Firms Step Up Big Data Initiatives, Spending

Under siege from growing amounts of data streaming in from multiple different sources across the enterprise, companies are stepping up their efforts to gain insight and value from big data projects.

That’s according to a new research report from IDG that finds that 70% of enterprises have either deployed or are planning to deploy big data projects and programs. Furthermore, companies on average plan to spend $8 million on big data projects this year, according to the report.

Key takeaways from this report include:

• Organizations expect a 76% increase in the amount of data they manage over the next 12-18 months.
• CEOs are focused on the value of big data and partnering with IT executives who will execute strategies.
• Companies are facing numerous challenges with big data initiatives – a lack of skilled employees to analyze and manage data tops the list.
• In the next 12-18 months, organizations plan to invest in skill sets necessary for big data deployments, including data scientists, data architects, data analysts, data visualizers, research analysts and business analysts.
• Big data will be in mainstream use in at least one business unit or department, according to 74% of respondents.

The most critical success factors driving big data initiatives include identifying business areas and processes where big data can have the greatest impact (37%); making sure the human capital exists to effectively extract value from big data initiatives (29%); and making sure storage, computer and networking resources are capable of supporting big data initiatives (25%).

The top four areas driving investment in big data initiatives today are: improving the quality of the decision-making process (59%); increasing the speed of decision making (53%); improving planning and forecasting (47%); and developing new products/services and revenue streams (47%).

For its part, online travel company Expedia is developing new services for its customers. The firm has unveiled new features designed to smooth the customer’s path to purchase. Expedia built a new recommendation feature, for example, from analyzing large amounts of booking data.

The new recommendation feature analyzes more than three billion flight searches performed on Expedia.com and applies insight into real-time customer search queries, suggesting alternative travel times or airports.

“These options and fares reflect patterns that other anonymized customers have booked recently, and are presented to the customer in a box above the standard search results,” the company notes in a statement. “By tapping into numbers and information like this, also known as big data, Expedia.com can make recommendations on other dates or airports that may be more convenient or cost-effective for travelers.”