X
Business

Research: 49 percent of large companies implementing big data solutions

Big data and the Internet of Things go hand-in-hand, and a recent Tech Pro Research survey shows that large companies are more than twice as likely to be using big data as smaller organizations.
Written by Teena Maddox, Contributor
istock000052730130small.jpg
Image: iStock/blackdovfx

Big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) are two rapidly growing technological forces that often work together to collect data.

The promise of big data lies within the ability of an organization to use a connected device to compile data both internally and externally. The cost of doing big data analytics is predicted to go down this year, making it more feasible for organizations to collect marketplace or operations data.

Tech Pro Research conducted a survey in 2015 to find out how companies are using big data and the IoT. The topic was revisited in January 2016, in a new survey, to find out what has changed in this fast-evolving landscape.

Download the full Tech Pro Research report, Big Data and IoT: Benefits, drawbacks, usage trends.

In this year's follow-up survey, Tech Pro Research looked at the same concepts as in 2015, including how what progress -- or pitfalls -- have been experienced using the IoT to collect data. Topics covered include:

  • IoT collection of marketplace data
  • IoT collection of operations data
  • IoT budgets and employee staffing numbers
  • Data security
  • Benefits and drawbacks of IoT data collection

Who is using big data?

The first objective was to assess where big data is in use by assessing where implementations have been conducted. The survey found that 29 percent have deployed a big data solution, while another 61 percent have not. These are approximately the same figures as last year.

big-data-in-use-1.png
Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research

Company size matters, with the largest organizations much more likely to have undertaken a big data implementation than smaller organizations. In fact, respondents from companies with 1,000 or more employees have implemented big data nearly 1.5 times more often than those which have not (49% versus 35%), whereas only about one-fifth of smaller companies have put big data into place. Three-quarters of these organizations have no big data solution.

big-data-company-size.png
Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research

Region also mattered. Respondents whose organizations are in the Asia-Pacific region more often than not reported their organization had undergone a big data implementation -- 19 percent higher than Europe, the second highest ranking. Conversely, big data is rare in Central/South America.

big-data-region.png
Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research

Who is using IoT?

Since big data goes hand-in-hand with IoT, Tech Pro Research also dug in to find out who is using IoT systems to collect marketplace or operations data. Just over a fifth (21%) of respondent organizations say they are using IoT and another 35 percent reported they will be starting soon.

iot-usage.png
Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research

As far as company size goes, only 33 percent of respondents from organizations with 1,000 or more employees indicated they had no current or planned IoT system implementations, compared to 59 percent, 47 percent and 46 percent for other organizations (ranked in descending sizes). As was the case with big data, the largest organizations were more likely to have implemented, or to be planning to implement, some kind of IoT system to collect external or internal data.

iot-company-size.png
Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research

It is interesting to note, however, that unlike big data, IoT is least likely to be in use not in the smallest companies but the small-to-medium (50-249 employees) and medium-to-large businesses (250-999 employees. This demonstrates that IoT has more of a footprint in the smallest companies than big data, whereas the reverse applies in the middle two size ranges.

Find out more about big data and IOT and download the full TechProResearch report, Big Data and IoT: Benefits, drawbacks, usage trends.

TechProResearch is the premium content sister site to ZDNet and TechRepublic.

Editorial standards