Over half of UK businesses braced for revenue drop due to Brexit

Over half of UK businesses believe Brexit will trigger a drop in revenue in 2019 according to new research by business intelligence and analytics solutions provider, MHR Analytics. The findings were published in the firm’s new report ‘Business Insight: The Data Surge’ which contains detailed polling of 200 senior decision-makers in large and medium sized UK businesses about their investment plans When asked which factor was most likely to trigger a drop in revenue for 2019, the majority believed it would be Brexit at 57% followed by reduced customer spending at 22%. Some 10% of those polled thought GDPR would also have an impact on revenue. Just 7% of respondents said no factor would trigger a drop in revenue. The survey found that businesses were boosting investment in key areas to tackle the revenue drop, with IT being named as a main priority. Some 59% of businesses will increase spend on IT in 2019, while 48% believe marketing will also see an increase and 46%are planning to boost investment in sales. When asked about the importance of data, 96% of business chiefs said they understood the importance of data for their company’s future. However, one in 10 businesses are yet to implement big data strategies and less than a third regularly conduct big data projects. Nick Felton, SVP at MHR Analytics, said: “It’s clear that businesses are braced for significant turbulence next year and are planning major investment in key areas to power through an anticipated drop in revenues. Despite these fears, companies are adopting a combative approach to this problem, with departments such as IT, marketing and sales all set for a cash injection.” “With unpredictable market conditions, data management and analytics are critical for helping organisations deliver significant cost savings by enabling accurate decision-making. Despite a potential revenue dip, companies are still planning major investments, of which data management is a good choice in uncertain times.” He added: “Nearly three-quarters (72%) of the decision makers we surveyed believe their company’s response to big data has been positive, yet only 4% recognise that managing big data will lead to less administration. Early analysis of these results suggests that a sharper focus on data management and analytics could be advantageous to companies in this constantly changing economic climate.”