Alteryx, Inc., an AI platform for enterprise analytics, today reveals that over nine in ten (95%) of data analysts in banks have seen an uplift in their role’s strategic impact in the past year as investments in AI and analytics automation reshaped the industry.
Alteryx’s “2025 State of the Data Analyst” report, which surveyed 280 global analysts working in banking, highlighted how 87% have experienced improved job satisfaction over the past year attributed to AI and, similarly, 86% have experienced a satisfaction boost from analytics automation.
Almost half (46%) of data analysts in banks say using AI has surpassed their expectations. Over half (53%) find AI makes it easier to learn new analytical functions and features, and almost all view learning AI (91%) and analytics automation (90%) as key to career growth.
Data complexity strengthens the case for more efficiency
While data analysts enjoy their work driving greater strategic impact and feel optimistic, burdensome data processing is making it harder to fully realise their value. Eight in ten are still using spreadsheets to clean and prepare data, a task taking up six to 10 hours out of the working week for 43% of industry analysts. This is despite data complexity being the number one challenge faced in preparing data for analysis – cited by 59% of analysts.
The prevalent use of spreadsheets to clean and prepare data in today’s banking sector is troublesome given the sensitive data that banks need to protect to comply with regulations. Also, as banks depend on sophisticated analytics to get the best insights from their massive data sets, analyst time spent on data preparation increases the time to value.
Tool sprawl also risks hampering the ability of banks to inject pace into the analyst team through AI and automation. Almost half (47%) of industry data analysts use between five and ten disparate tools and platforms for regular data preparation and analysis. Tellingly, over half (53%) would prefer to cut this tech stack to one to four tools.
“Banking executives building the ROI case for investments in AI and analytics automation need only turn to their analyst team,” commented Jay Henderson, SVP of Product at Alteryx. “They’ll hear how AI and analytics automation are the root of higher job satisfaction for analysts playing a more strategic role internally. But our findings are also a wake-up call. Analysts currently face friction that can only be remedied by transforming how data is processed and managed. Banks that can overcome this will be best positioned to realise the true potential of their investment in AI and automation.”
Methodology
The survey was conducted by Coleman Parkes from November to December 2024 and targeted 280 banking industry workers responsible for data preparation and/or business process improvement with awareness and experience of using AI in their jobs. Survey respondents came from the Americas, EMEA and APJ regions.