Two thirds of UK enterprises fail to make use of growing data

Two thirds of UK enterprises are not making use of big data to exploit business opportunities a report has claimed, with companies risking falling behind other European counterparts

The average business is sitting on 658 terabytes of data at the moment, according to a report from research company Vanson Bourne. However the report claims that only 38 percent of businesses in the UK are using the data that is currently being amassed.

This is less than other European nations.  53 percent of businesses in Germany say they are making use of big data, and 43 percent in France.

Furthermore this has the potential to cause problems to business in the future, CIOs are claiming.    21 percent of CIOs cited are worried that slackness in identifying the business possibilities of harnessing big data in the enterprise could lead to a “catastrophic” impact in future.   36 percent believe the impact will be significant, while a further 36 percent claim there will at least be a moderate impact if enterprise top brass don’t make collect and analyse big data in a meaningful way.

Of those enterprises which are yet to leverage the swathes of data being amassed, only 47 percent claim they do intend to make more use of their data in the long run.

In fact at the moment, only 12 percent of UK enterprises are using data for anything other than data compliance.   Two percent are content doing absolutely nothing with their data.

The bad news is that for many the reasons behind the lack of big data business use is down to budgetary concerns.  36 percent highlighted a lack of cash to chuck at big data, while 26 percent said that they could not free up the resources to implement a strategy.

However 20 percent cited a lack of understanding of how the business work, which could offer channel players an opportunity to walk unprepared business through the ways to utilise data.

Mark Darbyshire, EMEA CTO at Tibco, the software company which commissioned the study, says that business that make use of their data could steal a march on their rivals.

“There will be a marked improvement in the performances and revenues of those companies that have what we call the two second advantage,” said Darbyshire.

“In other words, the ability to see and understand what’s coming around the corner and make the necessary adjustments in anticipation of it.

However there is a risking of falling behind, which domestic companies are already showing signs of doing: “It looks increasingly like UK companies are lagging behind their continental counterparts in this respect.”

 “The ability to alert, and then convert a transient opportunity or avert an impending threat will be crucial for long term survival. Those trapped by the data divide will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.”