Ipsos Data Council Report
Square pegs and round holes The difficulties of disparate and disconnected tools
Ipsos Data Council Report
Square pegs and round holes The difficulties of disparate and disconnected tools
Ipsos Data Council Report
Square pegs and round holes The difficulties of disparate and disconnected tools
Context
A related challenge is the problem of systems and infrastructure. Many companies, particularly large or long-established ones, face significant challenges due to a proliferation of disconnected tools, platforms, and dashboards. This creates a complex and often inefficient data environment, where individual departments or teams operate differently, making it almost impossible to achieve organisation-wide consistency. The variation in data formats, storage methods and reporting standards further complicate efforts to collaborate effectively or access reliable and connected information.
The nature of these systems often means that they are hardwired into operations and also very expensive to replace. Every organisation will have its own unique version of the problem and so no off-the-shelf solution can be deployed, making the first steps towards change feel daunting, and risky.
Data is being collected, but the problem lies in how scattered and disorganised this data is, hindering the ability to build the much-desired ‘single source of truth'
Scroll down to read how Ipsos Data Labs have solved this type of challenge for clients before. View Impact Story Building a reporting framework from the ground up
Key challenges from the Data Council
“We have the tools; tools are not the problem. It's organising that data. The data is there but trying to get granular quick enough is the challenge.” Senior Director, Insights & Analytics
This sentiment was echoed by several of our interviewees:
“Every single thing that we do, be that through sales, marketing or any of our departments, everything that we do is tracked and measured, from a performance point of view.” Strategy, Operations & Supply Chain Director
3 in 5 of our interviewees in fact reported that significant data silos continue to affect their organisation’s ability to manage data effectively.
“We need a single data store of all key assets and then a managed process to access the data.” European Director Online Retail, appliance and consumer technology company
Data is being collected, but the problem lies in how scattered and disorganised this data is, hindering the ability to build the much-desired ‘single source of truth’. The challenge is exacerbated by legacy systems. Many of these outdated systems require extensive manual workarounds to connect with modern platforms, increasing the likelihood of errors and inefficiencies. The result of all this fragmentation is that decision-makers are often working with incomplete, inconsistent, or outdated data, which undermines their confidence in the insights they derive from it.
Source: Ipsos Data Council,Oct 2024-Jan 2025 Base: 28 Ipsos Data Council members
“Different markets are at different stages, some markets are very well organised, but many markets just do nothing.” Head of Global Digital Commerce Performance, multinational alcoholic beverage company
Ipsos Data Labs learnings
While the issue of data fragmentation is clearly one of the most significant barriers to effective data use, this is not a quick fix, nor is there one fix that will work for every organisation. And the problem grows as new sources of critical information, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, social media, and third-party APIs, are likely to be incompatible with an organisation’s existing infrastructure. Organisations may find themselves attempting to address this fragmentation by resorting to intensive manual data processing which is not only resource-heavy and unscalable, but also prone to inaccuracies and errors, further undermining trust in the data.
To overcome these challenges, it is key that organisations prioritise smart, scalable approaches to data integration and consolidation, and that they consider the holistic picture before investing in new systems. The right combination of solutions does exist - adopting centralised cloud based scalable data architectures such as data lakes or warehouses, implementing modern ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines, or leveraging APIs to facilitate seamless data exchange between systems can all have a transformative impact.
When approached strategically and thoroughly, effective data integration doesn’t just enable reporting - it transforms data into a strategic asset capable of delivering critical insights about the context and underlying causes of observed trends. This deeper understanding allows for more accurate forecasting and future planning, enabling organisations to move from reactive decision-making to proactive, informed strategies that drive growth and innovation.
Deeper understanding allows for more accurate forecasting and future planning
Key takeaways
Data you can’t trust is worthless
Fragmented data and a confusion of measurables prevents organisations from gaining a comprehensive, accurate and interrelated view of their performance. The result is a distinct unease or under-confidence in data that will impact people’s willingness to use it.
The process is as important as the product
It is probably not just data systems that are fragmented. There are also often multiple dashboards and interfaces that your people need to work with, and their functionality (or lack of) will have a significant impact on whether data is being utilised successfully.
Thought starters
What steps can your organisation take to consolidate tools, streamline data flows, and ensure all teams are working with a consistent source of truth?
How sure are you that you are optimising your existing set up? Is there functionality that you’re not making the most of?
What new or additional data integration tools could you bring in that might make your life easier?
What connections and collaborations could help bridge the gaps in the meantime?
Discover how Ipsos Data Labs have solved this type of challenge before
Impact story Building a reporting framework from the ground up
The challenge
A global events organisation was struggling with large amount of disparate data, from event attendee and exhibitor information to marketing activity, customer satisfaction and sponsorship data. They had no centralised system or infrastructure in place to store, clean or analyse their data and so were unable to generate data-driven insights that could be leveraged by the C-suite and investors.
Our solution
Our solution involved building a ‘one-stop shop’ for all the client’s data using Azure Synapse. We used the extract, transform, load (ETL) technique to integrate and pull data from the numerous sources into one consolidated platform, therefore allowing us to cleanse and standardise the data so it was in a more consistent format which could be used to report on. Further to this, we then leveraged Microsoft Power BI to transform the data into an interactive dashboard which presented key insights and performance metrics based on KPIs that were important to the stakeholders from across the business.
