Are government statistics properly supporting business?

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COVID-19 has highlighted just how important gathering and reporting data is today, and particularly the speed at which it is needed. Recently the regional outbreak of the virus in the Scottish borders region has highlighted the need for good, granular, data to allow for timely decision making on the ground.

The public health crisis is rightly the main concern for governments today, however, as we move out of the immediate effects of COVID-19 and start to deal with the economic consequences, up to date economic data will be more important than ever to help business leaders and policy makers understand the full economic impact of the pandemic and to help businesses recover. As it stands much of the data that we have today is irrelevant or out of date given the scale and speed of the crisis.

The speed of this crisis has surprised most… If we compare this to the Global Financial Crisis, it was a full six months between Bear Stearns being bought by JP Morgan in March 2008 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September of that year. This time, at the beginning of March there was uncertainty about Covid-19, but the main concern seemed to be the impact on global supply chains and, at most, the impact on economic growth which was revised down marginally. By the end of March, every major economy in Europe was under some form of lockdown, as was much of the US. The impact on some sectors, such as hospitality and the arts, was a total cessation of business.

If the speed of change is making data redundant faster, then we should be very concerned about areas where the economic data was already either unavailable or not timely.

One example is the export data in Scotland. The most recent data on exports published by the Scottish Government, on 29 January 2020, is for 2018.

With the pandemic already impacting global trade, and the imminent departure of the UK from the European Union, it is hard to see how business and policy makers can make informed decisions. As a researcher helping business make decisions for the future, gaps like this are not only hugely frustrating but also reduces the quality of insights that I, or those carrying out similar roles, can deliver

What is important here is not who collects the data, but rather that good data are collected and reported as quickly as possible to help businesses and politicians make better decisions. While the Scottish Government may be slower in reporting trade data, VisitScotland provide a thorough collection, and their new series on monitoring the impact of COVID-19 is up to date and will help the tourism industry understand the challenges they face.

As we rebuild from COVID-19 one of the key learnings has been just how important good data are. Governments will need to ensure that the systems that they put in place to collect and deliver data reflects the needs, speed and relevance of the data to meet the needs of the future.

 

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About Where Now Consulting Ltd: Where Now Consulting is a management consulting company that focuses on helping its clients to grow and compete. The company offers a range of consulting services, including business turnaround and performance improvement, formulating market entry strategies, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances, and sales and distribution strategy and management.

For more, please visit Our Services page.