User-centric tools go long way to reaping most benefits from big data projects, says IDG survey

Big data is proving to be like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla -- big and powerful, but difficult to tame and control.

While nearly 90 percent of business and IT leaders agree that big data can be useful in making intelligent business decisions, only one-third of companies have implemented big-data initiatives. That's the finding from a recent International Data Group (IDG) survey, sponsored by Kapow Software.

Furthermore, more than 50 percent of survey respondents said that they had only lukewarm success with getting big data to deliver value in terms of competitive advantage, differentiation, top-line growth, strategic insights, employee productivity and effectiveness, among other business metrics.

Respondents reported that big-data projects take too long, cost too much, and aren't delivering a sufficient return on investment (ROI). Part of this is because these projects require expensive consultants or hard-to-find data scientists. Yet, while this lag in adoption continues, the mass of data from a variety of sources is growing.

Among the barriers to drawing value out of big data, according to survey respondents, are:

• High cost and complexity. Many business leaders believe such projects require a prohibitively expensive infrastructure. Sixty percent said projects take 18 months or more to complete.
  Despite the current low reliance on big data, adoption is expected to increase over the next 12 months, as business and IT leaders turn to user-centric tools
  
  
• Employee workarounds. Respondents said employees often take matters into their own hands, but without effective solutions, are resorting to manual aggregation. This is putting pressure on IT to automate these efforts.
  
• Poor data accessibility. Nearly half of IT leaders said they find it difficult to find, access, and integrate the right information, which is often unstructured and spread among a wide variety of sources.
  
• Lacking skills and tools. Big data is proving to be inaccessible by employees without special training, again putting pressure on IT to pave the way.

Despite the current low reliance on big data, adoption is expected to increase over the next 12 months, as business and IT leaders turn to user-centric tools -- such as those provided by Kapow Software. With such tools, IT leaders anticipate improved productivity and a better relationship with the business leaders.

Business leaders surveyed are looking for a variety of benefits from an increased use of big data. They say the following are either "critical" or "very important:"

• More informed business decision - 80 percent
  
• Increased competitive advantage - 71 percent
  
• Improved customer satisfaction - 68 percent
  
• Increased end-user productivity - 62 percent
  
• Improved security or compliance - 60 percent
  
• New products and services - 55 percent
  
• Monitoring and responding to social media in real time - 33 percent.

For more information on the survey results, go to http://www.slideshare.net/Kapowmarketing/kapow-idg-bigdataidg051513 or http://www.kapowsoftware.com/. [Disclosure: Kapow Software is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.]

You may also be interested in:

• Kapow Mobile Katalyst debuts as new means to rapidly convert web applications to mobile apps sans APIs
• Kapow launches data integration platform for rapid data delivery to multiple devices
• Kapow delivers Web Data Server 7.2 to make BI easier to extract from across web-based activities
• Web data services extend business intelligence depth and breadth across social, mobile, web domains
• Web data services provide ease of data access and distribution from variety of sources, destinations
• Web data services -- here's why text-based content access and management plays crucial role in real-time BI management
• Real-time web data services in action at Deutsche Boerse