Survey of Businesses on the Data Economy 2022

The survey instrument was designed and fielded in the EU27, Norway and Iceland using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing, reaching a total of 10,006 surveyed enterprises between February and April 2022. 

Regardless of enterprises´ characteristics, data is important to them. The vast majority of enterprises store data from at least one source, with more than nine out of ten EU enterprises storing data. Data analysis is also common amongst EU enterprises, with 79% of enterprises storing data also analysing it. However, the degree of importance of data to enterprises varies. Most common is the use of data analytics without it being a core part of the business (42%), while just under one quarter (24%) report their business being about data analytics or their offerings heavily depending on it. 

EU enterprises fall into one of four profiles of data users. A quarter of EU enterprises are classified as ‘non-users’. Though the majority do store data from at least one source, none of these enterprises analyse data. Passive users both store data and analyse it, but on an infrequent basis (annually or quarterly) and constitute approximately three in ten EU enterprises (29%). ‘Regular users and internal optimisers’ as well as ‘advanced users and data monetisers’ both frequently analyse data (at least once a month). However, they can be distinguished from each other by the fact that the latter report selling data or data insights as a major motivation for storing data or their business/offerings are about or depend heavily on data analytics. This is not the case for ‘regular users and internal optimisers’. 28% of EU enterprises can be described as regular users and internal optimisers with 18% falling into the category of advanced users and data monetisers. 

Survey of Businesses on the Data Economy 2022 - Final Report (.pdf)