Companies are beginning to take advantage of maturing new technologies that move, mine and consume increasingly diverse data from an ever-larger array of sources and sensors, driving outcomes sooner and with greater impact than anyone imagined possible. According to a new survey by Accenture Analytics, organizations using big data report overwhelming satisfaction with the results, and see it as an important catalyst for their transformation into digital businesses.
Although a significant number of companies are still standing on the sidelines, big data is clearly delivering significant value and practical results for users who start and complete projects. The vast majority (92%) of users surveyed report they are satisfied with business outcomes, and 94% feel their big data implementation meets their needs and is critical for a wide spectrum of strategic corporate goals, from new revenue generation and new market development to enhancing the customer experience and improving enterprise-wide performance.
Here are some key findings from the survey:
Win big by starting small & thinking big
Larger companies appear to be among the biggest beneficiaries of initial big data implementations. These users are winning big by starting small and staying realistic with their expectations, helped by frequent, direct CIO involvement and strong c-suite support. Rather than attempting to do everything at once, they focus resources around proving value in one area, and then let the results cascade across the wider enterprise. Although such projects still pose challenges, larger companies bring more to the table:
- A deeper understanding of big data’s scope and sources of value.
- A serious focus on practical applications and business outcomes.
- Greater commitment in budget and talent.
- A keener appreciation of the importance and disruptive power of big data.
However, differing perceptions about the scope and benefits of big data remain to be clarified:
- More than one-third of users (36%) think big data requires an extremely big investment.
- One in four (26%) believe companies are required to implement big data all at once across the enterprise.
- More than four in ten (41%) reported a lack of appropriately skilled resources, and almost as many (37%) felt they did not have the talent to run big data and analytics on an ongoing basis.
Big data talent needed
With so many organizations simultaneously competing for big data skills, sourcing talent is undeniably difficult:
- More than half of respondents (57%) leveraged the help of consultants, 45% used contract employees and 34% used technology vendor resources.
- Organizations that relied on consultants, and other external resources found their big data installations to be easier than those using only internal resources.
- Nearly all (91%) companies expect to increase their data science expertise, the majority within the next year.
- Training, workshops and research are used to address the talent challenge by developing skills internally.
Big data’s disruptive potential
Expectations about big data among survey respondents convey the potentially life-or-death competitive threat, as well as the enormous transformational potential created by big data. Early adopters see competitive advantage in big data, and are rapidly moving to disrupt their own data practices, rather than let competitors beat them to it. Perceptions about big data’s disruptive power are not confined to technology organizations; users see a new competitive weapon in play across industries and geographies, from businesses such as financial services and insurance, to practitioners such as postal services and governments.
- A vast majority of users (89%) believe big data will revolutionize business operations in the same way the Internet did. Nearly as many (85%) feel big data will dramatically change the way they do business.
- Almost eight in ten users (79%) agree that ‘companies that do not embrace big data will lose their competitive position and may even face extinction’. Even more (83%) have pursued big data projects in order to seize a competitive edge.
Disrupt your business (before someone else does)
Thinking about big data as an asset requires organizations to change their mindsets, become more data-focused, and assemble and acquire the skills needed to manage data at speed and at scale. Users welcome the disruption because they suspect that if they don’t harness the power of big data first, a known competitor or a company not even in their market today could attack tomorrow.
For more insights, read the full report Big Success with Big Data
