Companies Want Better Data Analysis for Decision-making in New Wave of Technology Upgrades, Says KPMG Survey

NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate executives have high expectations for the next generation of IT systems, seeking advanced analytical capabilities that can cut through the complexity of company and market data to identify the most important information needed to make better competitive decisions, according to a survey by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP. 

"The priority companies are now putting on information intelligence came through loud and clear in our survey, which found that data needs are driving company investment decisions regarding the upgrade and advancement of ERP and IT architectures," said Stephen G. Hasty, KPMG's National Advisory Innovation Leader. "In the past, the focus was usually on connecting processes or transactions from siloed or disparate systems, often creating a hodge-podge of unfocused information."

The KPMG survey, taken during the 2011 Oracle Open World conference in San Francisco in October, found that 41 percent of the 336 respondents said their organizations planned an ERP upgrade, with 26 percent planning implementation in the next 12 months.

Cloud and Data-Management Challenges
Nearly half (49 percent) of the survey respondents acknowledged their organization was overwhelmed with data, making decision-making difficult. They also said consideration of a cloud strategy will present future data-management challenges (59 percent), although 56 percent of the respondents acknowledged that cloud can help them become more agile and competitive.

Hasty noted that 48 percent of the respondents said an ERP upgrade was an opportunity to improve operational efficiency, eliminate manual processes (42 percent), improve alignment between IT and the business units (37 percent), and improve compliance (34 percent). In addition, 62 percent said their organization is working to improve decision-making by determining how to best analyze existing information.

Analytics and Cloud in IT Framework
"When the current IT systems were installed, they were basic hardware and software that most often had to be retrofitted or customized to meet the unique needs of a specific business-unit," said Hasty. "Today, executives have solicited business-unit input in advance, and planning for new IT frameworks at leading organizations already includes data analytics, predictive modeling and cloud strategies to improve corporate knowledge."

Hasty also said the survey found more of executives viewing cloud as a challenging, though viable option for the next generation of ERP.  In 2010, a KPMG survey found 82 percent of respondents said migration to a cloud environment raised a broad set of business transformation issues that needed to be better understood across the organization before adopting such a strategy, compared with just 53 percent in this year's survey.

In addition, 59 percent of the recent KPMG survey at Oracle Open World conference said cutting through the complex web of their stored corporate data and market events and conditions to make appropriate decisions has become a concern for senior management and 54 percent said it had become a concern for their board of directors.

"Leading companies are utilizing IT upgrades to better manage their data, where to store the data as a means of becoming more agile, and finding improved ways to analyze their data and turn information into knowledge that is actionable," Hasty said.

About KPMG LLP
KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.kpmg.com/us), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International.") KPMG International's member firms have 145,000 people, including more than 8,000 partners, in 152 countries.

SOURCE KPMG LLP