The latest State of Data and Analytics Report from Salesforce shows that high data quality is essential to fully exploit the potential of AI. Analytics and business leaders almost unanimously agree (92%) that the need for trustworthy data is greater than ever. 85% of respondents in Germany state that data management has become hugely important due to advances in AI. As a result, managers are focusing on improving data governance and creating a data culture that meets current requirements. One of the biggest challenges in managing and using data for business needs is data security. More than 10,000 analytics and IT executives from 18 countries worldwide were surveyed, including 554 from Germany.

Data governance and data culture as the key to greater efficiency
In order to harness the power of AI competently, companies need secure and reliable data. For example, 90 percent of the executives surveyed in Germany believe that the trustworthiness of data is more important than ever. However, managing the increasing volumes of data from a variety of sources is not just a question of security, but also a technical challenge.

An important key to the effective and standardized use of data as the basis for AI success is an appropriate data culture and data governance. Establishing clear parameters for data access, accuracy, protection, security and retention will ensure quality, simplify access and protect privacy more effectively.

Increasing security threats
The vast majority of analytics and IT leaders surveyed in Germany use data governance as a tool to ensure and certify basic data quality (84%), to build trust in data (83%), and as an effective way to simplify data access (81%). For respondents both globally and in Germany, the biggest challenge alongside data security is using data as the basis for AI-supported solutions.

Greater trust in data
Establishing a strong data culture is crucial to promoting trust and acceptance. Research has shown that data-driven companies perform better in almost all areas. As a result, many companies are also increasing their budgets for data analytics and training. 79 percent of analytics and IT leaders are investing more in data analytics and visualization tools and 75 percent are investing more in training and development compared to the previous year.

"Efficient and secure data management is the basic prerequisite for successfully using generative AI," says Patrick Heinen, Senior Director Solution Engineering and AI expert at Salesforce. "Companies have an enormous amount of data - and it needs to be brought together, harmonized and made usable, otherwise it is worthless. Data governance and a strong data culture are therefore at the top of the list for IT managers."

Further details on country-specific key figures on data governance and data security can be found in the Tableau Dashboard.

Further information

• Download the full State of Data and Analytics Report here https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-data-analytics/
• Learn how to make smarter decisions with Tableau https://www.salesforce.com/products/analytics/
• Learn more about the Salesforce Data Cloud https://www.salesforce.com/products/data/
• Read how the Einstein Trust Layer boosts productivity with generative AI https://www.salesforce.com/products/secure-ai/

Methodology
The data in this report comes from dual anonymized surveys conducted from June 16 to July 31, 2023. Respondents included analytics and IT decision makers (5,540 responses) and business leaders (5,540 responses) in 18 different countries across North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Further details on the methodology and demographics of the survey can be found in the State of Data and Analytics Report.

About Salesforce
Salesforce empowers organizations of all sizes and industries to connect with customers through data, AI, CRM and trust. More information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) can be found here: https://www.salesforce.com/de

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Press contacts
Salesforce:

Corinna Spohr
Senior Manager Corporate Communications Central Europe

+49 162 2690977

cspohr@salesforce.com