Inside Data and Analytics Leaders' Stakeholder Interactions
For data and analytics leaders to make an impact, they need to have stakeholder support for their initiatives. Who are their key stakeholders and which stakeholders are most challenging to engage with?
One minute insights:
Most respondents have adopted specific strategies to engage with stakeholders for data and analytics initiatives
Executive leadership carries the most influence over initiative approval for the majority of respondents, but data science and analytics teams also carry significant influence 
While executive leadership is not a significantly challenging stakeholder group to engage with for most, those who report infrequent interactions encounter more difficulties
Leaders approach stakeholder engagement for D&A initiatives with a defined strategy
Most respondents (82%) use defined strategies when engaging stakeholders for data and analytics, although half (50%) say these strategies are not unified across all initiatives or departments.
How do you approach stakeholder engagement for data and analytics initiatives?*
*Respondents who selected “I do not engage stakeholders” or “Not sure” were eliminated from the survey
n = 100
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Advice for stakeholder engagement: Have a clear strategy
Question: What advice do you have for getting the most out of engagement with key stakeholders for data and analytics initiatives?
There should be a well defined strategy and road map, along with clear defined and detailed scope. Data privacy and other legal & compliance requirements are also documented.
Ensure you have a vision and target dates for what you're looking to do. Being able to stick to your target dates will help you drive data and analytics initiatives.
Executive leadership is the most influential stakeholder group for initiative approval
53% of survey respondents ranked executive leadership as the stakeholder group with the 53% most influence over approval of data and analytics initiatives at their organization.
Please rank the top three stakeholder groups with the most influence over data and analytics initiative approval at your organization.
Respondent selections for Rank #1
*Other stakeholder groups include: Customers 7% | Regulators and compliance o icers 3% | Marketing 1% | Research and development 2%
n = 100
Executive leadership also held the highest rank overall, based on weighted calculations, among respondents’ top three most influential stakeholder groups for D&A initiative approval
Top three stakeholder groups with the most influence over D&A initiative approval at respondent organizations*
Customers [33] | Regulators and compliance o icers [27] | Operations [14] | Sales [14] | Marketing [11] | Finance & accounting [10] | Research and development [10] | Legal [3] | IT [1] | Customer service/support [0] | Human resources [0]
n = 100
*Results based on weighted ranking scores calculated from ranked response options for the question “Please rank the top 3 stakeholder groups with the most influence over data and analytics initiative approval at your organization”
Advice for stakeholder engagement: Communicate effectively
Question: What advice do you have for getting the most out of engagement with key stakeholders for data and analytics initiatives?
Frame the project in terms of what is in it for them. Data and analytics tell an amazing story, and that story can di er based upon desired outcomes. Be sure to tell the story of what the engagement will mean for each audience.
Create sound and trustworthy relationships amongst the various teams.
Understand their challenges and include their pain points in [your] pitch. Put the emphasis on the empathy to those stakeholders which are [your] customers/internal customers.
Engaging with executive leadership can be challenging, especially if they are not the most frequent collaborators
When developing their data and analytics initiatives, 36% of respondents collaborate most frequently with data science and analytics teams. 33% collaborate most often with executive leadership.
Which stakeholder group do you work with most frequently when developing data and analytics initiatives?
Sales 3% | IT 2% | Operations 2% | Regulators and compliance o fficers 2% | Research and development 2% | Customers 1% | Finance & accounting 1% | Marketing 1% | Human resources 0% | Legal 0% | Customer service/support 0%
n = 100
Of the 33 respondents who work most frequently with executive leadership when developing data and analytics initiatives, only 9% said they had the most significant challenges engaging with executive leadership. 45% said they don’t have significant challenges with any stakeholder group.
Customers 3% | Data science and analytics teams 3% | Finance & accounting 3% | Human resources 3% | Legal 3% | Marketing 3% | Operations 3% | Sales 3%
n = 33
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
Respondents who answered “Executive leadership” to the question “Which stakeholder group do you work with most frequently when developing data and analytics initiatives?”
Meanwhile, more than one-quarter (27%) of those who do not work with executive leadership most frequently (n = 67) said they have the most challenges engaging with them.
Which stakeholder group do you have the most challenges engaging with?
Customers 6% | Operations 4% | Research and development 3% | Finance & accounting 1% | Human resources 1% | Marketing 1% | Sales 1%
n = 67
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
All respondents; Excluding those who answered “Executive leadership” to the question “Which stakeholder group do you work with most frequently when developing data and analytics initiatives?”
What makes executive leadership challenging to engage with
Question: Please share what makes this stakeholder group challenging to engage with.
Respondents who answered “Executive leadership” to the question “Which stakeholder group do you have the most challenges engaging with?”
n = 21
Executives lack of understanding around Data Analytics and core value proposition
They are not aware of how important the data is.
Their expectations for Data and Analytics.
The conversation will be centered around cost, ROI. Also this is about persuading a powerful set of audience who has a lot more controls in the organisation than us who try to engage with them.
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Respondent Breakdown
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
Respondents: 100 IT and data and analytics leaders who are responsible for leading data and analytics initiatives in their organization and actively engage stakeholders in the process