Big Data Facts: Are Companies Really Making Money From Their Data?

More and more businesses are waking up to the importance of data as a strategic resource.

In a recent research released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was reported that 60% of the professionals they quizzed feel that data is generating revenue within their organizations and 83% say it is making existing services and products more profitable.

It’s therefore safe to assume that Big Data Analysis, or Data Mining of extremely large data sets to identify trends and patterns, is fast becoming standard business practice.

Statistics similar to this make it clear that businesses are finding more and more ways to turn data into value, but at the same time, the report found, many are hitting stumbling blocks which are frustrating those efforts. For businesses that are built around customer data (or those which are re-purposing to be so), customer trust is absolutely essential. We have seen that people are becoming increasingly willing to hand over personal data in return for products and services that make their lives easier. However that goodwill can evaporate in an instant if customers feel their data is being used improperly, or not effectively protected.

The increasing availability of cloud processing, analytics and storage services has undoubtedly opened the floodgates in terms of making Big Data driven analytics accessible to businesses of all sizes across many industries. Data, particularly Big Data, is an almost infinitely empowering asset – but its use can be limited, or it can even become a liability if it isn’t backed up by a robust (and regulator-compliant) strategy.

The adoption of Big Data driven strategies has come on in leaps and bounds during the last year. However it is also equally clear that there is still a long way to go until every business is secure enough in its infrastructure to transition to a fully data driven business model.