Big data brings benefits

Seventy-three per cent of companies using big data have already increased revenue, despite the immaturity of the market, according to a recent survey.
 
In a global survey conducted by Wakefield Research – an independent research firm – and commissioned by IT vendor Avanade, over 500 business executives and IT leaders were questioned about their use of data and the benefits they have seen from it.
 
Of the 73 per cent who stated they had increased revenue, 57 per cent said they had done it by growing existing revenue streams while 43 per cent said they had created entirely new revenue streams through intelligent use of data.
 
Overall, 84 per cent of respondents were of the opinion that big data is helping them improve decision making within their organisation. The vast majority (91 per cent) are using tools and technologies to analyse data and 57 per cent added that they had seen developments in the tools available for big data over the last 12 months.
 
Other key findings included 95 per cent saying that data analysts do not sit within their IT teams but instead are placed across the business. One of the main obstacles, however, was cited as a need for new skills with 63 per cent of respondents identifying this as an issue.
 
Employee mobility (73 per cent), cloud computing (65 per cent) and social media (61 per cent) are also making data analysis more difficult. Each of these trends, the findings suggest, are making data management strategies more complicated.
 
Tyson Hartman, global CTO and corporate vice president at Avanade, said: “Big data has gained a top spot on the agenda of business leaders for the real value it has begun to create. Today, the technologies and skills used to leverage big data for business purposes have reached a tipping point – new types of data supported by better tools to leverage it, enable companies to find financial and competitive benefits from their data.
 
“The challenges of big data remain, but the opportunities are even greater. Business leaders are moving from defence to offense in their data management strategies. Forward-looking companies are empowering more people across the enterprise with the tools and skills needed to make better business decisions and ultimately, harness the power that big data promises.”
 
The survey, entitled ‘Is Big Data Producing Big Returns?’, was conducted in April 2012. The 569 respondents were C-level executives, IT decision makers and business unit leaders at top companies located in 18 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and South Africa.