Business decision makers and knowledge workers agree that at
least 50% of the data their company uses on a day-to-day basis
should be focused on doing good for the communities it
serves
SANTA
CLARA, Calif., March 16,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from
Cloudera, the enterprise data cloud company, reveals more than
one quarter (26%) of business decision makers are now putting
increasing investment in environmental, social and corporate
governance (ESG) ahead of developing new products/services (24%) or
accelerating financial growth (21%). Additionally, knowledge
workers believe as much as 49% of the data their business uses on a
day-to-day basis should be focused on doing good for the
communities it serves. This is a sentiment 52% of business decision
makers agree with — a clear indication that profit and ESG are no
longer mutually exclusive pursuits.
These findings are revealed in Cloudera's Limitless:
The Positive Power of AI Study, which
surveyed 2,213 enterprise business decision makers — including 54%
C-Suite representation — and 10,880 knowledge workers in the
USA, EMEA, India and APAC. It shows that ESG is
identified as a top priority for business leaders and those who
fail to act for the good of communities put business growth and
talent at huge risk. The study also examines the shift in
attitude towards AI, Machine Learning (ML) and Data Analytics
across enterprise decision makers, including C-Suite, and knowledge
workers. The data shows that all the pieces are in place for this
to be the right moment for companies to accelerate their AI/ML
strategy.
Failing to act for social good puts business growth, and
talent, at risk
Almost a quarter (24%) of business decision makers and over one
in five (22%) knowledge workers believe that their company should
be publicly supporting sustainable business practices. In addition,
the vast majority of knowledge workers (81%) argue there is a need
to use AI to deliver more sustainable business practices that
benefit both their organization and the communities it serves.
But that said, less than a third (31%) of business decision
makers are active regarding the implementation of these
technologies and have a limited understanding of how they work.
Companies that address these gaps now gain a real competitive
advantage in the battle for customers and talent. If businesses
truly want to embed sustainability at their core, leaders must
start to use data to deliver more sustainable outcomes – and
quickly. Failure to act and 23% of knowledge workers and 27% of
business decision makers believe employees would leave the
business. This could be a business destroying move amidst a global
talent shortage, especially if all of a company's competitors are
addressing the gap.
"It's my sincere belief that using big data and AI to make more
sustainable business decisions will be a critical aspect of future
competitiveness," said Erica Orange,
VP at The Future Hunters. "A core part of this will come down to
rethinking business success metrics to go beyond profit-driven
metrics and focus on real environmental impact."
Fear of losing jobs to AI is replaced by a focus on
investment in reskilling
The research findings also dispel the long-held belief that
workers were afraid of AI taking their jobs. An explosion in the
volume of data now available to businesses has made AI/ML a common
thread to many job roles and a powerful ally. Over half of
knowledge workers say their daily tasks have been augmented or
automated by AI (55%), ML (51%) and Data Analytics (63%) in the
last 12 months. The biggest benefits of this have been saving time
(37%) and allowing them/their team to focus more on strategic work
(35%). What's more, 80% of knowledge workers are now comfortable
taking on a new role due to AI/ML/Data Analytics.
To capitalize on this, businesses have to do more and invest in
employee reskilling. Nine in ten (91%) business decision makers
said their organization will commit to continuous investment in
reskilling employees as more tasks are automated. But the
investment in people can't stop there. Companies also need to make
employees partners in the upskilling and reskilling processes to
ensure a level playing field for staff.
"The results of this study reveal a new wave of economics,
focused on doing equally great things for profit, planet, and
people - driven by automation and AI - is emerging," said
Mick Hollison, President, Cloudera.
"For business leaders this means it's time to refocus how they
think about technology investment — identifying not only the data
that will support growth, but also the technology that will help
employees and communities gain meaningful access to it. At
Cloudera, we work with our customers to transform their economic
output with Data Analytics and AI."
Notes to Editors
About the Limitless: The Positive Power of AI
Study
Both the business decision maker and knowledge
worker portions of the research were conducted by Sapio Research,
an independent market research consultancy based in London, UK. 2,213 business decision makers,
including 54% from the C-Suite, working at companies with 1,000+
employees, 400 IT decision makers, completed an online study during
August 2021. At the same time, the
knowledge worker — end users who are in full-time employment with
access to technology as part of their day-to-day jobs — study was
also conducted amongst those employed at organizations with 1,000+
employees during August 2021.
The following number of respondents were consulted in each
mentioned market:
Knowledge workers:
USA 1007
UK 1003
Germany 1000
France 1000
Italy 1001
Spain 1006
Korea 204
Japan 1005
China 1005
Singapore 200
Indonesia 200
Australia 163
New Zealand 37
India 1008
South Africa 513
UAE 528
Business decision makers:
USA 200
UK 200
Germany 200
France 200
Italy 150
Spain 150
Korea 107
Japan 100
China 202
Singapore 100
Indonesia 101
Australia 113
New Zealand 37
India 200
South Africa 78
UAE 75
Limitless: The Positive Power of AI Study Media
Assets:
- Limitless: The Positive Power of AI Study Study — please note
that the report contains extensive comments from Erica Orange, VP of The Future Hunters, one of
the world's leading futurist consulting firms
About Cloudera
At Cloudera, we believe that data
can make what is impossible today, possible tomorrow. We empower
people to transform complex data into clear and actionable
insights. Cloudera delivers an enterprise data cloud for any data,
anywhere, from the Edge to AI. Powered by the relentless innovation
of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital
transformation for the world's largest enterprises. Learn more
at Cloudera.com.
Cloudera and associated marks are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Cloudera, Inc. All other company and product names
may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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SOURCE Cloudera, Inc.
