According to a new survey from Gartner, the technological research and consulting firm, 30% of chief data and analytics officers (CDAOs) said their top challenge is the inability to measure data, analytics, and AI impact on business outcomes.

This headline statistic comes from Gartner’s annual Chief Data & Analytics Officer Agenda Survey, conducted from September through November 2024 among just over 500 global data and analytics executives.

“There is a massive value vibe around data, where many organizations talk about the value of data, desire to be data-driven, etc., but there are few who can substantiate it,” said Michael Gabbard, senior director analyst at Gartner, on the findings. “Often, organizations that regularly align to data themes outperform their peers.”

The survey uncovered that, for the overwhelming majority (more than 90%), value- and outcome-focused areas of the data and analytics (D&A) leader’s role have become their main remit over the past 12 to 18 months, and will continue to be a concern going forward.

That said, only 22% of the surveyed organisations have defined, tracked, and communicated business impact metrics for the bulk of their D&A use case.

“Organizations are increasingly prioritizing the development of a robust D&As strategy to enhance decision making and operational efficiency and this falls to D&A leaders,” Gabbard noted.

“CDAOs must accelerate data-driven and decision-centric vision by spotting important trends early to make proactive, informed choices about D&A strategy and building operational context around these drivers.”

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The research firm’s survey also found that, for 91% of CDAOs, creating an actionable D&A strategy is a primary responsibility for them.

“We found that while creating an actionable D&A strategy is a primary responsibility for these CDAOs, more than one-third of them do not identify establishing and evolving the operating model as a primary responsibility,” concluded Gabbard. “There is a perennial gap between planning and execution for D&A leaders.”