Splunk Inc. recently announced the results of new research that explores how prepared organizations are for the beginning of the Data Age. Two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed expect the sheer quantity of data to grow nearly five times by 2025.
The research shows that leaders see the significant opportunity in this explosion of data and believe data is extremely or very valuable to their organization in terms of overall success (81%), innovation (75%) and cybersecurity (78%).
The report, built using research conducted by TRUE Global Intelligence and directed by Splunk, surveyed 2,259 global business and IT managers from the US, France, China, Australia, UK, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. The vast majority of survey respondents (81%) believe data to be very or highly valuable yet the majority (57%) fear that the volume of data is growing faster than their organizations’ ability to keep up.
The Data Age has been accelerated by emerging technologies powered by, and contributing to, exponential data growth. Chief among these emerging technologies are Edge Computing, 5G networking, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and Blockchain. It’s these very same technologies that nearly half (49%) of those surveyed expect to use to harness the power of data, but across technologies, on average, just 42% feel they have high levels of understanding of all six.
Data Is Valuable, and Data Anxiety Is Real
To thrive in this new age, every organization needs a complete view of its data — real-time insight, with the ability to take real-time action. But many organizations feel overwhelmed and unprepared. The new study from Splunk and TRUE Global Intelligence quantifies the emergence of a Data Age as well as the recognition that organizations have some work to do in order to use data effectively and be successful.
- Data is extremely or very valuable to organizations in terms of overall success (81%), innovation (75%) and cybersecurity (78%).
- And yet, 66% of IT and business managers report that half or more of their organizations’ data is dark (untapped, unknown, unused) — a 10% increase over the previous year.
- 57% say the volume of data is growing faster than their organizations’ ability to keep up.
- 47% acknowledge their organizations will fall behind when faced with rapid data volume growth.
Some Industries are More Prepared Than Others
The study quantifies the emergence of a Data Age and the adoption of emerging technologies across industries, including:
- Across industries, IoT has the most current users (but only 28%). 5G has the fewest and has the shortest implementation timeline at 2.6 years.
- Confidence in understanding of 5G’s potential varies 59% in France, 62% in China and only 24% in Japan.
- For five of the six technologies, financial services leads in terms of current development of use cases. Retail comes second in most cases, though retailers lag notably in adoption of AI.
- 62% of healthcare organizations say that half or more of their data is dark and that they struggle to manage and leverage data.
- The public sector lags commercial organizations in the adoption of emerging technologies.
- Manufacturing leaders predict growth in data volume (78%) than in any other industry; 76% expect the value of data to continue to rise.
Some Countries are More Prepared Than Others
The study also found that countries seen as technology leaders, like the US and China, are more likely to be optimistic about their ability to harness the opportunities of the Data Age.
- 90% of business leaders from China expect the value of data to grow. They are by far the most optimistic about the impact of emerging technologies, and they are getting ready. 83% of Chinese organizations are prepared or are preparing, for rapid data growth compared to just 47% across all regions.
- US leaders are the second most confident in their ability to prepare for rapid data growth, with 59% indicating that they are at least somewhat confident.
- In France, 59% of respondents say that no one in their organization is having conversations about the impact of the Data Age. Meanwhile, in Japan, 67% say their organization is struggling to stay up to date, compared to the global average of 58%.
- UK managers report relatively low current usage of emerging technologies but are optimistic about plans to use them in the future. For example, just 19% of U.K. respondents say they are currently using AI/ML technologies, but 58% say they will use them in the near future.
The study also surfaced some trends about emerging technologies across APAC.
Australia:
- More than half (60%) of Australian business and IT managers expect their data volume to grow by 5.9 times the current volume by 2025 making it the second fastest growth behind Netherlands across the eight markets.
- Organisations in Australia may struggle to capitalise on the value associated with the data growth they expect, as 83% say the introduction of new technologies is a primary challenge to managing and leveraging data.
- There is a lack of understanding of 5G technology in Australia with just over a third (38%) of business and IT managers rating their own understanding of 5G as “expert” or “high”.
- Half (50%) of Australian organisations are in the process of developing use cases in Edge Computing that will play a similar role as 5G in enabling faster data transfers, while only 29% of Australian organisations currently have specific use cases in place, and 39% of organisations do not have use cases in development.
China:
● Respondents from China recognize the value of data more than any other market. 90% expect its value will grow over the next decade.89% of Chinese IT and business managers, the highest percentage across the eight markets, expect their data volume to grow 3.9 times by 2025.
83% of Chinese organizations are currently prepared or preparing for rapid data growth, compared to just 47% across all regions.
● 62% of IT and business managers in China rated their understanding of 5G as “expert” or “high”, while only 24% in Japan are confident in their understanding of 5G.
● Edge computing will play a similar role as 5G in enabling faster data transfer. In China, 34% and 54% organizations are having specific use cases in place and developing use cases respectively, while 46% do not have specific use cases in development.
Japan:
- Japanese organizations are slower in terms of staying up to date in new developments in data. Two-thirds (67%) say their organization is struggling to stay up to date, compared to the global average of 58%.
- In contrast to China, Japan is much slower when it comes to adopting emerging technologies. Japanese respondents expect the longest timeline to implement all six emerging technologies.
- 75% of Japanese IT and business managers expect their data volume to grow, the second highest percentage across the eight markets after China. Japanese respondents expect data volume will increase by a factor of 3.1 times by 2025.
- Only 24% of IT and business managers in Japan said they’re confident in their understanding of 5G, while 62% in China and 59% in France rated their understanding of 5G as “expert” or “high”.
- Edge computing will play a similar role as 5G in enabling faster data transfer. In Japan, 49% report that their organization will use edge computing in the future, but 58% do not yet have a use case in development and only 24% have specific use cases in place.
In this new environment of accelerated transformation, the impact of new technologies will only increase. Organisations across APAC stand to reap rewards if they meet the Data Age head-on.
To read more, visit the Splunk website to download the report: The Data Age Is Here. Are You Ready?
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