By Anne Widjaja
SMEs are meeting the big data challenge faster than their larger competitors, according to some recent research by SAP AG.
The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of SAP, was conducted in April this year among 154 executives across a range of industries, with 60 per cent of respondents managing companies that earned US$500 million or less in revenue per annum.
The poll revealed that definitions explaining big data varied widely, with the majority of respondents defining the term as “massive growth in transaction data”.
Steve Lucas, executive vice president and general manager, database and technology, SAP, defines big data as “unprecedented growth and convergence of social, device, equipment and corporate data”.
The confused definitions of big data reflects how businesses are becoming clouded by “an incredible amount of noise… without a strategy”, Lucas said.
However, SMEs were consistently shown to more readily identify with its benefits than larger businesses. Business benefits identified by respondents included: efficient business operations (59 per cent); boosting sales (54 per cent); lowering IT costs (50 per cent); becoming more agile (48 per cent); and attracting and retaining customers (46 per cent). Seventy per cent of respondents said that they would expect a return on their big data investments within a year.
Cloud strategies were also shown to play a big role in managing big data for SMEs, with 34 per cent of respondents reporting that their companies already use cloud technology to store and manage big data. Respondents also cited private clouds or off-premise server farms as popular options for big data. Only 11 per cent of respondents said that they store and manage big data in a public cloud.
Access to big data in real time is also becoming essential for businesses looking to stay ahead of competition, with a 2011 Gartner report finding that “collecting and analysing the data is not enough – it must be presented in a timely fashion so that decisions are made as a direct consequence that have a material impact on the productivity, profitability or efficiency of the organisation”.
This trend was also clear in the survey results. Accessing big data on mobile computers was ranked by 90 per cent of respondents as “somewhat important”. In particular, industries such as aerospace and defence, automotive, banking and engineering placed greater importance on instant access to big data.
“Every company should be thinking about their big data strategy whether they are big or small. Big data is instant access to data and with instant insight, companies can be agile, act on emerging trends, engage with their customer base and also expose potential risks,” Lucas said.
