SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce [NYSE: CRM], the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today delivered the 2015 State of Analytics report. Salesforce Research surveyed global business leaders to discover the changing role of analytics in business, areas where analytics usage is on the rise and how high-performing organizations approach analytics. The inaugural report found that high-performing companies embrace cultures of analytics, apply analytics across their organizations, and enable employees with real-time, mobile insights.

The State of Analytics report found that the number of data sources analyzed by companies will jump 83 percent over the next five years. In addition, the report showed that 90 percent of high-performing organizations say analytics are important to driving their overall business strategy and improving operational outcomes. In order to stay competitive in the data driven economy, companies today need to deploy analytics in order to keep pace.

"With consumers generating more data than ever, companies need to make sense of the torrent of web searches, tweets, product logs, connected devices and apps that reveal their customers' needs and behaviors," said Stephanie Buscemi, COO of Analytics Cloud, Salesforce. "With data analytics, companies can tap into this vast ocean of insights and arm their employees with a 360-degree view of their businesses and customers, allowing them to make smarter, data-driven decisions."

Key findings from 2015 State of Analytics Report include:

Successful Organizations Create a Culture of Analytics
Building a culture around analytics not only gives employees access to the right insights at the right time, but also empowers them with the ability to collaborate and take data-driven action. In fact, high-performing organizations are extending analytics across the business, from the boardroom to the front line.

• Ninety percent of high-performing organizations say their executive teams are committed to the success of analytics tools and technologies to help drive overall business strategy and improve operational outcomes.
• High-performing teams are 2x more likely than underperformers to have more than half of their employee base using analytics tools.
• Ninety-four percent of employees at high-performing organizations say they collaborate with other functions in their company to make use of insights gleaned from analytics tools.
• Employees at high-performing organizations are 4.6x more likely than underperformers to move beyond using benchmark scores to making ongoing data-driven decisions. On the other hand, underperformers are 5.7x more likely than high performers to use gut instincts instead of data when making strategic business decisions.

The Rise of Analytics for Everything
As employees gain greater access to data, they sharpen their analytical skills and increase how they apply analytics across organizations to discover new insights and facilitate better business decisions.

• High-performing organizations analyze more than 17 different kinds of data, nearly double the number analyzed by underperformers.
• High-performing organizations are 3x more likely than underperformers to glean value from analytics in 10 or more disciplines.
• Driving operational efficiencies and facilitating growth are the top two business disciplines for analytics today. In addition, using analytics to automate business operations, explore new business models and predict customer behavior are emerging practices.

The Era of Real-Time Analytics has Arrived
Organizations now desire real-time, mobile insights and place a premium on ease of use, self-service capabilities and mobile when evaluating analytics tools.

• High-performing organizations are 5.1x more likely than underperformers to derive timely insights from their current analytics tools.
• High-performing organizations are nearly 5x more likely than underperformers to say mobile capabilities to explore and share data are critical when selecting an analytics tool.
• High-performing organizations are 3.5x more likely than underperformers to extensively use mobile reporting tools.

Methodology 
This study was conducted by Salesforce Research through a third-party survey firm in mid-2015. More than 2,000 global business leaders were surveyed, each indicating whether their organization was high-performing, moderate-performing or under-performing. High-performing organizations are defined as those who rated their business performance as much stronger than their competition.

Additional Information

Download a full copy of the free report, 2015 State of Analytics Report at https://www.salesforce.com/stateofanalytics

Learn more about the Salesforce Analytics Cloud at http://www.salesforce.com/analytics-cloud/

A free playground version of the Salesforce Analytics Cloud is available today for the desktop at https://www.salesforce.com/analytics-playground, and also on the Salesforce Analytics mobile app for Apple iOS for iPhone and iPad, available for download at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/salesforce-analytics/id916982402?mt=8

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About Salesforce

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce [NYSE: CRM], visit: www.salesforce.com.

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