Data sharing is now an integral part of modern, market-orientated corporate management. In order to gain a more precise overview of the situation in Germany, 1,051 industrial companies and industry-related service providers were surveyed for the study. Both the quality and quantity of data provision and data receipt were analysed, as well as the motivation and intensity of data exchange.
The majority (58%) of companies state that they do not share or receive data with other companies, 38% at least receive data and only 21% provide data. The provision of data can be voluntary or required by the government, for example, companies’ financial data can be used for audits.
The way in which data is provided or received tends to be rated as progressive by the study. Only 12% of data is submitted on paper, while 33% is received automatically, in real time and digitally.
The study observes a clear discrepancy between recipients and senders when it comes to assessing quality. On average, data recipients rate the data quality considerably worse than data senders. There appears to be a bias in the assessment here. Challenges for sharing data are the unclear benefits for giving and receiving data as well as legal concerns. The study concludes that companies should assess their own data more clearly in terms of its usefulness for other companies and at the same time consider which data is relevant for their own processes.
