Data issues cost Australian businesses nearly A$500k annually

Australian organisations have lost an average of A$493,000 over the past 12 months due to data integrity flaws, hampering their artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions and eroding their competitive advantage, according to research by Iron Mountain.

A critical finding is the AI literacy gap, which 42% of Australian businesses cited as a top challenge impacting their AI readiness in the next one to three years – a figure higher than the global average of 28%.

The lack of AI preparedness is compounded by the consequences of flawed data. Almost half of Australian organisations surveyed identified loss of competitive advantage as the main repercussion of data integrity flaws. This concern is significantly more acute in Australia, dwarfing the global average of 29% and ranking highest among all markets surveyed.

Despite these hurdles, Iron Mountain noted that the “good data dividend” is tangible, with 84% of Australian respondents reporting revenue and profitability growth in the past year directly resulting from their organisation’s investment in information management systems and strategies.

This includes improving data insight extraction, for which half of Australian businesses said was key to achieving their strategic ambitions over the next 12 months, higher than the global average and surpassing both the UK (44%) and the US (39%). Furthermore, over a third of Australian respondents cited AI-ready data as the focus area that will have the greatest impact on achieving their organisational goals.

While the path to full AI integration is complex, Australian companies are seeing some positive outcomes. An encouraging 92% of local organisations reported that their AI readiness strategies have benefited their companies to date, 14 percentage points above the global average.

Yet, there’s a disparity in perceived impact: while 34% of Australian businesses consider their AI readiness activities a crucial part of their competitive advantage, a majority (58%) feel that while their AI initiatives provide occasional benefits, they currently lack consistency.

“With the rise of open-source and specialised AI models, data integrity, transparency and trust are more critical than ever,” said Narasimha Goli, chief technology officer at Iron Mountain, calling for solutions that help organisations prepare their information for AI applications by automating the extraction and organisation of metadata.

By doing so, Goli added that organisations can “harness the full potential of their information to drive intelligent decision-making and unlock new growth opportunities”.

The report also outlined practices of global leaders who are experiencing the most significant revenue and profitability increases from their data strategies. These leaders universally implement processes for eliminating redundant, obsolete or trivial data and automating data extraction. More than nine in 10 also use AI dashboards to explain outcomes and data lineage to non-technical stakeholders.

Mithu Bhargava, executive vice-president and general manager for digital solutions at Iron Mountain, said: “Smart information management is key to capitalising on the growing AI opportunity, and Iron Mountain’s research shows that a commitment to responsibly sourcing the data for AI models is a hallmark of leading organisations. With AI fast becoming a necessity, this data quality-first mindset is now essential for every organisation.”