eDiscovery Daily Blog

• November 5, 2014

Yesterday, we discussed some amazing facts about just how “BIG” that Big Data has gotten to be.  Today, let’s look at what BIG companies are doing about BIG data.

NewVantage Partners has just released a new survey (their third annual survey) of Fortune 1000 senior business and technology executives regarding their companies’ investments in Big Data entitled Big Data Executive Survey 2014: An Update on the Progress of Big Data in the Large Corporate World.  Survey respondents are Fortune 1000 senior business and technology executives who have a vested interest in the success of an organization’s data and analytics, and Big Data, initiatives.  This year, 59 companies participated, with 125 individual executive respondents.  78% of the participating organizations were in the financial services sector, including companies such as American Express, Fidelity Investments, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Lincoln Financial and Wells Fargo.  Here’s a link to the Executive Summary for the report.

As noted in their press release, here are some key findings from the survey:

• Big Data is Becoming Mainstream: Executives report that their corporate investments in Big Data are projected to grow from 35% to 75% by 2017 for investments greater than $10MM, and by a remarkable 6% to 28% for investments greater than $50MM.  67% of executives now report that they have Big Data initiatives running in production within the corporation.
• Enthusiasm for Big Data Initiatives is Widespread: 82% of executives say that Big Data is “important or mission critical” to their organizations and 74% believe that its value “warrants serious attention.”
• Business-IT Partnership is Key to Big Data Adoption: 88% of executives cited the importance of a strong business-IT partnership, with 77% citing business leadership and sponsorship, and partnership and organizational alignment as being the most critical factors in ensuring successful adoption of Big Data initiatives within the corporation.
• The Chief Data Officer is an Emerging Role: 43% of executives report that their organization has established a Chief Data Officer (CDO) function, up from only 19% in 2012.

While big companies are embracing programs to manage Big Data, they’re not too keen on the term “Big Data”.  Fewer than 1 in 5 respondents (17%) feel that the name is “apt and descriptive,” and the rest dislike it (30%) or view it as overstated (53%).  As discussed in the Executive Summary, that finding raises the question whether everyone means the same thing when they’re talking about Big Data.  Regardless, it’s clear that large organizations are becoming seriously invested in programs to manage Big Data, regardless what they want to call it.

So, what do you think? Does your organization have a plan for managing Big Data?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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