Surveying 200 C-level executives in the UK, Confluent’s research reveals that many C-suite leaders feel they are too far removed from day-to-day processes, with information about what’s happening in their departments not reaching them until it’s already out of date.

Without timely insights, C-level executives are being forced to make fast decisions based on limited data, resulting in 51% regretting decisions that they made in the heat of the moment.

This problem is being made worse by the accelerating pace of C-level decision making – with 83% of those surveyed noting that the speed of their decisions has increased over the past three years.

Nine in ten (90%) business leaders report that they now need to react in ‘real time’, yet 43% say their senior team is often too far removed from the data to make impactful decisions. This disconnect leaves almost half (43%) of leaders unable to fully capitalise on fast-moving insights and trends.

To address these challenges, businesses are calling on IT teams to adopt more real-time streaming of data, instead of slower, more traditional, batch processing. Over three-quarters (77%) of businesses surveyed are already investing in data streaming to enhance strategic planning, and nearly all (96%) believe real-time data streaming will be a big part of their strategy when planning the year ahead.

In addition to enhancing decision-making, access to real-time information will also boost leadership confidence, with 89% of C-suite executives saying they would feel more assured in their choices if they had access to more ‘real-time’ data.

Commenting on these findings, Richard Timperlake, SVP of EMEA, Confluent, said, “Today’s businesses have invested a huge amount of time and money to collect customer data. But is any of this investment worthwhile when so much of that data is out of date before it reaches the people who really need it?”

“While it may sound like a niche or technical issue, the reality is that an overreliance on batch processing is holding UK businesses back. This isn’t just about the IT team, it’s about ensuring people can make the best decisions across the entire organisation. Data streaming makes that possible, and it’s great to see so many business leaders pushing for its adoption as a key part of their technology investment strategies.”

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