Qlik: Over half of Singapore consumers don’t trust technology for big decisions

Source: Qlik infographic. More than half of Singapore consumers decide based on emotions, experiences and intuition, rather than data and technology.

Singapore consumers don’t trust data and technology when it comes to making meaningful decisions that have a significant, long-term impact on their lives, according to new research* from Qlik conducted by YouGov.

More than half (56%) tend to make decisions based on their emotions, experiences and intuition, as opposed to factual data and technology. As the latter becomes more ingrained into our lives, overcoming this trust gap represents a challenge for companies providing data-informed or AI-powered apps and services to consumers.

As consumers navigate restrictions on movements and gatherings due to the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), millions are forced to work from home and rely more on digital connectivity. Yet, Singapore consumers’ trust in data and technology is limited to making decisions which aid in convenience but have a smaller impact on their lives. This includes letting technology pick the fastest route to a destination (81%), booking a movie ticket based on preferences (67%) or generating a travel itinerary for the next vacation based on previous travel experiences (55%).

Singapore consumers trust other people more than data and technology when it comes to making bigger decisions that have a significant impact on their lives, such as choosing who they should date (77%), advising them on their next career step (65%) or motivating them to exercise (54%).

This trust gap continues to widen with Generation Z. More than half (51%) are wary of devices, websites and apps collecting data or personal information about them in return for convenience and productivity. This number is higher compared to Millennials (42%) and Generation X (48%), but lower than Baby Boomers (56%). One in five Generation Z consumers (20% vs Millennials at 14%) also believe that data and technology are not accurate in general.

“Each generation relies on and trusts data and technology more than the previous one,” said Suganthi Shivkumar, MD, ASEAN, India and Korea, Qlik.

“Surprisingly, Generation Z bucks this trend, putting them more in line with older Baby Boomers. This could be a sign of tech fatigue or a more pessimistic view towards technology in general. Generation Z are digital natives, meaning they’ve been raised with computers and on the Internet. More experience with digital connectivity could make them less charmed by the novelty and more wary of its potential consequences.”

The research identified privacy and security concerns as the main reasons for this trust gap. Two-thirds of all respondents (67%) are concerned that their data and information might be disclosed to the public, and almost as many (61%) fear that they have no control over what data or information is collected from them. Interestingly, almost half (46%) are concerned about losing the human connection, as data and technology might cause them to interact less with people around them.

When asked for the reasons for trusting data and technology, almost three-quarters of consumers (73%) state that it helps them save time, while just under two-thirds (63%) believe it keeps them more informed. Almost half believe data and technology helps them to solve problems (45%) and make better decisions (44%).

If trust issues can be resolved, the impact of data and technology on consumers’ lives could be more meaningful. In the next five years, almost half (48%) would allow integrated body sensors to measure their vitals and inform their doctor about any abnormalities. More than a third (35%) would permit an app to limit or prioritise spending based on their savings plan, while just under a third (30%) would allow data and technology to secure their next job.

Suganthi Shivkumar added: “The fast-paced integration of data and technology into our lives presents lots of opportunities for apps and services to provide consumers with data-informed insights that make their lives more convenient, exciting and simply better. The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) will further intensify this. But only when companies start to remove the ‘black box approach to AI’ and show consumers what data is collected and how it is used to make recommendations, will they trust data more when making higher-impact decisions.”

*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Singapore. The total sample size was 1,052 adults. Field work was undertaken between 5 and 6 December 2019 via a survey carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Singapore adults (aged 18+) nationally.

Data literacy could be worth as much as US$500 million to a business

• The Data Literacy Index commissioned by Qlik and produced by Wharton School academics and IHS Markit, reveals that organisations with a strong corporate data literacy score exhibit up to 5% higher enterprise value

• While the majority of business decision makers recognise the importance of a data literate workforce, fewer than 20% are encouraging their employees to become more confident with data

Data literate companies are valued more highly than peers
which are not data literate, according to the Data Literacy
Index.

Qlik wants to be synonymous with the concept of data literacy and is driving the idea that interpretation of data should move beyond the data scientist community. 

“We're building a big part of the creation of the idea of a data literate world for all,” said James Fisher, Senior VP, Strategic Marketing, Qlik. “In the future, individuals and organisations will need to develop data literacy skills. We want to help organisations to understand the value of data-driven culture.”

That value could be as much as US$534 million. Qlik shared results under embargo of research* commissioned on behalf of the newly-launched Data Literacy Project in a sneak preview during its 2018 Data Revolution Tour in Singapore. A key finding was that organisations in the upper third of the Data Literacy Index showed a 3%-5% increase in the total market value of the business, or enterprise value.

“The average market value of organisations in the study is US$10 billion,” Fisher said, making the 3%-5% figure equivalent to US$320 million-US$534 million. Improved data literacy also correlates positively with other measures of corporate performance, such as gross margin, return-on-assets, return-on-equity and return-on-sales.

This means that a data literate workforce is important, but the benefits are only maximised if the ability to use data literacy for decision-making in the business is encouraged. Companies have not made the connection yet however. There is still a gap between how companies see the performance and relevance of data and an appreciation of the significance of data literacy, Qlik said.

While 92% of business decision makers in large enterprises believe that it is important for employees to be data literate, 17% say that their business significantly encourages employees to become more confident with data.

“We probably aren't doing enough... to get access to that value,” said Fisher.

Lorin Hitt, Professor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania said, “This is the first time that data literacy has been measured on a company level, which includes not only the data skills of company employees, but also the use of data for making decisions throughout the company.

“This is important because our research suggests that this broader concept of corporate data literacy represents a mutually reinforcing set of business practices that are associated with higher financial performance.”

The research has found that more respondents in the Asia Pacific region have pivoted to emphasise data in the last five years than in other regions globally. Ten percent in the region have made changes in the way they use data while 20% are willing to pay higher salaries to employees who are data literate, showing that companies are not yet "walking the talk". Additionally, 40% in Asia have made "quite a few" changes to the way their companies use data, against 47% in the US.

In the Asia Pacific region:

• Nine in 10 (92%) business decision makers believe is important for that their employees to be data literate
• A third (34%) of organisations are providing some form of formal data literacy training
• A sixth (17%) report that their business significantly encourages employees to become more confident with data

Singapore performed exceptionally within the Asia Pacific region and is the most data-literate nation globally. The country had a corporate data literacy** (CDL) score of 84.1 compared to 81.3 in the UK and 79.0 in Germany. The other leaders in Asia Pacific were Australia (a CDL score of 72.4) and India (76.2). Japan, on the other hand, scored 54.9.

Singapore is well-positioned for high data literacy with its large investments in technology, which provide access to data and analytics; an economy that is knowledge worker-driven; and university-level education with world-leading investments in computer science, specifically data science and visualisation skillsets, explained Fisher.

Other findings include:

Businesses are not ready to pay for widespread data expertise

The majority of businesses decisions makers feel it is vital for employees to be data literate, but just 24% of the global workforce reports being fully confident in their ability to read, work with, analyse and communicate with data***.

Further aggravating this skills gap, while two-thirds of companies (63%) are planning on hiring more data-literate employees, the onus is on the individual. Business leaders have been unwilling to commit resources to improve the data literacy of their workforce, with only 34% of firms currently providing data literacy training, and 36% willing to pay higher salaries to employees who are data literate. 

Availability of data skills does not lead to more data-driven decision-making

Nearly all business leaders acknowledge that data is important to their industry (93%) and in how their company currently makes decisions (98%). Just 8% of firms have made major changes in the way the data is used over the past five years.

Data-driven decision making had the lowest score of the three dimensions of corporate data literacy measured. Even companies that have data-literate employees across every business unit are not likely to be turning data into useable information as effectively as possible. 

“Even when we have the skills in place, organisations are not fully following through in terms of how they drive action and change within the organisation,” Fisher said.

Some industries have higher data literacy

There are far greater differences in corporate data literacy between industries than between regions. The healthcare, retail and real estate industries underperformed on data literacy (with respective data literacy scores of 67.1, 69.2 and 70.7), while the administrative, technical services and finance industries performed more consistently (81.1, 80.2 and 77.4 respectively). Sector-wise, the banking and finance industry has the highest average CDL score in Asia Pacific.

Jordan Morrow, Global Head of Data Literacy at Qlik said: “With the greater presence of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, the fourth industrial revolution is looming. Data will be its universal language and those companies that master it will reap the rewards.

“Yet, while companies pay strong lip service to the relevance and importance of data literacy to their business, their willingness to commit resources for data literate employees and evoke change to allow for data-driven decision making is lacking.

“Within just five years, the winners of the data revolution will be clear. The Data Literacy Index is not merely an eye opener. It is a call to arms for business leaders to defend their market share.”

Precursor research to the Data Literacy Index includes Qlik's data literacy survey, conducted earlier in 2018 and which assessed an employee’s data skillsets. 

Even though Singapore is the most data-literate country in the world, there is more room for improvement. The earlier survey findings discovered a low data literacy level across the board in Singapore. About two thirds 66% of C-suites and directors do not know how to deal with data, and four in 10 (42%) admitted that they frequently make business decisions on ‘gut feel’ over informed insight.

Other findings for the earlier survey included:

- Nine in 10 graduates in Singapore enter workforce unprepared to deal with data.

- Employees in Singapore are under immense pressure to use data at work.

- Nearly two thirds (65%) agree that they have to work with a higher volume of data today compared to three years ago

- Over half (56%) also admitted to feeling overwhelmed when dealing with data

The earlier survey also found that workers want to improve their data skills to boost their career (78%), but many are being held back by their employers. Almost half (47%) see the training offered as inadequate. Four in 10 (39%) graduate entry-level workers surveyed agree they have not had adequate training to be data literate, despite the majority (68%) willing to invest more time and energy to improve their skillset.

Qlik's own technology makes use of data literacy knowhow to offer a better customer experience. Its visualisation capabilities help to ensure that users use colour and charts well. "We are now using cognitive artificial intelligence (AI) to instill a greater level of data literacy," said Fisher.

The Data Literacy Index was created by Qlik on behalf of the Data Literacy Project, a new global community dedicated to igniting richer discussion and developing the tools to shape a confident and successful data-literate society. The Data Literacy Project, whose logo spells out 'data' in Morse code, has a portal with inspiring stories, active conversation, self-assessment tools as well as resources and education.

And while Qlik is a driving force for data literacy, it is not going to go it alone. Founding partners for the Data Literacy Project include Accenture, Cognizant, Qlik, Pluralsight, Experian, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Data to the People. More partners expected in the future.

There are many aspects to effective data literacy in organisations, including understanding the current corporate analytic strategy in conjunction with partners; democratising data literacy and embedding data literacy into core business processes. "It requires a fundamental change in the way individuals think and the culture of an organisation," Fisher noted.

In a panel discussing data literacy, Dr Keith Carter, Associate Professor, School of Computing, National University of Singapore, said there is a place for data scientists in organisations, but there needs to be supporting culture and a way to put them to use. 

Dr Carter, who teaches "ABCD", or AI, Blockchain, cloud, and data, said that culture is critical as it can be brought in the wrong way, or hacked. "With AI you can train it so that it provides the wrong answers, so you lose trust or make a bad decision," he said. 

"We need to do more to be able to create a culture where we understand what data is and how we can get better being data driven," agreed Dr Meri Rosich, Executive MBA Lecturer at GLOBIS University. "We have to enable not just people to understand (data) but understand the core ethical principles around the execution." 

Dr Rosich said data literacy is a core skillset that should be developed professionally and personally, and updated continually. While the Singapore academic curriculum is integrating more data-driven subjects, so children can understand data, tell stories, and test for facts, she said that an AI certification from a school will be obsolete in two years. 

"The process doesn't stop when you graduate. You need to develop systems that help you continue to learn," she said.

"The foundation is there. We now need to use that (and) apply it to something that is new to us, which is how to use data and how to apply data," summarised Fisher.

Dr Carter called the 3%-5% figure from the Qlik research conservative but impactful. "In the very near future, with good data, trustable data, AI can run a department, and then it can run a business unit; it can run a business, run a sector," he said. "Ultimately we'll see... sections of the government making top decisions on AI. It is moving faster than you expect."

Explore:

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post citing Qlik Asia Pacific's comments on data literacy

Read the global report to guide enterprise on driving data literacy within a company

The Qlik data literacy education programme is designed to empower everyone with the ability to understand, analyse and use data with confidence. Lessons are product-agnostic and teach concepts that can be used in any context and with any business intelligence tool. Offerings include:

• A one-day instructor-led class available worldwide, onsite or virtually
• Free self-paced online learning modules in the Qlik Continuous Classroom
• Free comprehensive data analytics certification in the Qlik Continuous Classroom
• Free learning resources for professors and students through the Qlik Academic Program
• Free skills assessment to receive a training roadmap based on skill level

Try free data literacy classes from Qlik 

Browse the earlier research on data literacy

*Qlik commissioned global research that explored the relationship between data literacy and corporate performance in partnership with Wharton and IHS Markit. The research covers data-driven decision making and data skill dispersion - how widespread the use of data is throughout the organisation. Six hundred and four global enterprise business decision makers in 10 geographies were surveyed about their companies' use of data and approach to data literacy. The research study was defined by Wharton academics and conducted by PSB Research. 

The survey was conducted by PSB Research from June 27 through July 18, 2018. Business decision makers were selected from global publicly-traded companies, with at least 500 employees and which represented a wide range of industries including banking and financial services, manufacturing, retail, transportation, healthcare, energy, construction, utilities, and communications. The total number of interviews conducted was 604: 200 each in the US and Europe, and 204 in Asia. 

Measures of Firm Performance The corporate value can be interpreted as the percentage difference in enterprise value of the organization for a one standard deviation difference in the corporate data literacy score, holding fixed all other assets of the firm. The analysis of performance was completed using public financial data for the surveyed companies. The result is statistically significant at conventional levels, and consistent with estimates from the performance regressions using other performance variables. 

**Corporate data literacy (CDL) is defined as the ability of a company workforce to read, analyse and use data for decisions; communicate with data in the organisation; and use that data in decision-making for work purposes. The measure of corporate data literacy was established by IHS Markit and a Professor from the Wharton School. It lies on a continuum based on 

- The data skills of the employees (human capital) 

- Data-driven decision making and

- Data skill dispersion (how widespread is the use of data throughout the organisation). 

A survey was designed to measure the three dimensions of corporate data literacy. For each question a scale was developed from the categorical responses and the z-score computed to standardise responses across all indicators in order to aggregate them. The overall corporate data literacy score is computed as the sum of the three pillar scores. For the global sample, the distribution of CDL scores range from a low of 0 to a high of 100.  

**** Source: How to Drive Data Literacy within the Enterprise

LinkedIn reveals emerging jobs in Singapore for 2018

Top jobs on LinkedIn in Singapore:

• Data Scientist
• Cybersecurity Specialist
• User Experience Designer
• Head of Digital
• Content Specialist

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has released the 2018 Emerging Jobs in Singapore Report, which has identified digital competency as being in high demand, together with soft skills. The findings underscore the demand for jobs which require hybrid skills, primarily to help Singapore organisations navigate their digital transformation journey.

LinkedIn analysed* millions of unique, user-input job titles from the last five years, and found that while the top five emerging jobs are all related to technology, many of them require management and communications skills. Their actual roles are varied and diverse, reflecting a labour market that values talent with a hybrid set of complementary skills.

According to LinkedIn, the top five emerging jobs for 2018 are:

• Data Scientist
• Cybersecurity Specialist
• User Experience Designer
• Head of Digital
• Content Specialist

“Our Emerging Jobs Report highlights the reality that new jobs are emerging more rapidly than at any other time in history. Traditional roles have evolved into hybrids that did not exist five years ago. While it’s no surprise that the top emerging jobs for Singapore are all related to technology, many of them require management and communications skills making them hybrids of new and traditional roles – such as user experience designer,” said Feon Ang, VP of Talent and Learning Solutions for APAC at LinkedIn.

The global and local talent shortage has made it necessary for HR and talent acquisition teams to evolve and innovate the way they hire. As skills commonly associated with these emerging jobs evolve, hiring based on a candidate’s title is no longer adequate and accurate in filling these gaps.

Although demand for digital talent is growing, supply is not keeping up around the world. With 'data scientist' being the fastest-emerging job title, and also the one which is the most in demand, skills in machine learning and data analytics are highly sought after. LinkedIn notes that out of the talent that has migrated to Singapore, 21.95% are from India, followed by France at about 14%**.

Source: LinkedIn. Talent migration graph showing the total number of people who have migrated to Singapore since January 2017.

In some sectors, the rising demand for content has also led to job roles such as content specialists, which were not as popular five years ago. This top emerging job is unique to Singapore, home to a number of regional headquarters for various organisations. With most content in English, organisations are looking to locals to fill content specialist roles, but also increasingly at international talent from the UK, Australia and India.

The emergence of user experience designer and head of digital roles in Singapore is also driven, in part, by the financial sector’s investment into establishing a bigger digital footprint. Increasingly, these roles are breaking out of technology companies and spreading across the workforce.

Soft skills like adaptability, collaboration and leadership have emerged to be of increasing importance for professionals, even for roles that are technical. Heads of digital need to know how to communicate and lead effectively as they steward digital transformation projects; content specialists need to be adept at storytelling to ensure their content resonates with their audience; data scientists need to communicate their insights creatively to help consumers make sense of interesting data.

The top skills for the five emerging jobs are:

Data scientist:

• Data science
• Machine learning
• Analytics
• Data mining
• Big data

User experience designer:

• User experience
• Design
• User interface design
• Wireframing
• Banking

Content specialist:

• Content marketing
• Digital production
• Sales enablement
• Content delivery
• Communication

Cybersecurity specialist:

• Computer security
• Consulting
• Management
• Cisco Systems products 
• Research
• Sales 

Head of Digital:

• Digital marketing
• Internet banking
• Management
• Communication
• Leadership

“Digital competence, as we now know, is composed by a blend of hard and soft skills. This competition for talent will only grow fiercer, so organisations need to build an adaptable workforce. Real-time understanding of the demand and supply of skills, talent pools and talent movement is the first step towards building talent intelligence at scale,” added Ang.

Qlik, a data analytics player, agrees with the LinkedIn findings about data literacy. Julian Quinn, Regional Vice President for Qlik Asia Pacific said, “With data and technology presenting opportunities for businesses in Singapore, we believe that data literacy will become an important and common skill – not just to data scientists but for the entire workforce.

"As Singapore is a step ahead in both technology and connectivity, the data literacy skills gap locally is startling. A global research study by Qlik found that 85% of Singaporean employees are not data literate, more than the Asia Pacific (APAC) average. Despite the rising expectations to use data within the workforce, only 15% of employees know how to deal with it. Among graduates, nine out of 10 admitted to not knowing what to do with data.

"Those without the knowledge of data literacy will be limited in what they can accomplish. The responsibility to be data literate falls on everyone’s shoulders - government, employers, and individuals. Governments and organisations can foster this mindset by providing all employees with access to relevant data as well as the tools and encouragement to turn it into insights. On an individual level, people can take simple steps such as asking more questions, and interrogating facts and information given."

Qlik has four tips to enhance data literacy:

- Ask more questions, interrogating the facts and information given. "If you’re shown a graph, be critical and don’t take it at face value – make sure you understand the story it’s really telling," said Quinn.

- Begin pinpointing areas of difficulty where data could be used to support arguments.

- Proactively make the business case for your company to drive a culture of data literacy.

- Start combining data sets to find even deeper insights.

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has also released labour market figures for 1H18. According to the government, total employment grew, more job vacancies were available, and retrenchments declined. The resident unemployment rate was lower than a year ago, although it rose slightly in Q218 as more people entered the labour force looking for work in line with the pickup in economic activities, MOM said.

Total employment (excluding foreign domestic workers) grew by 6,900 in 1H18, compared with a decline of 17,300 in 1H17, and a growth of 6,700 in 2H17.

Resident unemployment rate rose slightly as more entered the labour force to look for work. The seasonally-adjusted resident unemployment rate rose from 2.8% in March 2018 to 2.9% in June 2018 after a general downtrend since June 2017, but remained slightly lower than the same period a year ago (3.1%). The unemployment data comes from Labour Market Second Quarter 2018, Manpower Research & Statistics Department, MOM.

There were 5,350 retrenchments in 1H18, which was lower than in 1H17 (7,640). At the same time, the six-month re-entry rate into employment of retrenched residents was about two-thirds (63%) in 1H18***, comparable to that in 1H17 (64%). Job vacancies rose to a three-year high of 56,700 in June 2018, an increase from 53,900 in March 2018.

MOM expects labour demand to pick up in 2H18, in line with seasonal hiring as seen in previous years. Hiring is expected to remain cautious in sectors such as Construction and Marine Shipyard, while job opportunities will continue to be available in others such as the Information & Communications, Financial & Insurance Services, Healthcare, Professional Services, Wholesale Trade, and Built Environment sectors.

Explore:

Read the 2018 Emerging Jobs Report for your country

*LinkedIn analysed millions of unique, user-input job titles based on common job roles and counted the frequencies of job titles that were held in 2013 and compared the results to job titles that were held in 2017. The ‘emerging jobs’ are the top five job titles that saw the largest growth in frequency over the five-year period.

**LinkedIn has clarified that the data collected is about the previous locations of talent who have migrated to Singapore, as opposed to the nationalities of that talent. While people moving from India to Singapore might have Indian passports, it is entirely possible that they are from another nationality, were based in India, and later took up a job in Singapore.  

***The 1H 2018 rate is the simple average of Q118 and Q218 rates of re-entry into employment.

Singapore retailer uses Qlik, Deloitte Digital solution to track customer's stories over time

Inverted Edge, a Singapore-based online retailer, is using its retail space at Scotts Square mall to provide customers with a personalised interactive digital shopping experience with the help of Qlik, a visual analytics provider, and Deloitte Digital, a design and development agency. 

Source: Inverted Edge website.

Apart from housing quality contemporary luxury apparel, the in-store solution includes a continually changing showcase of photos and stories from customers, shared on social media, about the clothes they wear and their related stories. As a wearer adds a new garment or story, it will appear on the visual display, inspiring others and adding to the excitement of discovering and sharing new looks, bridging fashion and everyday life from posts shared across social media platforms.

“At Inverted Edge we are proponents of Fashion that Matters, or sometimes we call it Slow Fashion. We believe that when you buy something you love, you should wear it and wear it in multiple places and in different ways and across multiple seasons. It’s not disposable, it doesn’t get thrown out after two months; it becomes something that has meaning,” said Debra Langley, Chief Executive Officer at Inverted Edge.

“As a garment is worn as part of a lifestyle, it takes on a life and emotional quotient all of its own, developing a story between the wearer and the items purchased. We want to develop something that captures these relationships, and from a business standpoint, understand what fuels our shopper’s purchasing decisions.”

Built mainly on Qlik's Sense platform, Inverted Edge’s in-store digital solution delivers an interactive and personalised digital experience for customers. The framework allows Inverted Edge to manage and study purchasing data to identify key factors that drive customers’ decisions to purchase high quality items that are designed to be worn for more than a couple of seasons. This enables the company to discover what it is their customers are looking out for, and tailor their services to customer needs.

Added Donald Farmer, Qlik’s US-based Vice President of Innovation and Design: “By transforming dry material such as purchasing data and customer analytics into engaging, informative digital stories and conversations, Qlik is providing Inverted Edge with the ability to tackle real and significant problems that fashion retailers face in brand new ways. In particular, we are enabling them to design fresh means of engaging with the stories we tell about ourselves, and the clothes we wear and aspire to own. It’s a fascinating approach, and a perfect partnership for Qlik.”

The digital experience will later be replicated at Manifesto, Inverted Edge e-commerce partner’s new concept store carrying international contemporary brands in Singapore’s Capitol Piazza development. Focusing on integrating both online and offline initiatives, the two retailers are aligned on their desire to create a new and different retail shopper experience over the next six months.

Interested?

Inverted Edge is at #01-11 Scotts Square
Manifesto is at #02-19, Capitol Piazza