Data capabilities: bold maturity ambitions within grasp for Middle Eastern companies

The private sector in the Middle East has set bold ambitions to achieve top-tier data maturity levels by 2023. Reaching these ambitions requires the vast majority of companies in the region to advance significantly, and those that develop a substantial maturity build-up across all capabilities give themselves a huge advantage. Furthermore, Middle Eastern companies’ ambitions would place them as the most mature region, indicating the highest data capability increase globally. Given the accelerating pace of technological development and the ubiquity of data, that advantage can become self-reinforcing over time, as companies become smarter in their use of data and more efficient in how they tailor future investments. Conversely, laggards may find that the performance gap becomes too large to overcome.

Keeping pace with the industry

In BCG’s recent, third, Data Capability Maturity Assessment (DACAMA) survey, the Middle East ranks close to leading regions for most industries yet drops far behind in the least mature ones. Approximately 1,100 companies participated worldwide, with around 50 companies from the Middle East. When it comes to building data capabilities, most companies worldwide are making steady headway. Yet our comprehensive survey shows that while some are gaining a clear advantage from data, many still fall short of their goals—leading to a growing advantage for leaders.

Generally, companies in the Middle East keep pace with more data-mature industries—technology, telecom, healthcare, and consumer—but are behind in less data-mature industries. For example, the energy industry’s maturity is almost 30% lower than other regions. Automotive and industrial companies are in weaker positions still. Thus far, many manufacturers do not have the capabilities to capitalize on the emerging data opportunities and companies are becoming more realistic about the difficulty of developing data capabilities.

Achieving top-tier data maturity ambitions in the Middle East

Given the accelerating pace of new technologies and data and the rapid global focus on data maturity, companies must ensure a correct approach to data capabilities—one that becomes sustainable over time. It requires companies to become smarter in their use of data and more efficient in focused future investments. The gains in maturity were relatively broad, companies showed higher maturity index scores across all seven data capabilities. The biggest gains were in foundational capabilities: data governance, data platform, ecosystem and partnerships, and leadership, change, and enablement. Global experience from most mature companies across regions shows three factors are critical to success:

1. Focus on business outcomes. Data capabilities are a means to an end, not a goal. Identify business problems and use cases to unlock value.

2. Apply a capability-based approach. Invest in all the core data capabilities: overarching vision, use cases, analytics setup, data governance, data platform, ecosystem & partnerships, and leadership, change & enablement.

3. Build incrementally. Build data capabilities over time in a deliberate, steady manner. Adopt an agile mindset of the test, learn, and improving, and focus on key enablers with the biggest maturity gaps

Data is now akin to oxygen in most industries, and companies know they need to build core capabilities to capitalize on it. Data maturity is a top-priority strategic agenda item as companies worldwide continue to pursue increased maturity scores to grow and meet their business models, customer expectations, and commercial ambitions in increasingly competitive environments. As indicated by our recent survey, data maturity is particularly important in the Middle East where companies can be data competitive in some areas but data lacking in others, and there is a material gap compared to both bold ambitions and global best practices. ë

Success in reaching high ambition in the region requires a comprehensive, bold but balanced approach, to establish data maturity trailblazers and then drive up more companies into better data capabilities.