In today’s connected world, data is constantly being created, monitored, and analysed. The wider adoption of cloud is making it easier to develop and deploy new apps and use them on a pay-per-use basis, generating an increasing amount of data.
Further, as the number of apps increases, so does the data. Indeed, mobile and connected devices are consuming and producing an ever-growing stream of data. Social collaboration platforms are also relentlessly pumping out vast amounts, while digitisation initiatives generate yet more still.
According to IDC, the amount of information created and replicated worldwide surpassed 4.4 trillion gigabytes in 2013, and the research firm forecasts this number to grow by a factor of 10 to total 44 trillion gigabytes by 2020. In aggregate, this is what is called Big Data.
The technology is now available to economically extract value from very large volumes of a wide variety of data by enabling high-velocity capture, discovery, and/or analysis. Such technologies are called Big Data technologies, and they hold significant business potential in organisations of all sizes and across all industries. Organisations are using Big Data to optimise processes, improve customer satisfaction and retention, lower costs, and improve profitability.
According to IDC, global spending on Big Data, including Big Data services, software, and infrastructure, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27 per cent through 2017; this growth is about six times the growth of the overall IT market. IDC believes that investments in Big Data are primarily being driven by three factors: innovation, optimisation, and control. Companies are using Big Data technologies to analyse operations-related data, online customer behaviour-related data, transactional data from sales systems, and machine or device data, as well as to facilitate service innovation.
IDC believes Big Data technologies can significantly improve various business processes and functions, effectively giving their users a competitive edge. Let’s consider a few examples: First, organisations can leverage social media and other unstructured data sources to profile and target customers more effectively, thereby improving dialogue with consumers. Further, by combining unstructured data with a company’s internal structured data, a more holistic or 360° view of customers can be built.
Second, Big Data technologies can help companies understand how others perceive their products, which can help the company tweak and adapt products to customer wants and needs. Analysis of unstructured social media text can allow companies to uncover customer sentiment and even segment products and services by geographical location or demographic group.
Big Data technologies let organisations test thousands of different variations of computer-aided designs quickly, enabling them to check how minor changes in materials, for example, can affect costs, lead times, and performance. These input parameters can be fine tuned to increase process efficiencies.
Third, Big Data-fuelled predictive analytics can help an organisation scan and analyse social media or news feeds to remain up to speed on the latest developments in its particular industry and business environment. This helps in terms of risk analytics, as detailed health tests of suppliers and customers can steer the organisation to take action if any of them is in risk of defaulting.
Fourth, internal threats can be identified and thwarted in a judicious manner by mapping the entire data landscape in the company with Big Data tools. These tools can also detect potentially sensitive information that is not protected in an appropriate manner and make sure it is stored according to regulatory requirements. Fifth, proactive and predictive monitoring with Big Data technologies is designed to identify failing grid devices or equipment, and predict when they will need replacing, in turn maximising their usability and preventing unnecessary replacements.
IDC believes organisations can best leverage Big Data technologies by making incremental, measurable investments in this area. Business leaders will need to identify the critical factors that will affect the organisation after Big Data investments are made. Organisations can begin by asking questions such as:
Will this investment replace the current IT environment?
How will the data-retention strategy change?
How should the data-warehousing architecture change?
What new skills are required to leverage Big Data and analytics to create a competitive advantage?
It would be wise to evaluate which business processes rely heavily on analytics, and whether the introduction of Big Data solutions will provide any significant improvement for these processes. Further, companies must evaluate whether their existing business analytics deployments can be upgraded to Big Data deployments.
In order to foster an environment in which Big Data technologies are accepted, IDC believes organisations must internally promote an evidence-based decision-making culture. Organizations that plan to implement Big Data technologies must do so using well-defined business cases, supported by clear data quality and governance stipulations, and backed by appropriate skills. While many new technologies seem straightforward to use and deliver analysis that aids communication and better business decisions, it is critical to ensure that data challenges are met with appropriate analytical skills.
The ability to know the right questions to ask and produce analysis that makes sense is vital in realising value from Big Data analytics. IDC believes that organisations must ensure they have the right skills in-house not only to use the technology, but also to interpret the results. Finally, when all aspects have been clearly evaluated and documented, companies can join hands with their respective technology partners to deploy pilot projects and evaluate them in order to measure the value that such projects bring to the organisation.
The columnist is group vice-president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at global ICT market intelligence and advisory firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
