Manufacturers more than any other industry expect emerging technologies will increase data volume.
UK
UK organisations struggling to prepare for imminent Data Age
Businesses are aware of the impact of emerging technologies such as 5G, VR/AR and AI, and some are in advanced stages when it comes to developing use cases. However, a significant amount admit to being unprepared for the dramatic increases in data. With businesses already struggling to handle volumes of data and tap into dark data, there is an urgent need to adapt data strategies.
- 60% of organisations said the volume of data is already growing faster than their organisation’s ability to keep up with it.
- When it comes to the challenges that some organisations experience in managing and leveraging this data, 85% said that one was the sheer volume available.
- This data is set to increase dramatically due to the impact of emerging technologies. 54% think AI will increase the amount of data organisations can work with, 57% think 5G will and 48% think AR/VR will.
- When it comes to working with these emerging technologies, 49% are developing 5G use cases, 52% are developing AR/VR use cases, and 39% are developing AI use cases.
- However, despite the awareness of emerging technologies and the data wave it is set to create, only 10% say that their organisation is prepared for the coming data wave.
- Meanwhile, 48% of those with low or no anxiety about the data wave credit their lack of worry to their organisation not having considered the impact of the data wave
- Looking ahead, 73% believe that the coming data wave presents an opportunity to address dark data challenges, which highlights the importance of businesses getting their approaches right.
GERMANY
German companies feel well prepared for the data wave, but recognize Dark Data as a big challenge.
- The Data wave is already perceptible – but German companies are well prepared: German experts expect 4.5 times more data in 2025 than today, and for over half of them the data volume is already now growing faster than their company’s ability to keep pace.
- 86 % of German respondents, and most respondents worldwide, however, state that their company is already deliberately making itself future-proof in order to be able to deal with the coming Data Wave. Only 19% of German respondents report their organization has high anxiety of the coming data wave, while 41% have no or low anxiety about the challenges. This is mainly due to their attitude: almost three quarters of the companies are convinced that they will handle the wave effectively. Only respondents from China are even more positive in this regard (96%).
- Dark Data – challenge and opportunity: 55% of German respondents estimate that Dark Data accounts for 50% or more of their company’s data. The majority of respondents see the reasons for this in technology or process engineering – both reasons that could be remedied by optimized data management and new software solutions. However, 71% of the respondents also see the data wave as an opportunity to proactively deal with the company’s own Dark Data. 62% of German companies are already addressing this issue: They try to be ahead of the data wave by lifting Dark Data and making it usable.
- Obstacles for key technologies: The six key technologies examined in the study (AI, 5G, Blockchain, IoT, AR/VR, Edge Computing) encounter mainly structural obstacles in Germany. The most frequently named are:
- Lack of skilled personnel
- Difficulties in discovering and accessing Dark Data
- Difficulties in managing and using data
- Lack of understanding of technology
The study thus shows that Dark Data and the lack of skilled workers in this country are not only currently perceived as a major problem, but also represent an obstacle to the future breakthrough of key technologies. An optimization of Big Data management could significantly advance the progress of future technologies such as 5G and the like in German companies.
- Industries are prepared differently for the data wave: The Germans surveyed estimate that the following industries are best prepared to benefit from the data wave: The financial sector (57 %), the manufacturing industry (45 %) and the healthcare sector (27 %). The public sector is the least prepared for the increase in the volume of data.
FRANCE
The majority of French companies understand the increasing value of data, but also fear they are not prepared for the challenges of the next data wave.
- Only 48% of the data their organization possesses is owned data, which means that over half (52%) is either grey or dark data. Furthermore, the rise and adoption of new technologies also come with its own consequences and challenges.
- The potential of data: Over the next 10 years, 2 out of 3 companies (67%) expect data to be more valuable to the company’s success. FSI (61%) is the sector best positioned to benefit from the upcoming data wave, way ahead of manufacturing (33%) and retail (32%).
- Doubts about the future: However, almost 1 out of 4 respondents (23%) are not confident that their organization will adequately be prepared for the data wave by the time it begins to meaningfully impact their organization’s operations. 47% of respondents claim that their company does not understand the scale of the challenges this coming data wave poses.
- Adopting new technologies: the main challenge is the difficulty to manage data. The other challenges most answered are the lack of proper personnel, the difficulty discovering and accessing dark data, as well as the lack of understanding said technologies. Also, according to FR respondents, adopting these technologies will mostly solve some dark data challenges but make others worse.
- Edge Computing and IoT are the technologies most companies are already using (22%), ahead of Blockchain (21%) and AR/VR (19%)
- 5G is the technology companies are most planning to implement in the future (65%), ahead of AI/ML (56%) and IoT (47%).
NETHERLANDS
Dutch companies expect data to grow more rapidly than their global peers, but don’t feel they can keep up with the pace.
- The Dutch believe data will grow to 7 times more in 2025 than today. Globally this number is approximately 4.8 times more.
- More than half of Dutch experts (54%) believe their company cannot keep up with the pace at which data grows. This is despite the fact that over the years our knowledge of data and the technological possibilities to aggregate and analyse data have continued to grow as well.
- The main challenges for Dutch companies are the sheer volume of data (86%), integrating data from multiple sources (86%) and introducing new technologies to analyse data (86%)
- Nonetheless, 18% of Dutch companies are not yet future proofing whereas this could be the main solution for them to overcome their challenges
AUSTRALIA
- More than half (60%) of Australian business and IT managers expect their data volume to grow by 5.9 times the current volume by 2025 making it the second fastest growth behind Netherlands across the eight markets.
- Organisations in Australia may struggle to capitalise on the value associated with the data growth they expect, as 83% say the introduction of new technologies is a primary challenge to managing and leveraging data.
- There is a lack of understanding of 5G technology in Australia with just over a third (38%) of business and IT managers rating their own understanding of 5G as “expert” or “high”.
- Half (50%) of Australian organisations are in the process of developing use cases in Edge Computing that will play a similar role as 5G in enabling faster data transfers, while only 29% of Australian organisations currently have specific use cases in place, and 39% of organisations do not have use cases in development.
JAPAN
- 75% of Japanese IT and business managers expect their data volume to grow, the second highest percentage across the eight markets after China. Japanese respondents expect data volume will increase by a factor of 3.1 times by 2025.
- Only 24% of IT and business managers in Japan said they’re confident in their understanding of 5G, while 62% in China and 59% in France rated their understanding of 5G as “expert” or “high”.
- Edge computing will play a similar role as 5G in enabling faster data transfer. In Japan, 49% report that their organization will use edge computing in the future, but 58% do not yet have a use case in development and only 24% have specific use cases in place.
- Japanese organizations are slower in terms of staying up to date in new developments in data. Two-thirds (67%) say their organization is struggling to stay up to date, compared to the global average of 58%.
- In contrast to China, Japan is much slower when it comes to adopting emerging technologies. Japanese respondents expect the longest timeline to implement all six emerging technologies.
CHINA
- 89% of Chinese IT and business managers, the highest percentage across the eight markets, expect their data volume to grow 3.9 times by 2025.
- 83% of Chinese organizations are currently prepared or preparing for rapid data growth, compared to just 47% across all regions.
- Respondents from China recognize the value of data more than any other market. 90% expect its value will grow over the next decade.
- 62% of IT and business managers in China rated their understanding of 5G as “expert” or “high”, while only 24% in Japan are confident in their understanding of 5G.
- Edge computing will play a similar role as 5G in enabling faster data transfer. In China, 34% and 54% organizations are having specific use cases in place and developing use cases respectively, while 46% do not have specific use cases in development.
