Big Data Plus IoT: Opportunities Too Big to Ignore

Companies are invested heavily in big data but often need help from outside organizations, according to a new study conducted by Accenture and GE. The study, based on a survey of 250 business and IT executives at organizations with revenue of more than $150 million, found that 73 percent already allocate a substantial amount of their IT budgets to big data. Those investments are set to increase in the coming year as companies leverage the data they have to improve profitability and market share. From a solutions provider perspective, the most compelling aspect of those investments is that more than half the respondents said they will look outside their organizations for big data help. The "industrial Internet"—the combination of big data analytics with the Internet of things (IoT)—is projected to be worth $500 billion by 2020 and continue growing. "Are companies ready for more predictive and innovative kinds of value-creating solutions? The answer here is mostly "not yet," but they are actively positioning themselves for such solutions," the report said. For many solution providers, that means big data and the IoT will be just too big an opportunity to ignore. Here are key takeaways from the study.