A ROUGH ROAD TO DATA

MATURITY
By Elias Baltassis, Anne-Douce Coulin, Antoine Gourévitch, Yassine Khendek, and
Lucas Quarta

G lobally, companies are making

progress in their efforts to mature their
data capabilities, but the transformation
Steady Progress Lifts Maturity
Levels
Although the companies we surveyed did
to data-driven organizations is proving not achieve their very high ambitions for
arduous for many of them—and it’s not progress, their 19% improvement from
happening as rapidly as they’d hoped. 2016 to 2019 is noteworthy. In 2016, the
According to BCG’s Data Capability Maturi- average maturity index score was 268,
ty Survey, the companies we surveyed in which fell into what we define as the
2016 had hoped to raise their data maturity “developing” category on the data matur-
index score by 53% by 2019. But they fell ity spectrum. But by 2019 the average
well short of their ambitions, improving moved to 318, placing it in the “main-
their score by 19% according to this year’s stream” category. Moreover, the percent-
survey. (For more on the survey and index, age of companies scoring 300 to 500 points
see the “Study Methodology” sidebar.) (qualifying them as mainstream or better)
more than doubled from 30% to 62%. (See
Among the eight industries included in our Exhibit 1.)
survey, the technology, media, and telecom-
munications (TMT) sector outpaced the Given the challenges that companies expe-
field in terms of data maturity, followed by rienced in attempting to reach their 2016
financial institutions and retail and con- goals, it’s not surprising that they dialed
sumer companies. Geographically, North back their ambitions somewhat in the 2019
America led the way in 2019 thanks to a survey. But they still have substantial aspi-
strong showing by both the US and Cana- rations. On average, respondents expect to
da. And although Europe leads Asia on a lift their capability index scores 25%, to 398
regional basis, China comes in second to by 2021, which would put them at the
the US in terms of data capabilities at the threshold of the “state of the art” data ma-
national level. turity category.
 STUDY METHODOLOGY
After conducting our Data Capability •• Mainstream. Possesses average data
Maturity Survey, we used the results to capabilities for its industry.
create a performance index. The index
establishes benchmarks that help •• State of the Art. Has several areas of
companies more precisely assess the excellence among the seven data
maturity of their data capabilities com- capabilities but may not manage
pared with that of their peers. This them cohesively.
knowledge can help companies design
better digital strategies to compete more •• Best Practice. Is advanced in all di-
effectively as data-driven organizations. mensions of data-capability building
The index is based on the seven data and manages them cohesively.
capabilities in BCG’s Data Capabilities
Model. (See the exhibit.) The survey results included in this arti-
cle are just a sampling of the data we
Across these seven capabilities, we collected. The full data has been re-
weighted 19 dimensions and 55 criteria served for internal BCG analysis and
and then created an aggregate score client cases.
from 100 to 500. That score placed each
company somewhere on the five-stage
data maturity spectrum:

•• Lagging. Has made little to no

progress across the seven data
capabilities.

•• Developing. Understands its data

capability challenges and has started
to work on them in earnest.

BCG’s Comprehensive Data Capabilities Model

Examples of key issues to address

• Why are we interested in data? What are we trying to achieve?
• Do we want to improve our current practices or undertake a
Vision radical transformation?
• Which are the main macro use cases? How much value do we
expect from each?
• Do we have the right end-to-end ownership and accountability
Use for our use cases?
cases • Do we have the right talent pool? Have we implemented the
Change management

right analytics functions?

Analytics • Do we have a thorough analytics process, leading to concrete
setup results?
• Do we have a data management organization in place?
• Have we launched basic data hygiene actions (e.g., defining
Data governance quality and key quality indicators)?
• Is our infrastructure suitable to our vision and future use cases
(e.g., technologies and operating model)? Is it end to end—
Data infrastructure
from modeling to industrialization?
• Do we understand and leverage the data ecosystem around us?
Data ecosystem • How should we manage the ecosystem? What role should we
play in it?
• How do we handle change management from legacy to a
data-driven company?
• Do we leverage new ways of working?

Source: BCG.

Boston Consulting Group | A Rough Road to Data Maturity 2

 Exhibit 1 | Distribution of Companies by Data Maturity

2016 survey (%)

Lagging Developing Mainstream State of the art Best practice
(100 points) (200 points) (300 points) (400 points) (500 points)

11 59 27 3
Average maturity
index score (268)

2019 survey (%)

Lagging Developing Mainstream State of the art Best practice
(100 points) (200 points) (300 points) (400 points) (500 points)

4 34 51 11
Average maturity
index score (318)

Sources: BCG Data Capability Maturity (DACAMA) Surveys, 2016 and 2019; BCG analysis.

All Data Capabilities Improved as-a-Service (AaaS) and Platform-as-a-

in the New Survey Service (PaaS) solutions.
As part of our analysis to better under-
stand strengths and weaknesses, we exam- Less obvious in these results, but very tell-
ined how companies have performed ing, is the relative underperformance of
across seven data capabilities: vision, use analytics setup (in other words, creating
cases, analytics setup, data governance, value and having the right analytics pro-
data infrastructure, data ecosystems, and cesses and people in place), which has
change management. Back in 2016, the gone from the second most developed ca-
strongest data capability among those pability to one of the least mature. That
surveyed was vision, which helped to set came despite very high ambitions. On aver-
a solid foundation for data strategy. Yet, age, companies had hoped to raise the ma-
somewhat surprisingly given this strength, turity score for analytics setup from 293 to
companies also said they struggled to apply 435—a dramatic 48% increase. Instead, it
that vision and develop concrete use cases. rose just 7% to 314.
Data infrastructure and data ecosystems
were even weaker, probably because they This trend was consistent across regions,
require more enterprisewide transforma- industries, and company size, suggesting
tion than developing a vision and identify- that most companies are struggling with
ing use cases. organizational issues as they try to deliver
on their business strategy (such as aligning
Since 2016, all capabilities have improved. various stakeholders). Interestingly, they
(See Exhibit 2.) But the 2019 results reveal are having trouble with their analytics set-
some surprises. For example, sdata infra- up despite strong support from top man-
structure and data ecosystems improved agement.
dramatically—although they grew from a
comparatively low base, which made those In the face of these challenges, companies
big gains easier to achieve. Driving the have pulled backed on their 2021 ambi-
growth in these capabilities was the vast tions for analytics setup and are aiming for
improvement in open-source technologies a maturity score of 397. Although that’s far
and the increasing number of Analytics- below the ambition they set in 2016, it

Boston Consulting Group | A Rough Road to Data Maturity 3

 Exhibit 2 | Average Data Maturity Index Score by Data Capability

4 22 7 18 26 41

326 328
313 317 314 317 317
302
293
277
259
251

213

Vision Use Analytics Data Data Data Change

cases setup governance infrastructure ecosystems management1

2016 data maturity index 2019 data maturity index Growth (%)

Sources: BCG Data Capability Maturity (DACAMA) Surveys, 2016 and 2019; BCG analysis.
Note: The maximum number of maturity index points is 500, indicating best practice.
1Change management is a new dimension introduced in BCG’s latest data capabilities framework; hence, it was not evaluated in 2016.

would still amount to a 26% increase over Things (IoT) data in those sectors. Unlike
their actual 2019 score. the 2016 survey, which found that midsize
companies had more mature data capabili-
In fact, the companies in the survey recali- ties than small and large companies, the
brated their 2021 ambitions across the 2019 survey shows that company size
board. In all cases—except data ecosys- makes virtually no difference in data capa-
tems—their 2021 maturity score targets are bility maturity.
below their 2019 targets.
It’s no coincidence that leading industries
We found that, despite the many challeng- focus on improving each of the seven data
es that these organizations face, state-of- capabilities. Indeed, TMT and financial in-
the-art companies tend to mature all seven stitutions, the first and second most ma-
data capabilities consistently and cohesive- ture industries, scored above average in all
ly, thus maximizing the value of their data. seven capabilities. Meanwhile, industrial
For example, the analytics setup and data goods, transport and logistics, health care,
ecosystems of these companies are both energy, and the public sector all scored
more than 40% more mature than the rest below average for most or all the compo-
of the market. This creates significant com- nents.
petitive advantages.
This tells us that a company in any of the
industries in our survey that is looking
TMT Leads Industries in Data to advance needs a high level of maturity
Maturity across all capabilities. That finding is in
We also took a close look at the maturity line with what we learned about individu-
of data capabilities across industries. (See al state-of-the-art companies. Being very
Exhibit 3.) All industries have improved good at just a few capabilities is not
their data maturity from 2016 to 2019 but enough. The silver lining, particularly for
at varying rates. TMT continues to lead in energy and the public sector, is that their
data maturity and improved its index score industries have so few advanced players
by 15%, but energy and industrial goods that investing in these capabilities could
demonstrated the highest upswing, possi- give them a pronounced competitive
bly driven by the growth of Internet of advantage.

Boston Consulting Group | A Rough Road to Data Maturity 4

 Exhibit 3 | Average Data Maturity Index Score by Industry
Growth (%)

288
TMT 332 15
277
Financial institutions 320 16
269
Retail and consumer packaged goods 319 19
257
Industrial goods 315 23
261
Transport and logistics
311 19
268
Health care 310 16
221
Energy 287 30
257
Public sector
279 9

2016 data maturity index 2019 data maturity index

Sources: BCG Data Capability Maturity (DACAMA) Surveys, 2016 and 2019; BCG analysis.
Note: The maximum number of maturity index points is 500, indicating best practice.

North America Continues to India is the most ambitious, aspiring to

Lead Among Regions leapfrog its competitors and move from
As part of our analysis, we also examined number 12 on the index to number 2.
data capability maturity across regions. All
regions have developed since 2016, and to- Meanwhile, companies in the UK, France,
day most have similar maturity levels. But and Germany have set targets that would
they are evolving at different rates. While maintain those countries’ leadership posi-
North America continues to lead, Europe tions in Europe.
and Asia have accelerated their growth to
close the gap. Both those regions have in- Canada’s target is near the global average
creased their maturity about 50% faster of 398, which would drop it from third to
than North America. Looking forward, all sixth. The implication is that Canadian
three regions are targeting 25% growth by companies don’t plan to invest as much in
2021. data capabilities as those in other countries.

When looking at individual countries, a

more complex landscape emerges. (To sim- Stay Focused on Capability
plify the process of ranking and comparing Building
countries, we condensed the country rank- Companies looking to evolve into data-
ings to “trailing,” “work in progress,” and driven organizations have encountered
“advanced.”) Although the US marginally some bumps in the road. Critically, how-
leads in data maturity, China has the high- ever, they have not been dissuaded. True,
est concentration of companies with ad- most have recalibrated their ambitions for
vanced maturity. Among the top eight 2021 to be more realistic than they were
countries, Japan has a very high percent- for 2019. But their ambitions are still ag-
age of companies with a work-in-progress gressive—and that’s a good thing. These
data capability (79%) and has relatively data capabilities are not something that
few advanced and trailing companies. might, in theory, be useful in the future.
(See Exhibit 4.) They are necessary to compete in the here
and now, and most companies are playing
Looking forward, China and India hope to catchup. Getting there won’t be easy, but
overtake the US in data maturity by 2021. get there they must.

Boston Consulting Group | A Rough Road to Data Maturity 5

 Exhibit 4 | The US Leads in Data Maturity, but China Has the Most Advanced Companies

Average data maturity index by country, 2019 Distribution by data maturity segment, 20191
Top eight countries (maturity index points) Top eight countries (%)

US 326 15 49 37

China 323 6 50 44

Canada 322 14 48 38

France 322 14 55 31

UK 322 16 50 34

Germany 321 13 60 27

Japan 320 7 79 14

Australia 317 14 62 24

Trailing Work in progress Advanced

Sources: BCG Data Capability Maturity (DACAMA) Survey, 2019; BCG analysis.
Note: The maximum number of maturity index points is 500, indicating best practice.
1Trailing < 250; work in progress = 250–349; advanced ≥ 350.

About the Authors

Elias Baltassis is a partner and director in the Paris office of Boston Consulting Group, focusing on data
and analytics. He’s a core member of Gamma, BCG’s data science arm, and of the Technology Advantage
practice. You may contact him by email at [Link]@[Link].

Anne-Douce Coulin is the manager of the data and digital platform (DDP) key digital product (KDP) in
the firm’s Paris office. You may contact her by email at [Link]@[Link].

Antoine Gourévitch is a managing director and senior partner in BCG’s Paris office. He is a core mem-
ber of the Technology Advantage practice, the global leader of the DDP, and the global leader of digital and
deep tech R&D. You may contact him by email at [Link]@[Link].

Yassine Khendek is a project leader in the firm’s Paris office and a core member of the Technology
Advantage practice. You may contact him by email at [Link]@[Link].

Lucas Quarta is a partner and associate director in BCG’s Paris office, focusing on data and analytics, and
a core member of the Technology Advantage office. You may contact him by email at [Link]@[Link].

Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to Marcos Fernández, Hugo Loredo, and Angel Santamaria of the Data
and Analytics Knowledge Team for their support during the survey and the analysis of its results. They
also thank Michael Sisk for his assistance and perseverance in the writing of this article.

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Boston Consulting Group | A Rough Road to Data Maturity 7