DCMS report says data important to success and growth of private and 3rd sector organisations

Quality was overwhelmingly identified as the most important data characteristic to an organisation’s success, according to 41% of respondents to an EY study for the DCMS.

The aim of the report, Data foundations and AI adoption in the UK private and third sectors, was to assess the extent of their adoption in the UK private and third sectors, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The research also covered the impact of, and barriers to the use of data foundations.

The study found: “Government support in helping industries realise greater value from data foundations could positively impact the UK’s gross value-add (GVA).”

Common challenges around the adoption of data foundations included the availability of staff with relevant data skills, challenges with legacy infrastructure, and lack of funding.

These were identified across all sectors and industries of the UK economy.

The report suggested: “Data-driven interventions could include encouraging organisations to redeploy funds, with a focus on improving data foundations adoption and supporting new job market entrants and experienced professional retraining for more data-enabled, technically focused roles.”

The analysis focussed on three key area: 1. Value of data; 2. Adoption of data foundations and AI; and 3. Barriers to adoption.

1. 99% of participating organisations agreed that data is important to their success, with 90% of respondents having a data strategy or data-related initiative in place
2. The adoption adoption of data foundations appears to be relatively widespread, with no significant differences in the Data Foundations Adoption score between the size of the organisation, region or industry. However, the level of data foundations adoption in the third sector was found to be relatively low compared with the private sector, consistent with the findings of our evidence assessment. 56% of respondents are planning to increase investments in AI technologies within the next three years.
3. The key barriers preventing organisations from adopting and improving data foundations are:

• Lack of skilled personnel (14% of respondents identified this as the single biggest barrier)
• Challenges with existing infrastructure (14% of respondents identified this as the single biggest barrier)
• Lack of funding (11% of respondents identified this as the single biggest barrier) $CTA

68% of respondents said the Government had a role to play in helping organisations use data more effectively.

The report found, based on interviews: “There are many instances where public sector data is already available, but it is of varied quality and often not in an easily accessible, usable and consistent format, making it challenging to use by the private and third sectors.”

Future Care Capital & National Care Forum have submitted a joint response to the National Data Strategy in which we set out 15 principles, including:

• Consult and communicate with the sector regularly to co-design and implement specific parts of the strategy…
• Social Care should have a stand-alone chapter, as well as being integrated throughout the strategy
• The data produced needs to be of a high quality and analysis needs to be suitably robust to drive sufficient decision making.

Read it  here.