In the wake of data scandals, UK CEOs take greater ownership of data and leaders look to the UK Government to regulate tech giants

LONDON, UK - 13 November 2018 - Big Data London (BDL), the UK’s largest exhibition and conference for data leaders, today revealed findings from its UK Fourth Industrial Revolution 2018 Report. The independent research, commissioned by Big Data LDN and sponsored by Domo, surveyed 500 of the UK’s most influential data leaders as they struggle with pre-Brexit pressure and compete against data-savvy competitors globally at a time when it is more challenging for organisations to manage data than ever before.

For some time now, data has been recognised as too valuable to be dumped into IT departments. Now, a data breach can be a sackable offence, as witnessed by executives at TalkTalk and TSB. As a result, this year’s report shows 15% of UK CEOs are fully in charge of data - last year, this figure was zero.

According to this year’s survey, 45% of data experts believe Brexit will not help London reign as data capital of Europe, 17% of whom go so far as thinking it impossible. However, this is offset by the 34% of data leaders who believe Brexit will be a force for good - 15% of whom even consider Brexit essential for London to become the data capital of the continent.

Alan Mak, MP, Chair of the All-Party Group on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, said: “Britain has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be a world leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) – building on our position as a global hub for innovation and data-driven economic growth. This report raises some important issues that need to be addressed by business if we are to continue to thrive as a modern digital economy. Challenges such as the digital skills gap, cyber-security, and a lack of business investment in digital transformation and automation will make it harder for businesses to compete in the global economy."

As the UK Government clarifies its own situation on the UK’s data privacy laws in the post-Brexit landscape, this year’s findings show the majority of UK data leaders electing the ICO and UK Government to regulate the tech giants. Overall, 42% of data experts think data regulators such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) should define this legislation, 40% believe it should be driven by the UK Government and, surprisingly, 35% believe UK data regulation should be carried out by specialised audit businesses (PwC, Deloitte, for example). Just 29% think tech giants should regulate themselves.

Alan Mak continued, “Data leaders that are looking to Government for action on data ethics and digital regulation should welcome the new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation that will work with industry to establish best practice and identify potential gaps in data governance. Working alongside the Information Commissioner’s Office and world-class research centres such as the Alan Turing Institute and the recently announced Ada Lovelace Institute, the Centre will play an important role in getting the right policies in place so that Britain can build a post-Brexit economy that is fit for the future.”

Over half of UK organisations, 51% thought Brexit would make it easier to recruit talent into the company, 44% of respondents believed it would boost innovation through better data utilisation and just 10% saw their organisation as becoming less competitive globally. One thing the vast majority of data leaders, 79%, agree on is that Brexit will certainly have an impact on the UK’s place as a leader in the post-Brexit landscape.

In addition the report revealed that today, UK organisations spend on average £2.6 million on data initiatives, balanced between people and technology equally. However, according to the Fourth Industrial Revolution Report the amount invested by UK organisations sits at between just 0.5% and 0.7% of overall revenue. Despite this lack of investment, this year’s report reveals Data Science, Statistics, and Data Engineering skills are in high demand by data leaders, with 45%, 39% and 32% of respondents citing a lack of expertise in this area, respectively. Last year, Technical Cloud Skills had the top spot, wanted by 72% of respondents, but is now less important, interest more than halving to 31% in 2018.

Big Data LDN founder Bill Hammond, said “These findings clearly demonstrate the challenge facing UK organisations, as they aspire to lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With investment from UK organisations in data initiatives as low as 0.5% of revenue, we have to ask ourselves whether this is enough for Britain to take the lead and dominate after Brexit. Britain's data leaders show a lack of confidence in Brexit as the catalyst enabling the UK to lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and go as far to say it will hinder the UK’s place in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Instead, the UK’s data leaders are choosing to garner more insight from the data they already have. Increasingly though, they are looking for the data science skills to discover and interpret even more data to gain the edge over global competition.”

Key Fourth Industrial Revolution Report 2018 findings include:

1. Eyes are on the UK Government. The UK’s data leaders elect the ICO and UK government as the top choice to regulate the tech giants.

2. Confidence in London’s reign as Europe’s data capital trembles. Most data experts, 45%, believe Brexit will not help London reign as data capital of Europe, 17% of whom go so far as thinking it impossible.

3. GDPR has held UK organisations back. Formalised in May this year, GDPR has had ramifications for UK organisations beyond technological investment. As many as 68% of UK data leaders have cites GDPR has delayed their data related projects by as much as over two years.

4. CEOs are taking a hands on approach to data. Although Chief Data Officers are largely responsible for data, the CEO’s role has shifted to take a more active role with data. In 2017, none were responsible over data, whereas 15% are fully in charge of data this year.

5. Interpreting data is a vital skill for today’s organisations. Data Science, Statistics and Data Engineering skills are in high demand, with 45%, 39% and 32% of respondents citing a lack of expertise in these areas respectively.

6. Data leaders say yes... to NoSQL. 29% of data experts are investing in NoSQL DBMS, 24% in data ingestion tools and 19% in Enterprise Information Management suites. Meanwhile, two out of five data experts are currently using cloud and not looking to adopt more.

[ENDS]

To obtain your copy of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution 2018 Report” complete with illustrated data cuts and quotes from the steering committee, please download free by clicking on the link https://bigdataldn.com/4IR

METHODOLOGY
The survey was independently conducted by Coleman Parkes for Big Data London and DOMO to Market Research Council guidelines. Interviews were conducted via email and gauged the views of 500 data experts from large enterprises across ten different sectors.

About Big Data LDN
Big Data LDN is all about providing answers by focusing on the practical steps that organisations should take. Speakers will share their insights on best practice and hard-won lessons on what works and what to avoid. The conference and seminar programme will feature two main tracks, the first focusing on Big Data and the second on becoming Data Driven. The event will have a compelling blend of strategic guidance, actionable technical insights and thought leadership advice, enabling senior business and IT delegates to tackle their Big Data projects and implement a Data-Driven strategy.

Complementing the education programme, the Big Data LDN exhibition brings together over 80 leading technology and services suppliers from around the world, providing one-to-one access to expert advice and a wide range of data and analytics products.

About Domo
Domo's mission is to be the operating system for business, digitally connecting all your people, your data and your systems, empowering them to collaborate better, make better decisions and be more efficient, right from their phones. Domo works with many of the world's leading and most progressive brands across multiple industries including retail, media and entertainment, manufacturing, finance and more. For more information about Domo (Nasdaq: DOMO), visit www.domo.com. You can also follow Domo on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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