Big Data to go bigger in 2013

Gartner recently conducted a global survey of firms and found that 42% of respondents invested in big data technology, or were planning to do so within a year. The firm said that organizations are becoming aware that big data initiatives are critical because they have identified obvious or potential business opportunities that cannot be met with traditional data sources, technologies or practices.

"Organizations have increased their understanding of what big data is and how it could transform the business in novel ways. The new key questions have shifted to 'What are the strategies and skills required?' and 'How can we measure and ensure our return on investment? Most organizations are still in the early stages, and few have thought through an enterprise approach or realized the profound impact that big data will have on their infrastructure, organizations and industries," said Doug Laney, analyst, Gartner.

Gartner predicts that by 2015, 20% of Global 1000 organizations will have established a strategic focus on "information infrastructure" equal to that of application management.

In anticipation of big data opportunities, organizations across industries are provisionally collecting and storing a burgeoning amount of operational, public, commercial and social data. In most industries combining these sources with existing underutilized "dark data", such as emails, multimedia and other enterprise content, represents the most immediate opportunity to transform businesses.

Laney said, "Businesses are increasingly managing and deploying information more effectively than ever, but certainly not with the well-honed asset management discipline applied to their traditional material, financial or other intangible assets."