Midmarket companies of between 2,000 and 5,000 employees are embracing the rise of big data, making it not just the realm of large-scale enterprise, according to a new survey by Dell.
The research, commissioned by Dell and conducted by Competitive Edge Research Reports, shows that 96 per cent of the 300 surveyed organisations are either already using big data projects or are planning to start one in the near future.
This number is made up of 41 per cent with existing projects and 55 per cent with ones on the horizon.
80 per cent believe they need to better analyse their data. The most valuable big data technologies for medium-sized businesses are real-time data processing, predictive analytics, and data visualisation.
89 per cent of those with existing big data initiatives have found a significant boost to company decision making.
Big budgets
The study also found that big data budgets will rise to an average of $6 million (£3.6 million, AU$6.5 million) over the next two years. This is from the current figures of between $2 million (£1.2 million, AU$2.2 million) and $5 million (£3 million, AU$5.4 million).
"Dell's survey shows once again why 'big' data is relative term. Being an enterprise organization with large, complex data sets is not a prerequisite to benefiting from a data-driven mindset. When organizations of any size focus on improving the quality of their business processes by becoming more analytical and data-driven, the potential benefits are limitless," said Darin Bartik, executive director of product management and information management at Dell Software.
"The early success midmarket companies are seeing with their big data initiatives will encourage more growth and investment, and additional returns on that investment will be achieved as they dive further into different datasets and embrace ever-improving analytic capabilities."
