Businesses still not seeing Big Data benefits

Despite “big data” becoming the latest buzz word in technology many British companies have struggled to produce tangible benefits from it in the early months of adoption, a new report has claimed.

Big data has grown out of the huge rise in the amount of data companies are trying to manage as well as through the number of new technologies which require data to be stored.

These include social media and industrial sensors. It is projected to provide £216bn worth of value to the UK economy by 2017.

However, businesses are currently not seeing any rewards for implementing this technology with 80 percent of the 300 senior decision makers surveyed claiming they had not quantified the benefits of their projects.

The report – Understanding the business benefits and strategic implications of big data, which  was conducted by the Big Data Insight Group and sponsored by EMC, also found that already a third of the organisations surveyed have either implemented or were looking to implement big data projects.

However, nearly half of respondents said that the ownership of big data initiatives currently sat predominantly with the IT department and less than a quarter believe they will require new personnel to execute a big data strategy.

Emma Taylor, founder and managing director of Big Data Insight Group, said: “The research suggests companies are currently engaged in experiments or piloting activities, rather than real business projects. Furthermore, these are currently concentrated within silos of technical teams, without the buy-in of the business departments like marketing, finance and product development which ultimately stand to benefit.

“It’s positive, though, that while big data is still an immature marketplace, it is very much on the radar of organisations of all shapes and sizes. We are confident that this survey, and indeed the report in general, will help people gain a better understanding of exactly what big data is and how they can reap the benefits of it.”