The role of cybersecurity — no matter the size of a company — is a front runner when decision-makers are prioritizing IT investments. However, investments in data and analytics have proven to be an up-and-comer this past year, which according to Foundry's 2022 State of CIO research, ranks just second behind cybersecurity.

As a result, Foundry, formerly known as IDG Communications, used its latest Data & Analytics Study 2022 to survey more than 1,000 IT global decision-makers to investigate data-driven initiatives, challenges, goals, investments, and vendor expectations.

The study articulates that $12.3 million will be invested in the next 12 months on data initiatives, and 55% of the 1,000 IT global decision-makers surveyed expect that number to increase — an 11% spike from 2021. Investments include training and technology initiatives.

The pandemic played a role in IT’s increased interest in data and analytics, reportedly allowing organizations to focus on a “better understanding of mired supply chains, manage change more effectively, and strategize better," according to the study.

Today, 84% of IT organizations have already deployed or plan to deploy projects surrounding data and analytics, said the report. Indeed, 54% of those surveyed said that the most popular use for data-driven initiatives is predictive analytics to analyze historical data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning techniques.

However, investments in data and analytics have not come without their challenges. The report states that 41% of decision-makers agree data quality is a pain point, followed by data security and governance (38%), data analysis (31%), and data preparation or transformation (29%).

To combat poor data quality issues and other issues IT decision-makers experience with data and analytics, companies need to be armed with skilled IT professionals. However, currently, only 21% of organizations have data and analytics solutions that are entirely user-friendly, said the report. 

According to the report, a mutual agreement among decision-makers is that a significant budget should be allocated to re-training and hiring people with appropriate skill sets (46%). Companies that have moved forward with data and analytics projects struggle with finding this talent.

As a result, IT organizations are hiring people who will train non-technical employees in navigating data and analytics, said 41% of respondents.