The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), the peak member body for the ICT industry, is undertaking a major survey of Australian organisations on analytics and data usage. The purpose of the survey is to find out what differentiates those business, government and NGO organisations that effectively use data and analytics for senior decision making.

The survey is open to individual respondents via the AIIA website. The survey data collected will be analysed by Data Scientists at the University of Technology Sydney. They will generate insights that explore the impact of data and analytics on organisations performance relative to a number of factors such as size, industry, location and most importantly for the first time several internal factors on relative characteristics of employees at different levels inside an organisation. Visualisations and reports will also be generated.

It is anticipated that a whitepaper will be published in November 2016 incorporating an analysis of the results and providing a body of knowledge that will help guide business leaders on ways to incorporate data and analytics into their organisation in order to remain competitive.

Rob Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), says, "Globally we see those organisations that know how to use data effectively are usually the strongest performers. If Australia is serious about driving an ideas boom and creating new employment opportunities, we need to ensure that we help local organisations better understand and then take advantage of data to be competitive.

This initiative is being led by the AIIA’s Data and Analytics Special Interest Group, which is chaired by Dr Roger Kermode, director of business consulting firm Alimua and former practice principal for analytics and data management for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.

“There is mounting evidence that data-driven organisations tend to require fewer assets, execute with greater insight and less risk, and ultimately generate higher returns. We believe incorporating these practices is an important part of creating a sustainable and growing economy in Australia and is crucial to seeing our standing in world innovation and growth rankings improve,” says Dr Kermode.

The data collected will be analysed by data scientists at the University of Technology Sydney. Professor Michael Blumenstein of UTS Sydney says, “Much has been published on big data, automation and the use of analytics at an organizational level. However, despite the recognition of data increasing in importance, the use of data between and within organisations varies widely. The AIIA survey has been constructed to find out why. It’s designed to enable deep diagnostics and analysis of what actually take place inside organisations across different functions and different levels, not just what is visible externally.”

Numerous leading Australian organisations are encouraging their members to complete the survey, including: Data61, The Knowledge Economy Institute; NSW State Government; Advance Australia; FINSIA; CPA Australia; StartupMuster; and UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT and the UTS Business School.

The survey is available online at https://www.zeetings.com/aiia-data-survey/5014-7325-0954-4448