Data Literacy

What is data literacy, and why does it matter for your organization?

A confident man in glasses stands with folded arms in front of a group of people working at a table. A bar graph is seen in the background.

What is data literacy?

Data literacy is the ability to read, work with, analyze and communicate with data. It’s a skill that empowers all levels of workers to ask the right questions of data and machines, build knowledge, make decisions, and communicate meaning to others.

Why is Data Literacy Important?Business Impact Data Literacy in Today's Enterprise

Advance Your Career 5 Critical Challenges Adoption Blueprint

Training The Right Technology

Why is data literacy important for your business?

IDC, global provider of market intelligence, forecasts a ten-fold increase in worldwide data by 2025. Increasingly, data-driven organizations will produce data literate employees that contribute more to their roles and help businesses sharpen their competitive edge in an aggressive global economy.

It’s a strategy that can transform your business, while building loyalty with a workforce that’s energized and empowered by your investment in their professional development.

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“Large enterprises with strong corporate data literacy have shown up to 5% higher enterprise value — $320 - $534 million.”

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Circular progress indicator showing 32% completion in teal color.

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Data Literacy: The Upskilling Evolution

Based on insights from influential industry experts and a global survey of over 1,200 executives and 6,000 employees, our latest data literacy study found that the data literacy crisis shows no sign of slowing down as the gap between expectation and reality continues to widen. Revealing the pressures on organizations and individual employees as we continue to move toward a data-oriented and automated workplace, the study helps you understand the upskilling requirements needed to take full advantage of data – now and in the future.

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An open booklet titled "Data Literacy: The Upskilling Evolution" from Qlik, with visible pages highlighting key findings, data statistics, and visual graphics.

Data literacy in today’s enterprise

Nearly every business is dealing with an incredible amount of data. But collecting it isn’t the same as understanding it — and we’re facing a critical skills gap. Low data literacy is holding many teams back, and stalling data analysis and digital transformation initiatives across the enterprise.

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Business Leaders

Gartner promotes data and information as the second language of business. Yet new research shows that business leaders are struggling to understand and work with data themselves. And that’s leading to widespread deficiency in data confidence.

“In a recent Censuswide survey on behalf of Qlik, of more than 7,300 business decision makers, just 24% consider themselves data literate.”

Without data literacy, leaders can’t thrive in today’s analytics economy nor can they drive any cultural change toward leading with data across their organizations.

Employees

Employees without the skills to work with data are struggling to match the performance of their data-savvy colleagues. This isn’t surprising given the vast amounts of information being produced every day.

“Despite 92% of business decision makers believing it is important for their employees to be data literate, only 17% report that their business significantly encourages employees to become more confident with data.”

“The more empowered employees are to read, write, analyze and argue with data, the more they will be able to contribute to their roles and the future of their organizations.”

Data Strategist and Best-Selling Author, Bernard Marr

How data literacy can advance your career

Qlik's recent survey showed that the vast majority — 85% — of data literate employees say they’re performing very well at work, compared with just 54% of the wider workforce. This represents a significant opportunity for businesses to transform existing cultures without much resistance from their employees.

Workers willing to invest more time and energy into improving their data skillsets

Bar chart showing internet penetration rates by country: US 82%, Spain 87%, France 83%, UK 65%, Sweden 78%, Germany 76%, India 95%, Singapore 82%, China 93%, Japan 39%, Australia 72%.

94% of people using data in their current job role agree that data helps them do their job better.

82% believe that greater data savviness would give them more credibility in the workplace.

78% would be willing to invest more time and energy into improving their data skillsets if given the chance.

5 critical data literacy challenges for business leaders

Maintaining competitive advantage means that every employee in an enterprise — not just the data scientists — must be data literate for them to effectively contribute to the organization. Yet research has identified vast inequalities between people who feel empowered and proficient in using data, and those who don't.

1. Workforce resistance

Large organizations are built on years of tradition. Raising awareness that the business is moving to a data-driven culture will be critical to success.

2. No data champion

Because resistance may come from the top, data champions need a seat at the table such as a Chief Data Officer (CDO) or Chief Analytics Officer (CAO).

3. Lack of governance

Enterprises are experiencing unprecedented levels of data production and consumption, which is why leadership must be responsible for data governance to ensure insights are properly vetted.

4. Employee insecurity

21% of 16-24-year-olds rank themselves below average in their confidence using data. The opportunity for businesses to leverage young people’s digital savvy as students enter the workforce is enormous.

5. Organizational silos

Discover how Qlik can help drive data literacy in your organization

We’re on a mission to provide the education, technology, and business strategies that create a data-literate world — where everyone can speak the language of data, and use it with confidence to make discoveries that change the game.

Regardless of the size or focus of your business, you can develop an in-house program by following our 6-step approach. As teams cycle through the program, literacy will deepen across the organization, and you'll enjoy a workforce that’s energized, empowered and loyal.

Download the Blueprint

A diagram with seven interconnected circles detailing steps for organizational growth: curiosity, impact measurement, practice training, tech decisions, systemic perspective, outcome focus, inclusive journey.

Principle 1: Foster a culture of humility and curiosity

Go beyond the data. Develop non-technical skills like curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration to gain different perspectives and challenge your own assumptions about the data.

Principle 2: Encourage employees to put training into practice

Reach a point where people instinctively analyze and question the data that’s in front of them to drive in-the-moment insights, smarter decisions, and action.

Principle 3: Bring everyone on the journey

According to Qlik’s latest global study, 59% of employees globally say they want to become more data literate. Everyone from the intern to the CEO should feel empowered.

Principle 4: Focus on the desired outcomes

The first step to effectively using data is understanding and being clear on the problem you want to solve.

Principle 5: Measure the impact of your efforts

Demonstrate real value by tracking employee satisfaction and retention. This can offer a short- term measurable analytic before other KPIs can be measured.

Principle 6: Adopt a systemic perspective

Empower different areas of the organization to work together to support each other on the journey. Connect the dots and see how and where data literacy can strengthen the business.

Principle 7: Decide what technology can meet your business needs

Closely evaluate what can work best for your business and its specific needs. Match the technology to the processes and goals of your own company, rather than what’s popular.

Education and Adoption Program

Our industry-leading Data Literacy Program offers comprehensive education and consulting options as well as technology and training support for university students through the Academic Program.

Organizational Benchmarking

Understand your organizations’ comfort level using data, and benchmark your enterprise against its peers.

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Instructor-led learning

Immersive, hands-on training courses delivered by world class instructors.

Download Course Catalog

Self-paced learning

Online learning modules, videos, reference guides and quizzes offer broad-based skills development.

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Data Literacy Program

Drive adoption with product-agnostic consulting. You’ll work with our Data Literacy Advisor on implementing a successful Data Literacy Program leveraging our proven 6-step adoption framework.

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The right technology for a data-driven culture

Central to our mission is to build technology that can raise data literacy for people at all levels of an organization. Qlik Sense® removes the roadblocks caused by mountains of disorganized data and the limitations of linear, query-based data exploration — accelerating data literacy across the organization.

All data, in everyone’s hands

Want the most value from your data? Give everyone in your workforce access to it. Qlik Sense takes raw data from all corners of your enterprise and transforms it into analytics-ready information anyone can access and explore.

Data Integration

Freedom to explore

Qlik Sense’s one-of-a-kind Associative Engine connects every piece of data with every other piece. Now, anyone can dive in and explore information without boundaries, discovering hidden insights as they go. No queries, and no waiting required.

Data Analytics

Human curiosity, amplified

Curiosity can lead to effective insights, but combine it with the power of AI and there's no limit to what we can discover. Qlik Sense taps into our natural intuition and sharpens its power with machine intelligence. This is true augmented analytics. You’ll call it more brain power.

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Data Literacy: The Upskilling Evolution

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The Seven Principles of Data Literacy

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VIDEO

Data Literacy: In the Real World

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The Data Literacy Index How to Drive Data Literacy Within the Enterprise Data Literacy Insights

Get started on building a successful data literacy program

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Why Qlik?

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Global System Integrators

Why Qlik?

Qlik Staige

Data Integration and Quality

Analytics

AI/ML

Find a partner

Global System Integrators

Data Literacy

What is data literacy?

Why is data literacy important for your business?

“Large enterprises with strong corporate data literacy have shown up to 5% higher enterprise value — $320 - $534 million.”

Data Literacy: The Upskilling Evolution

Data literacy in today’s enterprise

Business Leaders

“In a recent Censuswide survey on behalf of Qlik, of more than 7,300 business decision makers, just 24% consider themselves data literate.”

Employees

“Despite 92% of business decision makers believing it is important for their employees to be data literate, only 17% report that their business significantly encourages employees to become more confident with data.”

“The more empowered employees are to read, write, analyze and argue with data, the more they will be able to contribute to their roles and the future of their organizations.”

How data literacy can advance your career

94% of people using data in their current job role agree that data helps them do their job better.

82% believe that greater data savviness would give them more credibility in the workplace.

78% would be willing to invest more time and energy into improving their data skillsets if given the chance.

5 critical data literacy challenges for business leaders

1. Workforce resistance

2. No data champion

3. Lack of governance

4. Employee insecurity

5. Organizational silos

Discover how Qlik can help drive data literacy in your organization

Principle 1: Foster a culture of humility and curiosity

Principle 2: Encourage employees to put training into practice

Principle 3: Bring everyone on the journey

Principle 4: Focus on the desired outcomes

Principle 5: Measure the impact of your efforts

Principle 6: Adopt a systemic perspective

Principle 7: Decide what technology can meet your business needs

Education and Adoption Program

Organizational Benchmarking

Instructor-led learning

Self-paced learning

Data Literacy Program

The right technology for a data-driven culture

All data, in everyone’s hands

Freedom to explore

Human curiosity, amplified

Get smarter about data literacy

Data Literacy: The Upskilling Evolution

The Seven Principles of Data Literacy

Data Literacy: In the Real World

Get started on building a successful data literacy program