Building a data-driven culture: the complete UK guide for 2025
70% of UK businesses can't use their data for strategic decisions. Learn how to change that.
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What this tool does
This assessment evaluates your organisation's data maturity across three key dimensions: decision-making approach, individual data confidence, and analytics acceptance. Answer 9 quick questions to discover your maturity level and get tailored recommendations for improvement.
This takes less than 2 minutes to complete. All answers are processed locally in your browser.
Assess your data maturity
Answer 9 quick questions to discover where your organisation sits on the data maturity curve. This assessment evaluates three dimensions: decision-making approach, individual data confidence, and analytics acceptance.
Question 1 of 9
How are most decisions made in your organisation?
Your data maturity level
Defined
Score: 310
Decision-Making
320Data Confidence
290Analytics Acceptance
340Your organisation has established foundations for data-driven culture.
The 5 maturity levels
Based on Microsoft's data culture maturity framework, organisations progress through five levels as their data capabilities mature:
| Level | Score Range | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Initial | 100-199 | Decisions based on intuition, limited data access, no formal analytics |
| Repeatable | 200-299 | Basic reporting exists, some departments use data, inconsistent practices |
| Defined | 300-399 | Formal processes, growing data literacy, organisation-wide tools |
| Capable | 400-499 | Data embedded in decisions, strong literacy, self-service analytics |
| Efficient | 500 | Data-first culture, continuous improvement, predictive capabilities |
Understanding the three dimensions
Decision-Making
How decisions are made in your organisation. At higher maturity levels, data naturally informs decisions at all levels, not just among executives.
Data Confidence
Individual comfort with data. High confidence means employees feel empowered to work with data, understand its limitations, and apply insights effectively.
Analytics Acceptance
Openness to analytics tools and processes. Mature organisations embrace analytics as an enhancement to human judgement, not a threat to expertise.
How this assessment works
This data maturity assessment is based on Microsoft's Data Culture framework, adapted for UK small and medium-sized businesses. It evaluates your organisation across three interconnected dimensions that research has shown to be important for data-driven success.
Assessment structure
- 9 questions across 3 dimensions
- 5 answer options per question (maturity levels 1-5)
- 100-500 point scoring scale
- Immediate results with personalised recommendations
How results are calculated
Each answer contributes between 100 and 500 points. Your overall score is the average of all 9 answers. Dimension scores show your average within each of the three areas, helping you identify specific strengths and improvement opportunities.
UK benchmarking: Your results include UK SME benchmark context, showing how your
maturity compares to typical UK businesses. Research shows around 60% of UK SMEs remain at the
earliest maturity stage, with only 10% achieving high data maturity.
When to use this tool
- Baseline assessment - Understand your current data maturity before starting improvement initiatives
- Strategic planning - Identify priority areas for investment in data capabilities
- Team alignment - Get leadership and teams on the same page about data challenges
- Progress tracking - Re-assess quarterly to measure improvement over time
Frequently asked questions
A data maturity assessment is a structured evaluation that measures how effectively your organisation
collects, manages, and uses data for decision-making. It evaluates your capabilities across multiple
dimensions including governance, quality, infrastructure, analytics, and culture. The assessment provides
a snapshot of your current data capabilities and identifies specific areas for improvement.
This assessment takes approximately 3-5 minutes to complete. You'll answer 9 questions across three
key dimensions: Decision-Making, Data Confidence, and Analytics Acceptance. Each question has five
options reflecting different maturity levels, from early-stage practices to advanced data-driven approaches.
The five maturity levels are: Initial (100-149) where data practices are scattered and
intuition-driven; Repeatable (150-249) with some data usage but inconsistent across the
organisation; Defined (250-349) with foundations established and growing data-driven culture;
Capable (350-449) with strong data literacy and embedded analytics practices; and
Efficient (450-500) representing data-driven excellence with strategic analytics capabilities.
Research shows that approximately 60% of UK SMEs remain at the earliest data maturity stage, relying
primarily on intuition and spreadsheets. Only about 10% have achieved high data maturity with advanced
analytics capabilities. Data-mature organisations achieve 2.5x better business outcomes than less mature peers.
Your results include specific recommendations for improvement based on your maturity level and dimension
scores. We recommend: sharing results with your leadership team; focusing on the dimension with the lowest
score first; identifying 2-3 quick wins you can implement within 3 months; and considering a data strategy
consultation for detailed roadmap planning.
Yes. Your assessment responses are processed in your browser and are not stored on our servers. We do not
collect personal information during the assessment. Your results are generated instantly and are visible only to you.
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