Qlik®, a leader in visual analytics, and Forbes Insights today released results from "Breakthrough Business Intelligence: How Stronger Governance Becomes a Force for Enablement,” a global study revealing that while Business Intelligence (BI) is yielding important benefits for the vast majority of surveyed companies, most feel there is more to come.

The survey of more than 400 senior IT and business professionals showed that 45% of respondents rate their BI program as yielding “very significant” benefits, while a further 36% rated the benefits as “significant.” Even so, issues such as less-than-optimal adoption rates, lingering silos, multiple “versions of the truth” and data security mean that only 48% felt they had achieved the full potential benefits of their BI programs.

The solution identified by the survey is better governance to ensure consistent, reliable and optimized results. This governance includes such key points as standardizing definitions and formulas, improving data security and enabling secure access. Through these measures, better governance can actually empower individuals within the firm to utilize data independently to achieve their goals.

“Governance requires a really fine balance – governing to the point where consistency is assured, but flexibility remains,” said Mike Saliter, VP, Global Industry Solutions, Qlik. “There is no perfect formula, but finding the right governance level within your organization’s culture is a critical component to making the most of BI opportunities.”

Key findings of the survey include:

• Four out of five organizations (81%) report that they are experiencing “very significant” (45%) or “significant” (36%) business benefits from their BI programs. These findings are consistent across different industries and geographies
• Three out of four respondents (76%) said the benefits of BI are a mix of tangible and intangible, but are always substantial. Specific benefits include improved customer metrics, accelerated time to market, stronger product and service mixes, enhanced brand valuation and recognition, and higher profitability
• Executives recognize the importance of governance in BI, as over three quarters (78%) say data governance is either vital or important to their BI operations, and two-thirds (65%) say governance is a useful means to empower end-users to uncover new insights
• Going forward, the structure of BI will feature:
• Less IT control
  • An increase in standalone, independent BI functions
  • Greater structure, planning, and governance; fewer ad hoc characteristics
  • A greater mix of centralized/decentralized approaches

The insights and commentary found in this report are derived from both a survey and qualitative interviews with senior executives. In July/August 2016, Forbes Insights, in collaboration with Qlik, conducted a robust global survey of 437 senior executives from a range of industries in North America, Europe and APAC.

Forbes Insights is the strategic research and thought leadership practice of Forbes Media, publisher of Forbes magazine and Forbes.com, whose combined media properties reach nearly 75 million business decision makers worldwide on a monthly basis. Taking advantage of a proprietary database of senior-level executives in the Forbes community, Forbes Insights conducts research on a host of topics of interest to C-level executives, senior marketing professionals, small business owners and those who aspire to positions of leadership, as well as providing deep insights into issues and trends surrounding wealth creation and wealth management.

Qlik® is the leading visual analytics platform and the pioneer of user-driven business intelligence. Its portfolio of cloud-based and on-premise solutions meets customers’ growing needs from reporting and self-service visual analysis to guided, embedded and custom analytics, regardless of where data is located. Customers using Qlik Sense®, QlikView® and Qlik® Cloud, gain meaning out of information from multiple sources, exploring the hidden relationships within data that lead to insights that ignite good ideas. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Qlik does business in more than 100 countries with over 40,000 customers globally.