Aussie organisations failing at big data

Three quarters of Australian organisations are using big data analytics in an attempt to improve business processes and better serve customers. However, a new report has found half of those organisations are struggling to turn what they derive from big data into a better experience for customers.

The report, commissioned by customer experience research organisation Fifth Quadrant, is called Big Data or Big Hype? and tapped sixty-three organisations across Australia. 

Chris Kirby, head of customer experience at Fifth Quadrant, told CRN there are several reasons organisations fail to make the most of their big data investments.

“Number one was the lack of appropriate technology,” he said. “There are a plethora of solutions out there, and it’s often difficult for organisations to chose the correct technology to use.”

Kirby also said a significant proportion of organisations surveyed indicated they had priorities ranked higher than using big data and analytics to the benefit of the business.

Finally, he said a lack of skills, both locally and globally, are contributing to big data’s poor use within the enterprise. In particular, staff with data analytics or data scientist qualifications are in high demand, but the lack of properly qualified people makes it hard to fill all the available positions.

There’s also an issue associated with pure data quality, noted Kirby.

“We asked questions about rate access to accurate data and 29 percent said it was poor. Thirty four percent said they had poor access to relevant data, while 47 percent percent had poor access to real time data.” Finally, 46 percent said they had an issue with the absolute quality of the data provided for analysis.

The report also canvased the techniques and approaches needed by organisations to make the most of big data. Most important was to have the initiative driven by the office of the chief executive, said Kirby.

Also vital was to have business processes around big data, and to have a concrete concept of the return on investment that having big data and analytics would yield for the organisation.

A key characteristic of organisations making the most of big data was the use of a wide range of data sets. The most frequently used data sets included: customer transactions, customer relationship management systems, customer feedback streams and web browsing data.

Other sources include social media data, mobile device user generated data, social network profiles and GPS data. Of particular note is the growing practice of integrating both external and internal customer data among organisations.

The report also found the biggest users of big data and analytics in an effective manner were customer service and sales and marketing. The department with the biggest big data black mark against it was human resources.