Fragmented Analytics: Too Many Teams, Not Enough Alignment

As organizations invest in data and analytics, a common and costly challenge emerges: fragmentation. Analytics teams multiply across business units, each building their own dashboards, adopting their favorite tools, and chasing priorities that make sense in their silos. The intention is always to serve the business. The reality? Competing versions of the truth, duplicated effort, and a lack of clear, actionable insight that moves the organization forward.

This is part two of our series on eight common gaps quietly draining ROI from data, analytics, and AI initiatives—and how to move from investment to impact. The key question to think about this time is: Do our analytics teams create and employ a single source of truth that keeps the business aligned?

Fragmentation doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of well-meaning teams responding to local needs without a shared vision. Sales analysts optimize for pipeline velocity while Operations focuses on fulfillment metrics, and Marketing tunes campaigns in isolation. Each group gets busy, but the business as a whole struggles to answer fundamental questions:

• Which metrics matter most, and why do they sometimes conflict?
• How much time is wasted chasing data, reconciling reports, or debating whose numbers are “right”?
• Are we measuring success in ways that align across teams, or are we each optimizing in isolation?

Data fragmentation isn’t just a technical issue; it’s an organizational one. When teams operate on different definitions, priorities, and tools, the result is confusion and lost opportunity.

According to industry research, knowledge workers spend up to 30% of their time searching for information, often because data is scattered across platforms and teams. This inefficiency quietly erodes both productivity and trust.

• Conflicting Metrics: Leaders receive multiple answers to the same question, undermining confidence in analytics.
• Duplicated Work: Teams rebuild similar reports, models, or data pipelines, burning resources that could be better spent elsewhere.
• Missed Opportunities: Without a unified approach, organizations struggle to scale successful analytics pilots or leverage insights across business units.
• Slow Decision Cycles: Decision-makers wait as teams reconcile numbers instead of acting on trusted, shared insights.

Leaning into Patrick Lencioni’s thinking in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, “It’s like everyone is rowing hard, but not in the same direction. The boat moves, but not toward the destination that matters most.”

True transformation happens when analytics is not just present but aligned—when all teams share a common language, a unified set of metrics, and a clear line of sight to business objectives.

Alignment doesn’t mean centralizing everything or stripping autonomy from business units. Instead, it means building connective tissue: shared definitions, regular cross-team communication, and a commitment to clarity over activity.

What Does Good Look Like?

• A single source of truth: Core business metrics are defined and owned centrally but accessible and relevant to every team.
• Collaborative prioritization: Analytics projects are chosen based on their impact on organizational goals, not just business unit wins.
• Clear roles and accountability: Teams know what responsibilities they own and how their work connects to the bigger picture.
• Consistent tools and processes: While some flexibility is healthy, core systems and definitions are standardized to enable trust and scalability.

If your analytics teams are busy but business impact feels elusive, you’re not alone. The first step is recognizing the signs of fragmentation and starting the conversation about alignment.

In our work with clients, we’ve seen the difference a unified approach can make: faster decisions, greater clarity, and analytics that drive transformation, not just activity.

Here are a couple of examples of how we’ve helped companies create this analytics alignment:

• We helped a global company bridge the gaps between teams so analytics could guide smarter trade decisions. This work revolutionized their trade planning process—the strategic framework used to optimize sales and distribution through multiple retail channels.
• By partnering with Elder Research, a leading consumer packaged goods company built a unified roadmap and governance for analytics, launched dozens of impactful projects, and positioned itself for long-term returns valued in the tens of millions.

Bringing your organization from fragmented analytics to true business impact is not a matter of technology alone; it’s about building the right connections between strategy, people, and process. The cost of misalignment is high: wasted effort, duplicated work, and lost opportunities for growth. But the path forward is clear.

Start by asking the tough questions:

• Are your analytics teams truly aligned to business objectives?
• Do you have a single source of truth, or are you reconciling conflicting reports after the fact?
• Are your resources focused on what matters most, or are they spread thin across too many disconnected projects?

The organizations that succeed are those that treat analytics as a strategic function, not just a technical one. They:

• Define core metrics and shared language so everyone is rowing in the same direction.
• Prioritize analytics tasks based on business value, not just stakeholder requests.
• Invest in data literacy and change management to ensure insights are understood and adopted at every level.
• Build flexible, scalable processes that can adapt as your business grows and new technologies emerge.

At Elder Research, we believe transformation is an ongoing journey—one that’s most successful when it’s collaborative, transparent, and grounded in real business needs. Our team is ready to help you identify your organization’s unique gaps, align your analytics efforts, and turn your data investments into measurable results.

Ready to move from investment to impact? Let’s start a conversation about where your analytics journey can go next. Reach out to our team, or watch for the next post in this series where we’ll dig deeper into practical steps and success stories that can help you build a truly aligned, high-impact analytics ecosystem.