Organizations of all stripes are rushing to find new uses for the flood of data streaming across networks and into data centers. A survey conducted by Accenture reveals that companies are overwhelmingly satisfied with their “Big Data” experience. Moreover, according to Accenture, Big Data “is revolutionizing the way companies do business.”
According to Accenture’s report, “How to achieve big success from big data,” 92 percent of companies with Big Data experience are fully satisfied with resulting business outcomes. Furthermore, 94 percent reported that their Big Data implementations is meeting their needs.
Big Data Satisfaction
In addition, 89 percent of companies said Big Data is very important to their digital transformations. Fifty-eight percent said they adopted Big Data to maintain competitiveness.
Probing companies’ application of Big Data methods and tools, Accenture found that 94 percent are using Big Data to identify new sources of revenue. Eighty-nine percent are using Big Data to develop new products or services.
All that said, Accenture also identified challenges to implementing and making use of Big Data methods and tools. Security was the biggest concern for customers (51 percent). Forty-seven percent cited budget as a challenge, while 41 percent reported that lack of capacity to implement Big Data solutions was a challenge. Thirty-seven percent said lack of talent to run a Big Data solution was a challenge, while another 35 percent cited integration with existing systems.
Companies with Big Data experience are employing a variety of methods to overcome Big Data challenges. These include:
- Internal training (54 percent);
- Vendor-based workshops (50 percent);
- Independent research (49 percent);
- Internal workshops and socialization (45 percent).
Nearly all respondents – 95 percent – said they used one or more external consultants, contract employees and technology vendor resources to help pilot and implement Big Data systems. Ninety-one percent said they expected to increase their expertise in data science, the majority (55 percent) saying they would do so within the next year.
Looking to the future, Accenture found 89 percent of respondents believe Big Data will revolutionize the way business is done in the same way the Internet did. When it comes to the areas in which companies think Big Data will have the greatest impact, Accenture found:
- 63 percent said customer relationships;
- 58 percent said redefining product management
