Why 89% of Companies are Prioritizing Data Fluency

DataCamp conducted a survey of over 300 Learning and Development leaders from diverse industries including healthcare, technology, consumer goods, government, and finance.* Responses from these L&D leaders show that investing in data fluency is an urgent priority for companies today due to its direct impact on business outcomes.

If you’re interested in building data fluency at your company, visit datacamp.com/business or click here to schedule a demo of our platform. And keep an eye out for our upcoming white paper for more detailed findings!

89% of companies say building data fluency is a priority for their business.

Data fluency includes a spectrum of skills and proficiencies and means having the appropriate level of data skills to work efficiently and effectively based on the different needs of each job role.

Interestingly, the percentage of respondents who prioritize data fluency rises to 97% for companies with mature data fluency competencies—which indicates that the more data fluent companies are, the more they acknowledge there’s still a long way to go to reach their desired business objectives.

84% of companies plan to invest in data fluency by 2020.

Driving factors for investing in data fluency include greater efficiency and innovation, market forces, and increased revenue and productivity.

63% of companies already provide access to online learning platforms.

Providing access to online learning platforms is the most common action companies have already taken to build data skills. Leveraging an external platform like DataCamp to train employees is a critical first step for companies that want to build data fluency capabilities.

Hiring top talent is the most commonly cited challenge to building data fluency.

46% of companies that have not yet invested in data fluency—versus 29% that have—are experiencing difficulty hiring top talent. But hiring talent is only one part of the solution—the majority of companies may benefit from retraining and upskilling their existing workforce.

Immature data fluency leads to greater inefficiency in workflows.

Among companies who report they have immature data fluency competencies, a whopping 68% report greater inefficiency in workflows as a result. Industries with companies who report a higher level of data fluency are tech, finance, and insurance, while government, health, and retail are behind the curve.

Data fluency leads to better business results.

Note: “All-time high/better” ratings only

High-performing companies that are mature in data fluency competencies are seeing better results across the board than their peers with immature data fluency competencies. They are experiencing markedly higher revenue growth, customer satisfaction, profitability, market share, and employee satisfaction—showing that data fluency is an important indicator of a company’s success.

If you’d like to drive better business results by building data fluency competencies at your company, visit datacamp.com/business or click here to schedule a demo of our platform.

Data referenced in this article is from a survey conducted August 15 to 29, 2019 by Training Industry of 303 L&D leaders with decision-making authority over training practices at their organization. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.