Big data as a concept is ever evolving as the capacity to mine structured, semi structured and unstructured data increases. In 2014, organisations were making more informed business decisions and becoming more intelligent as they interact with their customers. For example, more sophisticated ‘recommendation engines’ anticipating users’ interests more accurately for services such as Netflix, Amazon and Google. Further, credit reference agencies have been using big data to inform on lending decisions by developing the algorithms used to generate credit ratings. Retail, logistics and budget planning have all seen significant advancement last year due to greater business intelligence.
In 2015, spending on big data related software is expected to increase to around £80 billion globally as reported by the IDC. IoT will become the next critical focus for data and analytics services with IDC predicting 30% CAGR over the next five years. The increasing influx of data available to organisations will require the infrastructure being used to house, process, analyse and visualise intelligence to expand. The IDC predicts that rich media analytics will be the driver behind many big data projects, expecting this area to at least triple in size.
The increased demand for greater sophistication in analysis and data consumption will require organisations to refine talent acquisition strategies to compete in the skills gap. A recent survey of 300 UK businesses, conducted by SAP, showed that while 92% of organisations have seen their data grow over the last 12 months, most were experiencing barriers when trying to use the information. Further, 42% of organisations saw lack of time and resource as the biggest challenge and 75% believed new data science skills are needed within their organisation.
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http://www.information-age.com/it-management/strategy-and-innovation/123458793/2015s-most-critical-information-technology-trends#sthash.0tzKFgOo.dpuf
