The vast majority (98%) of c-suite executives in the Irish financial services sector are not using real-time data to make critical decisions, according to research from AI firm ActiveOps.
The research surveyed more than 800 executives in Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, finding that a lack of recent data is hampering productivity in the sector.
Almost half (46%) of Irish operations leaders are basing decisions on data that is over two months old, with a further 14% using data that is over three months old.
A staggering 100% of respondents stated that they must put “significant effort” to get insights from their data, suggesting a stark gap between raw data and findings.
Bhavesh Vaghela, CMO of ActiveOps, said that businesses have “serious problems with their data”, with many investing heavily in “process reengineering and automation” but failing to address the “fundamental data problem”.
“Managing in an environment of spreadsheets, data siloes and decision making by hunch is not tenable, and operations teams can’t achieve their goals if these challenges and barriers remain,” he added.
A total of 46% of business leaders say they are putting an emphasis on improving sustainability, with a further 38% prioritising improving business resilience.
Almost half of respondents were relying on human instinct to make key decisions, with 44% believing that AI can help bridge this gap to help provide diagnostic insights.
Ray Bowe, CEO of Xcentuate, said: “Basing critical decisions on insights that are incomplete, inaccurate and months old puts operations on the back foot.
“In today’s world, where customer demands are so high, speed of decision making to drive productivity and efficiencies becomes a competitive advantage. Leading to faster turnaround times, reducing overtime, limited staff burnout and avoiding costly SLA breaches.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
