
Some argue that it is the sheer complexity of the analytics
undertaking that alludes organisations. No doubt,
e-commerce and social media deployments have posed
their own unique set of technical challenges, but little
compares to the petabytes of data that in an analytics
undertaking must first be sorted, “scrubbed,” and
segmented. Complex mathematical formulas, or so-called
algorithms, must then be designed and applied, tested,
refined and tested again – all in the service of a better,
more efficient or more customer-centric “discovery”
that must then, in turn, be applied to a business in
order to increase operating margins.
ASIAANDTHE ANALYTICS CONUNDRUM
63% CLAIM A POSITIVE
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
69% POSITIVE IMPACT ON
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
74% DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS WILL
CONTINUE TO ACCELERATE
IBM’S ANNUAL ANALYTICS SURVEY:

2. The good news is that technology tools are becoming
increasingly accessible, affordable and usable, while
computer processing speed is all the time accelerating.
Says one technology sector commentator:
// TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES WOULD HAVE
US BELIEVE IT’S ALL JUST THIS SIMPLE,
BUT DON’T BE FOOLED, THESE ARE HIGHLY
COMPLEX UNDERTAKINGS AND FEW SELDOM
GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME AROUND. //
IBM, Oracle, SAP, SAS, Microsoft and others are all
laying big bets on Analytics as the engine of future
IT investment, but even IBM in its recent report
acknowledges that “big data adoption in the
broader marketplace has remained flat since 2012.”2
Adoption in Asia Pacific appears even lower than
in North America and Europe. Getting beneath
the question as to why this may be the case,
DHR International has undertaken a seven-market
study across the region to determine why analytics
investment has not kept pace with the promise. “We’re
still in the education phase,” says one analytics practice
head for a global management consulting firm. But for
others, the problem is more complex.
“In this part of the world, we’re a long way off from
where analytics is built into the business,” says one
leading human resources professional. “Analytics
projects aren’t always sponsored at the senior-most
levels, so unfortunately, they don’t receive the attention
or appropriate level of investment necessary to make
a difference,” he says.
One digital lead for a global management consulting
firm concurs:
// IN ASIA, MNCS HAVE JUST ENOUGH
BUDGET TO DIP A TOE IN AND TEST THE
ANALYTICS WATERS, BUT RARELY ENOUGH
FUNDING OR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
SUPPORT TO REALLY DIVE IN.//
THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT
Yet, some say, being non-committal is only a part of
the problem. Technology vendors and management
consulting firms alike, say identifying and working
effectively with the right sponsors on the client side
is one of the single greatest barriers to analytics
deployment in Asia.
“Analytics is falling through the cracks,” says the
Asia CMO for one of the world’s largest insurance
companies. “It’s an issue of ownership.
Sometimes the CTO is given the lead,
and other times it falls to the
CMO to get the job done
…Neither [executive]
has a full view of
the business.”
For analytics to work, say experts, it is essential to
address a “mission critical” issue or so-called “pain
point” within the organisation in order truly experience
the potential insight that analytics can deliver to
an organisation.
Asia’s management consulting community concede,
saying that while a “pilot” project makes the most sense
from both a budgetary and risk perspective, pilots are
oftentimes too small and isolated to deliver the big-bang
results sufficient to catalyse enterprise-wide action.
Most would admit, it’s better to start somewhere,
but even this can prove challenging. “Identifying the
right stake-holder within an organisation, who is truly
empowered to take an analytics project forward, is
not always an easy thing to do,” said one consultancy
practice leader.
…START SOMEWHERE, BUT DO START
02
ASIA AND THE ANALYTICS CONUNDRUM
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?
?
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3. CEOs or CFOs are the most obvious sponsors for
such undertakings when you consider that analytics is
seeking to solve a customer, revenue, or operational
efficiency problem. But few have the capacity to give
these projects the time and attention they deserve.
Depending on one’s professional orientation, analytics
tends to feel like either a back-end technology, or
front-end customer issue, and therefore it is the
respective technology or marketing head that
gets saddled with the project.
Therein lies the rub, say the region’s analytics products
and service leaders. Identifying, narrowing, scoping and
delivering on an analytics project requires a 360 degree
view of the business. “For many CEOs and CFOs, the
mere mention of ‘analytics’ evokes images of large data
warehouses, processors and technical geeks all bent
on crunching and analysing data,” says one consultant.
“While there’s some truth in this, it vastly underestimates
the necessity of commercial input from front-line
sales and marketing leaders.” Says one industry
commentator: “Telling an IT department to manage
an analytics delivery is like telling a scrub nurse to
single-handedly perform open-heart surgery.”
The real problem, it seems, is the availability and
experience of the right talent within an organization
to develop analytics as a core competency. “Analytics
is not an IT issue, it’s a people issue,” says one lead
consultant. “If we want to accelerate the successful
application of analytics in the workplace, we need to
invest in the right people to get the job done.”
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ASIA AND THE ANALYTICS CONUNDRUM
1
Analytics: The Speed Advantage, IBM Global Business Services, 2014, p1
2
IBID, p 6
ABOUT DHR INTERNATIONAL
Established in 1989, DHR International is one of the largest retained executive search firms in the world, with more than 50 offices
around the globe. We conduct search assignments at the board of directors, C-level and functional vice president levels. DHR’s
renowned consultants specialize in all industries and functions in order to provide unparalleled senior-level executive search,
management assessment and succession planning services tailored to the unique qualities and specifications of our select client base.
Steve Stine – Managing Partner, Asia Pacific, DHR International
Email: sstine@dhrinternational.com
Website: www.dhrinternational.com
STEVE STINE, MANAGING PARTNER, ASIA PACIFIC, DHR INTERNATIONAL