Blog snapshot
In our latest article we look to the near future and analyze the key trends of the year ahead. We cover:
- How data storytelling will accelerate data literacy
- Why COVID-19 boosted the shift to cloud – and what that means
- The role of AI in smarter decision-making
2020 hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park for anyone. This year we’ve seen how making critical decisions at pace, staying agile and summoning vast amounts of resilience are crucial for any organization’s long-term survival. So, what data and analytics trends do you need to be aware of to help your organization thrive in 2021?
We’ll give you a quick overview of three major trends in this blog, but if you want to dig deeper and read about all five, check out our full report here.
1. Data storytelling will become a key component of data literacy programs
To be truly data-driven everyone in your organization needs to understand the value of data and know how to best use it. This is also known as becoming data literate.
Storytelling is a great way to do this, as it uses our innate ability to learn through narrative structures and helps us uncover data insights that spark curiosity. In 2021, committed organizations will introduce data storytelling to accelerate and improve their data literacy programs. For examples of how this might work in practice, read the full report.
2. Cloud expansion will increase opportunities for data democracy
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a faster-than-predicted shift to cloud, as businesses scrambled to adapt to sudden changes. This rapid adoption of cloud and hybrid deployments will enable organizations to put insights in the hands of everyone – rather than just senior decision-makers.
This means 2021 could see a widespread drive across sectors to actively practice data democratization and form new organizational behaviors. The improvement of data literacy programs and access to self-service analytics will also play an important role in making this a reality.
3. AI and collaborative intelligence will drive decision-making
AI is a human story as much as a technology one. And next year we’ll see more of what we term ‘collaborative intelligence’ in data and analytics. This is when both human expertise and AI are used together, as we shift toward truly data-driven decision-making.
While the concept of collaborative intelligence has been with us for some time, we expect to see greater experimentation and investment in 2021. This is down to two converging trends: the global shift in working patterns, and the need to support faster and higher quality decision-making in rapidly evolving situations.
We anticipate the focus to be on augmenting human expertise – increasing work quality and productivity by freeing people to focus on higher value, more human-led tasks. It’ll be about pairing human experience and judgement with technology – maximizing the potential for human creativity and empathy.
What next?
If you want more insights into the major data and analytics trends of the year ahead, read our latest report. In it, we give you the full lowdown on five trends we think will help supercharge your strategy in 2021.