Survey: Big data adoption at 'tipping point'

More companies are now adopting big data technologies as they recognize the financial and competitive benefits these bring to their businesses, an Avanade survey shows. However, firms in Singapore still face challenges in managing and analyzing their data.

The managed services provider released the survey findings on Wednesday, which revealed that 84 percent of respondents indicated big data helped them make better business decisions. It added that 96 percent of them said they are already using such tools to manage and analyze their data.

Conducted by Wakefield Research in April, the survey polled 569 C-level executives, IT decision makers and business unit leaders in 18 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and South Africa. Companies surveyed include aerospace, defense, energy, financial services, government, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, media, non-profit, and telecommunications.

"Big data has become everyone's business and it has gained a top spot on the agenda of business leaders for the real value it has begun to create," Craig Dower, president of Avanade Asia-Pacific, said in the report.

"Today, the technologies used to leverage big data for business purposes have reached a tipping point--widespread companies and employees are able to find financial and competitive benefits from their data," he said.

The findings were in contrast with the observations of one Hewlett-Packard executive, who on Tuesday said that big data adoption is still in its embryonic stage and limited to early adopters.

Challenges in Singapore
Zooming in on Singapore, the survey found that 76 percent of respondents in the country are using data insights to increase their revenue. This includes 53 percent who stated that they have grown existing revenue streams, while 47 percent noted that they have created entirely new ones.

However, 88 percent of the participants said they still face obstacles in managing and analyzing their data and felt their companies need to develop new skills to turn information into business insights. This figure was higher than the global average of 63 percent, Avanade stated.