Data drives us at Devo—and although most organizations would benefit from a more data-driven approach, recent research shows organizations are grappling with the challenges of accessing and using operational data for business benefit.

Data volumes are continuing to grow, fueled by machine data from a multitude of sources. But there is often a significant gap between the volume of data collected and the operational benefits that can be gained from that data. To get a fresh look at how enterprises use data, we commissioned a survey with UK-based research company Vanson Bourne to examine how companies in the US and EU store, manage, share and use the data generated by their operations. Vanson Bourne surveyed 400 IT, security and business decision makers, and the results are fascinating.

Top line results included:

• Business, IT and security users face obstacles with enterprise-wide data access: While data is everywhere, creating a unified view of this information is challenging; 74 percent report their business is currently using different systems for real-time and historical data storage and analysis, and 95% face obstacles when trying to get a single view of data.
• Data is evolving and so are the means for acting on it: Seventy-five percent of IT and business professionals agree that searching for data is challenging and time-consuming, indicating the barrier is in the approach to managing the enterprise’s data, not with the people seeking access.
• Organizations struggle with the negative impacts of data silos: More data is being generated by IT, sensors, devices, business applications, customer clicks, etc., resulting in more data silos; 98 percent state their organization experiences challenges trying to reduce these silos.
• Different data sources provide new perspectives: Ninety-one percent agree that combining historical data and real-time data would be valuable to their organization, providing true and more actionable insights.

Additional research from analyst firm IDC estimates the amount of data created by people, machines, and systems will increase tenfold by 2025, from 20 zettabytes (ZB) in 2016 to 163ZB in 2025. Yet only 15% of that data will be tagged for analysis, and only one-fifth of that will actually be analyzed. And although as much as 40 percent of that data is generated by consumers who are streaming videos, using online, over-the-top (OTT) services and communicating with friends and family, businesses are still responsible for storing and managing more than 90 percent of the world’s data. The ability to manage and analyze that data to extract value, while also preserving security, has never been more important.

Research like that conducted by Vanson Bourne and IDC show there is a huge opportunity for organizations to improve the way they store and analyze operational data so it can be used more effectively to drive their businesses. As I said, data is what drives us at Devo, and we can help organizations worldwide extract the most value out of all their data.

To view the complete results from our survey, please download the report “What’s Data Got to Do with It” here.  Are there other data-centric topics you’d like us to research? Tweet us at @devo_Inc.