A recent report published by business analytics company Lavastorm paints a sorry picture for Big Data. Their study of 500 data scientists and professionals revealed that nearly 73% of the organizations still do not make use of Big Data for taking business decisions. This is despite the fact that investments in analytics have risen 65% over the past year. The Lavastorm report concludes that most businesses still regard Big Data as a scientific experiment and not as a vital tool to make critical business decisions.
Different Big Data studies
Lavastorm is not alone in their analysis. There are more Big Data studies. A Gartner study conducted last year found that only 30% of the surveyed businesses had Big Data technology deployed at the work place. The report however estimated this number to go up to 64% within next year. Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, there is no gainsaying the fact that Big Data could be revolutionizing business analytics in a big way over the next 2-3 years.
As with every other sphere of business and life, the 80-20 rule seems to be at play even for Big Data. Tata Consultancy Services, in their recent study found that nearly 15% of the companies that have invested in Big Data spend close to $100 million annually while another 7% have close to $500 million invested in this segment. In comparison, nearly a quarter of the surveyed companies spent less than $2.5 million a piece annually.
The TCS study also found that telecommunications, travel and banking were among the largest spenders on Big Data. With an average mobile phone user upgrading to a new device every two years, and as an industry with a lot of competition and churn, Big Data is massively helping these telecommunication providers to interpret meaningful information from these transactions. Similarly, industries like finance and travel have almost every single transaction documented and stored. Using Big Data analytics help these companies in making sense out of this humongous amount of data for marketing as well as for future investments.
According to Vawn Himmelsbach from the Canadian ethernet services provider, AllStream, insurance is one industry that would see massive investments in Big Data over the next few years. In an article on the company’s blog, Vawn points out the growing sophistication of technology due to growth in industries like ‘Internet of Things‘ and ‘Self driving cars’. Such smart homes and cars bring with them millions of data points regarding temperature levels, engine oil levels, etc. – thanks to these devices being connected, future homes and cars could be relaying all of this data to insurers. Analyzing such vital information through Big Data analytics could give these companies a chance to make accurate predictions something that could save these companies millions of dollars in insurance claims.
Although Big Data is primarily a tool for large businesses that need to process millions of data points, the success of this technology will largely be determined by how well it is democratized to be used by smaller businesses as well. For this to happen, we will need to see more start-ups offering Big Data solutions as a service to customers. With growing levels of Big Data adoption over the next few years, this is one space that needs to be watched closely.
Image source: V3
