Big Data as Competitive Strategy

Ever since the rise of modern enterprise, information has been a key strategic asset. Organizations that have more precise customer information, industry insights or marketing information can leverage this information to outperform their competitors. Over the years, groundbreaking systems from companies such as American Airlines (electronic reservations), Otis Elevator (predictive maintenance), and American Hospital Supply (online ordering) have dramatically boosted their creators’ revenues and reputations.

The Growth of Big Data

The growth of Big Data and Big Data Solutions has brought the concept of ‘information as a strategic asset’ to a whole new level. Organizations now not only compete on the preciseness of their data, but also on their ability to process large quantities (volume), at great speed (velocity), and from disparate data sources.

Having new information quicker than competitors provides a small window of opportunity to act before the competition dives in as well. In a recent survey from IDG, 78% of enterprises agree that data strategy, collection & analysis of Big Data has the potential to fundamentally change the way their company does business over the next 1 to 3 years.

Figure 1: Big Data provides organizations with a competitive advantage

The Importance of Developing Big Data Strategy

Although most enterprises agree that Big Data provides a competitive advantage, many organizations remain poorly behind the curve. Cross-industry studies show that on an average, less than half of an organization’s structured data is actively used in marketing decisions-and less than 1% of its unstructured data is analyzed or used at all. More than 70% of employees have access to data they should not, and 80% of analysts’ time is spent simply discovering and preparing data.

The reason why so many companies are struggling to realize their competitive advantage through Big Data is because they have not (adequately) defined a Big Data strategy. In many organizations, Big Data is still project-based, instead of being embedded into the veins of the organization. In order to avoid these pitfalls and realize a long term competitive advantages, the Big Data Framework starts with defining and formulating a Big Data Strategy. Every other activity or process that is further discussed throughout the Big Data Framework should relate back to the Big Data Strategy.

To learn more about Big Data, visit our Big Data Knowledge Base. For more information, contact us at info@bigdataframework.org or drop us a message in the chatbox.