The Data Age Is Here. Are You Ready?

A survey of 2,200+ global business and IT leaders shows how organizations can leverage the technologies driving a data revolution.

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Data: It’s Everything

A quarter-century of digital transformation has gotten us here: to the advent of the Data Age. From the introduction of email through to broadband, WiFi, cloud storage, SaaS and big data analytics, the pieces have been moving into place. Now, in the year 2020, we are at the cusp of something new.

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.

We wanted to know: Are today’s organizations ready for tomorrow’s (seriously, tomorrow’s) data?

Only 14% of organizations are prepared for the Data Age. Of the unprepared 86%, only 8% say they'll be ready in time.

Whose Data Isn't Big?

Working with researchers at the TRUE Global Intelligence, we surveyed 2,259 business and IT leaders worldwide, who say both the volume and value of their data is growing. Two-thirds expect the sheer quantity of data to grow nearly 5x by 2025.

These front-line leaders also told us:

Data is extremely or very valuable to their organization in terms of overall success (81%), innovation (75%) and cybersecurity (78%).

And yet:

Sixty-six percent of IT and business managers report that half or more of their organization’s data is dark (untapped, unknown, unused) — a 10% increase over the previous year.
57% say the volume of data is growing faster than their organization's ability to keep up.
47% bluntly say that their organization will fall behind when faced with rapid data volume growth.

Six Drivers of the Data Age

Primary accelerants of the Data Age are emerging technologies powered by, and contributing to, exponential data growth.

Chief among these emerging technologies are:

5G networking

The Internet of Things (IoT)

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR)

Blockchain

Edge computing

These are not the only technologies, and there will be yet more, but they are the leading edge of data transformation. Our research found that among global respondents:

42% of IT and business managers, on average, say they have high levels of understanding of these technologies.

53% of organizations are not preparing at all.

Half (49%) expect to use these technologies in the future.
IoT has the most penetration (but only 28%), while 5G has the shortest implementation timeline: 2.6 years.
Confidence in understanding of 5G’s broad potential varies: 45% of U.S. respondents say they get it, versus 62% in China and 24% in Japan.

Across Industries and Around the Globe

The report, “The Data Age Is Here. Are You Ready?” looks at regional and vertical data to better understand Data Age competitiveness across industry and geography. Highlights include:

For five of the six technologies, financial services is the top vertical 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 they struggle to manage and leverage data.
The public sector lags behind commercial organizations in adoption of emerging technologies.
More respondents in manufacturing (78%) predict growth in data volume than in any other industry; 76% expect the value of data to continue to rise.

Variations also play out internationally:

China

Fully 90% of respondents from China expect the value of data to grow. They’re by far the most optimistic about the impact of emerging technologies, and they’re preparing: 83% of Chinese organizations are prepared or preparing for rapid data growth, compared to just 47% across all regions.

Shenzhen, China

San Francisco, California, U.S.

United States

U.S. respondents are the second most confident in their ability to prepare for rapid data growth, with 59% indicating that they are at least somewhat confident.

France

In France, 59% say that no one in their organization is having conversations about the impact of the next wave of data.

Paris, France

Osaka, Japan

Japan

Japan, 67% say their organization is struggling to stay up to date, compared to the global average of 58%.

United Kingdom

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 UK respondents say they are currently using AI/ML technologies, but 58% say they will use them in the future.

London, England, U.K.

Download the full report for global trends and insights across five industries and eight countries (United States, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, China, Japan and Australia). Learn about Splunk's Blockchain solutions.

What Leaders Look Like ...

Across the five industry sectors surveyed, four believe theirs is best positioned to benefit from the wave of data generated by, and generating, the Data Age. But it will take strategic thinking and hard tactical preparation.

Read the report to understand the competitive landscape and the four key recommendations for success in the Data Age.

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