UK businesses uses a larger number of data sources than companies from other countires, according to a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of business intelligence vendor Information Builders.

The average UK business relies on eight sources of data. The average number of sources among companies in France, Germany, USA, Netherlands, Spain or Australia, was six, the survey found.

But those data sources are also less likely to be integrated. Only 50% of UK companies said their data sources are integrated, fewer than in any other country.

And unlike businesses in most countries, for which human error was the most likely source of "data quality issues" (48%), the most common cause for concern among UK business was data integration (58%).

The survey 100 "senior IT decision-makers" in each of the seven countries on their business’ use of data. It found that UK businesses are slightly less likely to grant employees access to corporate data via mobile devices. Among UK business, 26% of employees access corporate data on mobile devices, compared to a global average of 33%.

Spreadsheets are the primary tool which UK businesses use to share data within the organisation, the survey found, whereas companies in France, Germany and the US primarily use collaborative such as Sharepoint.

Only 11% of UK companies said that they completely trust their corporate data to make decisions, compared to an average of 31% of companies though the whole group of countries. The majority of UK business (78%) said they use data to make the majority of business discussions, but not all.