Number of cos investing in Big Data on the rise in 2013: Gartner

Says big data investments in 2013 continue to rise, with 64% of organisations investing or planning to invest in big data technology

Investment by organisations in 'Big Data' continues to rise this year compared to 2012, with 64% firms investing or planning to invest in the technology in 2013, a survey by research firm Gartner said.

Generally, 'Big Data' is referred to as a large volume of both structured and unstructured data, which is so large that it is difficult to process it using the traditional database and software techniques.

"Big data investments in 2013 continue to rise, with 64% of organisations investing or planning to invest in big data technology compared with 58% in 2012," it said in a release.

However, less than 8% of survey respondents have actually deployed Big Data, it added.

The Gartner survey of 720 research circle members globally, conducted in June 2013, is designed to examine the technology investment plans around big data, stages of big data adoption, business problems solved, data, technology and challenges faced by firms.

"The hype around big data continues to drive increased investment and attention, but there is real substance behind the hype," Gartner Research Director Lisa Kart said.

The survey underlines the fact that organisations across industries and geographies see opportunity and real business value rather than the smoke and mirrors with which hypes usually come, she added.

The survey found that of the 64% of organisations investing or planning to invest in big data technology in 2013, 30% have already invested in the technology, 19% have plans to invest within the next year and an additional 15% plan to invest within two years, the release said.

Industries leading big data investments in 2013 are media and communications, banking, and services.

Around 39% of media and communications firms said that they have already invested in big data, followed by 34% of banking organisations and 32% of services firms, it added.

Planned investments during the next two years are highest for transportation (50%), healthcare (41%) and insurance (40%). However, every vertical industry again shows big data investment and planned investment, it said.

From a regional point of view, North America continues to lead investments with 38% of firms surveyed saying that they have invested in technology specifically designed to address the big data challenge, the survey said.

Firms in Asia/Pacific were notably ambitious with 45% indicating that they plan to invest during the next two years. Consistent with Gartner experience, EMEA and Latin America tend to lag in technology adoption, for which big data is no different, it added.