A new report from Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an organization that offers forecasting and advisory services to business, said companies that rate themselves as “substantially ahead” of their peers in their use of data are three times more likely to rate themselves ahead in terms of financial performance.

In his article, “Why Self-Service Business Intelligence Matters,” Isaac Sacolick, vice president of technology and chief information officer at McGraw-Hill Construction, lends further insight.

“Consolidating business intelligence into a core group was a reasonable approach when computing resources were expensive, analytical tools complex, and talent scarce,” said Sacolick. “But that’s no longer the case. In fact, centralizing the function can be a barrier since the best people asking smart data questions are often the managers or data-centric individuals in the organization.”

Sacolick added that a centralized approach places restraints on the volume of analysis and reporting, and is an inefficient structure for businesses with fewer regulations or data complexities. Instead, he recommended that businesses adopt a “self-service” approach that, due the availability of new technologies, makes data analysis easier.

I wholeheartedly agree with this premise. Giving employees access to data and providing them with the necessary skills to know how to mine its value is one of the reasons we launched enterprise data camps. It’s also the rationale that led to our creation of a series of “playbooks,” which can be used by employees who have a limited understanding of data science principles, or who lack training in data analysis.

This two-fold approach enables us to teach the intricacies of data mining and analysis to those whose jobs depend on it and, at the same time, provide easy to use tools to employees who need to analyze data, but who aren’t required to become data scientists.

Big data guru Bernard Marr, said, “The smartest and most successful companies are those that have the right data as well as the ability to extract insights from that data to answer their most important business questions.” If they are truly smart, those companies won’t just leave data in the hands of specialists, but democratize its use by training employees across the breadth of the enterprise.

This kind of transformative thinking is what will lead companies to become data-driven, and if the EIU’s findings are of any consequence, it’s also an initiative that can positively impact a company’s bottom line.