Australian companies miss out on big data potential: Tibco

Just over a third of Australian businesses surveyed by Tibco Software for its 2014 data integration index claimed full data integration, leaving two-thirds of local companies missing out on full potential of big data analysis.

According to the report, published today, 85 percent of the surveyed organisations used multiple systems internally to capture data — including CRM, invoicing and supply chain management — with only 35 percent of these systems fully integrated and 48 percent partially integrated.

The index survey also found that 17 percent of respondents' disparate data systems were not integrated at all.

For Tibco Software's regional chief technology officer, Paul Scott-Murphy, businesses that are not making use of full data integration are likely to miss out on the potential growth opportunities facilitated by effective data analysis.

"Organisations need to think carefully about the long-term effects of their data management strategy, or lack thereof," said Scott-Murphy. "The Tibco data integration index highlights a greater need for Australian organisations to integrate their data so that they can engage more effectively with customers and prospects to drive growth.

"Every move a customer makes online leaves a digital trail that businesses can use to their advantage. Those that harness such data responsibly will gain a more holistic view of their customers' behaviour. This can translate into targeted marketing campaigns, personalised promotions and, at the end of the day, increased revenue.

"Without integration, the information in these separate systems remains separated, making it impossible to analyse the information easily and opening up opportunities for information to quickly become out of date or incorrect," he said.

The index found that a third of surveyed organisations weren't harnessing big data analytics effectively and were "essentially wasting the effort and cost that goes into collecting and storing vast amounts of customer information".

The report also found that one in three companies did not have a '360 degree' of their customers, that 65.5 percent of companies surveyed used real-time data to personalise customer touch-points and promotions to achieve optimal returns from cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

According to Tibco, organisations that learn to harness data and use it to improve customer engagement are "more effective at driving growth".

The US-based business infrastructure and analytics company, which acquired open source intelligence tools company Jaspersoft in April, said that 200 senior IT, marketing and finance decision-makers from different industries across Australia participated in the study.