Business will depend on data literacy

The recent IMF report and its emphasis on "data-driven adaptability" for achieving global growth should serve as a wake-up call. As global supply chains, trade tensions, and climate disruptions are increasingly quantified in terabytes-often long before their real-world impacts are fully felt-it is concerning how many business school graduates still view data competence as desirable but non-essential.

The demand is clear: LinkedIn has reported a 40 per cent increase in positions requiring data literacy, and McKinsey states that data-driven companies are 23 times more likely to successfully attract customers. In international business, data are not filler content-those are a key determinant of market leadership.

Certainly, soft skills such as cross-cultural negotiation and relationship-building remain essential. However, intuition alone is no longer sufficient; it must be backed up by data-driven evidence. Leaders who ignore data risk falling behind.

To prepare tomorrow's leaders, data literacy must be embedded in global professional education. The ability to read and interpret analytics should become as second nature as negotiating a business deal. The most successful future leaders will be those who apply data as effectively as they build strategic alliances.

Safiqul Haque Eifty

Department of International Business and Marketing

North South University