Companies need better analytics education, says business professor

With a consistent lack of knowledge and support for analytics implementation, companies must be educated on the value of social media and Big Data.

That’s according to analytics firm Teradata and social intelligence solution provider Mzinga, which in conjunction with Teradata Aster and the University of Maryland, surveyed more than 500 business professionals.

The research found that whilst some businesses are attaining some value through social technologies, 49% of those surveyed said they are not using social technologies to their full potential.

Additionally, just 12% of respondents acknowledge that social technologies have helped in their day-to-day roles and responsibilities, said the report.

Companies are also failing to get to grips with analytics as three quarters of respondents admitted they do not measure ROI for their social business programs, while the majority of use occurs on a case-by-case basis.

A third of those not measuring their ROI claimed they don’t even know if their vendor provides analytics, said the research.

In terms of Big Data, whilst respondents realise the importance of gaining insights from real-time social interactions, 42% are unfamiliar with big data technologies, the figures showed.

William Rand, assistant professor and director at the University of Maryland, said: “The survey results indicate that a wide variety of industries are interested in analytics and the power that analytics can provide them in making business decisions.

“However, there seems to be a lack of knowledge of how to best implement analytics, and a lack of consistent support for analytics across different platforms. This indicates a strong market need for education and consistent implementation of world-class analytic systems.”