Report: 91% of top data execs agree that managing unstructured language data must be addressed

Data has always been integral to enterprise business, but the rise of digital transformation has created a new sense of urgency around the ways in which it is managed, analyzed and governed. This newfound emphasis around data has placed the role of chief data officer (CDO) squarely in the business spotlight. In 2012, only 12% of large, data-intensive firms employed a CDO, whereas 65% do today, according to a NewVantage Partners survey.

A new report published by Expert.ai, the premier artificial intelligence (AI) platform for language understanding, surveyed data and analytics decision makers to reveal how teams are faring as they attempt to guide their companies towards AI success.

This report reveals that nine out of ten CDOs agree that management of unstructured language data — including text from business documents and emails — must be addressed in the next 12 months. Yet, few are prepared with the natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) experience and tools needed to make a transition work.

There is growing realization across enterprises that unstructured language data is not merely a byproduct of operations but a vital resource to be mined for actionable insights. The ability to extract value from unstructured data is what will separate businesses from their competition via better Net Promoter Scores and reduced manual document handling and extraction costs. NLP and NLU technology have been proven the key to doing so.

Despite this, only 8% of data teams have completed NLP and NLU projects within their business that would enable them to fully unlock the value of their unstructured language data. More than a third (34%) of data teams have started activating plans for NLP projects. Nearly a quarter (24%) are still defining their plans but are not ready to activate them.

The survey was conducted among data and analytics decision makers across the U.S.and Europe. The interviews were led by Sapio Research in October 2021.

Read the full report by Expert.ai.