Senior executives in China increasingly see Data Analytics (D&A) as a key priority and indicate that it is crucially important to their growth strategy, according to a recent KPMG survey.
The survey, titled A Single View: Putting customers at the heart of the D&A strategy highlights key findings from over 210 senior executives in China, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.
It found that 72 percent of all respondents from China say that D&A is either very or crucially important to their growth strategy, slightly lower than ASEAN (77 percent) and Australia (74 percent). Meanwhile, 86 percent say they are currently either effective or very effective at leveraging analytics in their decision making, higher than the average 82 percent for ASPAC and 73 percent for ASEAN; slightly lower than the 89 percent in Australia.
Egidio Zarrella, Head of Clients & Innovation, Partner, KPMG China, says: “This survey demonstrates that D&A strategy is top of mind for senior executives across the region. If China keeps up its current trajectory, the country will soon become one of the most active and mature D&A markets in the world. KPMG’s global network also continues to invest in this space. Earlier this week, KPMG Capital announced that it has taken a significant equity stake in Bottlenose, a real-time trend intelligence platform based in the US, and we plan to establish an Insights Centre in Hong Kong early next year. Additionally, our UK firm recently announced a strategic alliance with the McLaren Group, applying sophisticated predictive analytics and technological capabilities to radically transform audit and advisory services; improving quality and providing greater insight."
The survey notes the key drivers for D&A take-up in China include the need to improve business planning and performance monitoring, greater transparency and to gain market differentiation with product and service innovations. |  If China keeps up its current trajectory, the country will soon become one of the most active and mature D&A markets in the world 
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However, it also points to some challenges. For example, much of the D&A activity that has taken place China over the past few years has been predominantly focused on reporting. Almost all respondents (92 percent) say they have been using D&A in their HR function for more than five years; almost three quarters (73 percent) say they have been using D&A for finance and accounting for a similar length of time.
China also lags behind other countries in ASPAC in terms of efforts to store and present data in a centralized fashion; a key capability for creating a ‘single view’ of the customer – 58 percent ASEAN respondents said that data being used is stored and presented in a centralized fashion, 64 percent in Australia, compared to 54 percent in China.
In China, 61 percent of respondents said the D&A strategy is driven by IT rather than by the business, more than that in Australia (49 percent) and ASEAN (47 percent); just over one-third (34 percent) respondents from China said the D&A strategy is funded by business group, below the 40 percent in ASEAN and 46 percent in Australia.
Additionally, China respondents reported being somewhat less focused on using D&A to improve customer insight and management compared to their peers in ASEAN and Australia.
Over half of China-based retailers surveyed indicated they lack D&A talent (therefore reducing their ability to link D&A to business performance), whereas telecom providers highlighted a lack of appropriate tools and IT support. Banks and financial services organizations also said they were concerned about the lack of tools, as well as challenges related to training staff in terms of new approaches and processes.
“As D&A technology prices drop and accessibility increases, we have seen rapid uptake of D&A approaches across the Chinese market. HR and finance maybe where the most extensive experience resides, but that should not suggest that organizations in China are not equally focused on improving the customer insight and management or achieving more efficient supply chain operations by leveraging advanced D&A approaches,” Zarrella explains.
The survey notes the ability to achieve a ‘single view’ of the customer is set to be a key competitive advantage in many sectors and markets.
“Those organizations that continue to view D&A as primarily a technology challenge will always struggle to link business outcomes and demands to investment in D&A. In reality, the technology and tools should be the last concern; the greater challenge should be in ensuring that the business is asking the right questions and using the right data to drive real and actionable business insights,” concludes Zarrella.
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