Measuring Returns on Big Data Investments

Much work remains to be done to make big data operational inside most organizations, but they have made a fair amount of progress, according to a recent study, which was derived from a questionnaire designed by Forbes Insights and sponsored by Teradata in partnership with McKinsey. The survey of 316 senior data and IT decision-makers shows that roughly a quarter of decision-makers are starting to see significant returns on their big data investments in the form of increased revenues and reduced costs. While senior managers continue to view big data as a way to achieve significant competitive advantage, more than half said significant cultural and tactical issues remain. Storage, data acquisition, acquiring talent and the analytics applications themselves are the primary areas consuming most of the big data budgets. For solution providers with big data expertise, that bodes well because it creates an opportunity to craft solutions made up of both products and ongoing managed services expertise. How long this focus on big data will continue is anybody's guess, but it would appear that investments in big data solutions should benefit the channel for years to come. Take a look at key findings from the research.