Australian businesses are expected to boost investment in big data analytics in 2018 in a bid to better use the data that has been captured and maintained, according to a new report from global analyst firm IDC.
According to IDC, 2018 is the year for a boost in analytics investment by Aussie business – and, in the 2017 Asia Pacific Software Survey, comparing the current deployment rate of software, and the likelihood of getting increased investment in the next 12 months, big data analytics is the stand-out area where businesses will focus.
"Forty-one percent of responding organisations in Australia have deployed some sort of big data analytics initiatives, that's the current state. Looking at the next 12 months, 50% of the respondents say they will increase their investment on big data analytics. This indicates adoption is going to pick up, and utilisation will expand", says John Feng, senior market analyst from IDC.
"To add in a bit of context, cloud deployment models, which is another hot topic among IT executives, has a rate of 48% that will increase investment on it.
{loadposition peter}“On the top spot we have infrastructure and security software, on which 53% will increase investment in next 12 months. Not surprising for the relatively more matured Australian market, where compliance and governance cannot be stressed enough."
According to IDC, the proliferation of data-generating sensors, the declining unit price of storage, the interconnectivity of endpoints, the adoption of cloud, and the development of the digital economy, all have enabled the collection of a “rich amount of data in almost all aspects of business and production activities”.
IDC notes that the amount and breadth of accumulated data has reached the point where it can be utilised to aid in running the business.
“The increasing involvement of line-of-business in technology adoption, in demand for a clearer and more responsive view of everyday operations to derive deeper insights; the development of edge computing enabling the collection of richer data sets as well as quicker turnaround time, the flexibility of cloud consumption model helps bring the cost down – these three factors will help drive demand for big data analytics,” IDC says.
"To take advantage of the demand for data analytics, vendors must ensure the data generated is ready for aggregated analysis and automatic processing,” Feng suggests.
“From a solution point of view, capability to integrate with multiple data sources and perform real-time, reiterative business-specific analytics that feeds back to the production process will be very appealing to end users. Customers will be demanding analytics capabilities that can provide a simple, flexible, unified view of multiple data sources that ultimately lead to measurable business outcome.”
IDC forecasts that data analytics is expected to move from retrospective business reporting to be more and more involved in “timely, forward-looking business decision-making”.
“Its implementation will be in different stages as customers go through the journey of becoming a data-driven business. Ultimately, data analytics, coupled with automation, will empower an organization to be more efficient and better adapt to the faster pace of change in the digital world,” Feng said.